Chapter 2

Question 1

an organized system of assumptions and principles that purports to explain a specified set of phenomena and their interrelations

Answer 1

theory

Question 2

a statement that attempts to predict or to account for a set of phenomena; scientific hypotheses specify relations among events or variables and are empirically tested

Answer 2

hypothesis

Question 3

a precise definition of a term in a hypothesis, which specific the operations for observing and measuring the process or phenomenon being defined

Answer 3

operational definition

Question 4

the principle that a scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough to expose the theory to the possibility of disconfirmation, that is, the theory must predict not only what will happen but also what will not happen

Answer 4

principle of falsifiability

Question 5

the tendency to look for or pay attention only to information that confirms one’s own belief

Answer 5

confirmation bias

Question 6

a group of individuals, selected from a population for study, which matches the population on important characteristics such as age and sex

Answer 6

representative sample

Question 7

methods that yield descriptions of behaviour but not necessarily casual explanation

Answer 7

descriptive method

Question 8

a detailed description of a particular individual being studied or treated

Answer 8

case study

Question 9

a study in which the researcher carefully and systematically observes and records behaviour without interfering with the behaviour, it may involve either naturalistic or laboratory observation

Answer 9

observational study

Question 10

procedures used to measure and evaluate personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes, interests and abilities

Answer 10

psychological traits

Question 11

in test construction, to develop uniform procedures for giving and scoring tests

Answer 11

standardize

Question 12

in test construction, established standard of performance

Answer 12

norms

Question 13

in test construction the consistency of scores derived from a test from one time and place to another

Answer 13

reliability

Question 14

the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure

Answer 14

validity

Question 15

questionnaires and interviews that ask people directly aout their experiences, attitudes or opinions

Answer 15

surveys

Question 16

a shortcoming of findings derived from a sample of volunteers instead of a representative sample the volunteers may differ from those who did not volunteer

Answer 16

volunteer bias

Question 17

a descriptive study that looks for a consistent relation between two phenomenon

Answer 17

correlational study

Question 18

a measure of how strongly two variables are related to one another

Answer 18

correlation

Question 19

characteristics of behaviour or experience that can be measured or described by a numeric scale

Answer 19

variables

Question 20

an association between increases in one variable and increases in another, or between decreases in one and in another

Answer 20

positive correlation

Question 21

a association between increases in one variable and decreases in another

Answer 21

negative correlation

Question 22

a measure of correlation that ranges in values from -1.00 to +1.00

Answer 22

coefficient of correlation

Question 23

a controlled test of hypothesis in which the researcher manipulates one variable to discover its effect on another

Answer 23

experiment

Question 24

a variable that an experimenter manipulates

Answer 24

independent variable

Question 25

a variable that an experimenter predicts will be affected by manipulations of the dependent variable

Answer 25

dependent variable

Question 26

in an experiment, a comparison in which participants are not exposed to the same treatment as in the experimental condition

Answer 26

control condition

Question 27

a procedure for assigning people to experimental and control groups in which each individual has the same probability as any other of being assigned to a given group

Answer 27

random assignment

Question 28

an inactive substance or fake treatment used as a control in an experiment or given by a medical practitioner to a patient

Answer 28

placebo

Question 29

an experiment in which participants do not know whether they are in an experimental or control group

Answer 29

single blind study

Question 30

unintended changes in study participants behaviour due to cues inadvertently given by the experimenter

Answer 30

experimenter effects

Question 31

an experiment in which neither the people being studied nor the individual running the study know who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group until after the results are tallied

Answer 31

double blind study

Question 32

descriptive or experimental research conducted in a natural setting outside the laboratory

Answer 32

field research

Question 33

statistical procedures that organize and summarize research data

Answer 33

descriptive statistics

Question 34

an average that is calculated by adding up a set of quantities and dividing the sum by the total number of quantities in the set

Answer 34

arithmetic mean

Question 35

a commonly used measure of variability that indicates the average difference between scores in a distribution and their mean

Answer 35

standard deviation

Question 36

statistical procedures that allow researchers to draw inferences about how statistically meaningful a study's results are

Answer 36

inferential statistics

Question 37

statistical tests that show how likely it is that a study's results occurred merely by chance

Answer 37

significance tests

Question 38

a study in which people (or people) of different ages are compared at any given time

Answer 38

cross sectional study

Question 39

a study in which people (or animals) are followed and periodically reassessed over a period of time

Answer 39

longitudinal study

Question 40

the amount of variance among scores in a study accounted for by the independent variable

Answer 40

effect size

Question 41

a procedure for combining and analyzing data from many studies, it determines how much of the variance in scores across all studies can be explained by a particular variable

Answer 41

meta-analysis

Question 42

the doctrine that anyone who participates in human research must do so voluntarily and must know enough about the study to make an intelligent decisions about whether to take part

Answer 42

informed consent