chapter 2: methods

Question 1

the belief that reason and logical argument is to how we acquire knowledge instead of experience

Answer 1

rationalism

Question 2

what we think is true about behaviour is often different from how we actually behave

Answer 2

flaw in rationalism

Question 3

rational explanations to describe and predict future behaviour

Answer 3

scientific theories

Question 4

a six steps, logical approach to methodologically answer questions

Answer 4

scientific method

Question 5

the six steps of scientific method

Answer 5

identify the problem, gather information, generate a hypothesis, design and conduct experiments, analyze data and formulate conclusion, restart the process

Question 6

any means to capture, report, record, or describe a group, interested in identifying “what is” not necessarily understanding “why it is”

Answer 6

descriptive methods

Question 7

the four methods of descriptive methods

Answer 7

naturalistic observation, participant observation, case studies, surveys

Question 8

happens in a natural environment without any attempt to manipulate or control the conditions of the observation

Answer 8

naturalistic observation

Question 9

researchers manipulate and control the conditions of the behaviour under observation

Answer 9

field experiments

Question 10

pros and cons of naturalistic observation

Answer 10

pros: generate new ideas about an observed phenomenon
cons: lack of control over the environment with factors that may influence the data, difficult to replicate

Question 11

where two or more observers agree with each other about the observations

Answer 11

interrater reliability

Question 12

the extent to which research findings in the lab can be generalized to the real world

Answer 12

ecological validity

Question 13

reactivity also known as Hawthorne effect, the novelty of being observed leads humans to perform better

Answer 13

reactivity

Question 14

researcher becomes part of the group under investigation to gain access to a group

Answer 14

participant observation

Question 15

pros and cons of participant observation

Answer 15

pros: provide enriching experience and greater access, opens up to new perspectives not would not be obtainable from naturalistic observation
cons: could increase reactivity and change behaviour, observer may become biased and too involved, they can influence participants’ behaviour, low degree of reliability

Question 16

the consistency or repeatability of research findings

Answer 16

reliability

Question 17

became a part of a psychiatric ward with either other researchers to observe the diagnostic techniques in the early 1970s, which demonstrated that physicians at the time could not reliably tell the difference between sane and insane people

Answer 17

David Rosenhan

Question 18

in-depth analysis of a unique phenomenon or individual

Answer 18

case studies

Question 19

“H.M.”, the most studied person in the history of psychology, study the role of the hippocampus in the formation of memory which led to the identification of different types of memories (episodic, semantic, procedural memories)

Answer 19

Henry Molaison

Question 20

plays a role in behaviour and memory

Answer 20

entorhinal cortex

Question 21

efficient way to quickly collect information and understanding of the current state of people’s opinions, perspectives, and experiences with a variety of waysp

Answer 21

surveys

Question 22

all members of a group

Answer 22

population

Question 23

a portion of a population

Answer 23

sample

Question 24

sampling error a sample that deviates from a true representation of the population

Answer 24

sampling error

Question 25

the tendency for people to answer a certain way that they feel are expected to answer

Answer 25

response bias

Question 26

the tendency for people to agree with most or all items on a survey regardless of their actual opinion

Answer 26

acquiescent response bias

Question 27

people respond in specific way that they think would be acceptable by others

Answer 27

socially desirable bias

Question 28

"better-than-average effect", the tendency for describe our own behaviour as better than average

Answer 28

illusory superiority

Question 29

the influence of language or wording on people's choices in a survey

Answer 29

wording effects

Question 30

revolutionized the understanding of people's sexual attitudes and behaviour from the data collected from survey

Answer 30

Alfred Kinsey

Question 31

small few who are willing to take the survey are likely overrepresented in the survey

Answer 31

volunteer bias

Question 32

how a research decides to measure a variable (the standard in an experiment)

Answer 32

operational definition

Question 33

a set of principles of behaviours that psychologists follow in research

Answer 33

research ethics

Question 34

a set of general principles that outline how people should be educated, treated, and respected in studies

Answer 34

ethics

Question 35

which institution developed the five ethical principles

Answer 35

the American Psychological Association (APA)

Question 36

research should strive to do good and avoid harm (benefits of the research vs the costs that participants may experience)

Answer 36

beneficence and non-maleficence

Question 37

the ethical principle of developing trusting relationships between researchers and participants

Answer 37

fidelity

Question 38

researchers must be honest and reliable with participants, they have a responsibility to hold the high standards of conduct and protect participants

Answer 38

fidelity and responsibility

Question 39

psychologists should engage in accurate, non-biased practices in the science, teaching, and practice of psychology

Answer 39

integrity

Question 40

fabricating or manipulating research data

Answer 40

falsification

Question 41

strive to establish equality, participants should also be the same people who benefit from the outcomes

Answer 41

justice

Question 42

an attribute that is essential in participant to answer the research question

Answer 42

inclusion criterion

Question 43

attributes that would prevent participation because they can't address the question

Answer 43

exclusion criterion

Question 44

a set of characteristics shared by all participant that ensure they will meaningfully help to address the research question

Answer 44

eligibility criteria

Question 45

researches should take measures to respect and protect participants' rights, privacy, and welfare, and communicate openly and honestly about all details

Answer 45

respect for people's rights and dignity

Question 46

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Answer 46

a committee of independent people who review and assess if the research project will be consistent with the general ethical principles

Question 47

participants learn and understand about the purpose and potential risk of participating

Answer 47

consent

Question 48

any group of individuals who are not able to give free and informed consent to participate

Answer 48

vulnerable populations

Question 49

any instance when a potential participant has the inability to provide informed consent (child or mentally disabled)

Answer 49

decisional impairment

Question 50

instances when the freedom of choice to participate is compromised as a result of undue influence from another source (feel forced our of fear or expectation of benefits)

Answer 50

situational vulnerability

Question 51

affirmative person to take part in the study, given along with consent

Answer 51

assent

Question 52

withholding information about the purpose and procedure of the study during the informed consent process

Answer 52

deception

Question 53

another researcher who is acting like a participant

Answer 53

confederate

Question 54

denoted as "r", a measure that captures the direction and strength of a relationship between variables, does not prove cause and effect

Answer 54

correlation

Question 55

provides a visual representation of relationships between variable, strong relationship = points cluster tightly together in a linear manner

Answer 55

scatterplot

Question 56

variables change in the same direction, one increases the other increases as well

Answer 56

positively correlated

Question 57

an increase in one variable leads to a decrease in the other

Answer 57

negatively correlated

Question 58

indicates that there is no apparent relationship between variables

Answer 58

zero correlation

Question 59

a straight line on a scatterplot showing the general relationship of the data

Answer 59

line of best fit

Question 60

numerical representation of the strength of the relationship between variables, from -1 to +1, the closer the number is to either negative or positive 1, the stronger the correlation

Answer 60

correlation coefficient

Question 61

another variable that may influence the outcome, which randomness in the study can eliminate

Answer 61

confounding variable

Question 62

the notion that one variable directly affects another

Answer 62

causality

Question 63

educated prediction about the outcome of an experiment

Answer 63

hypothesis

Question 64

a good hypothesis should be

Answer 64

as simple as possible, specific, testable, and be falsifiable

Question 65

the variable experimenter will manipulate and must contain at least two levels

Answer 65

independent variable (IV)

Question 66

the variable the experimenters measure, the outcome

Answer 66

dependent variable (DV)

Question 67

the confounding variable that are not the focus of the study but may influence the outcome if not controlled

Answer 67

extraneous variable

Question 68

a type of sampling where individuals in a population has an equal chance of participating

Answer 68

simple random sample

Question 69

a more careful approach to random sampling and particularly useful when there are two or more identifiable subgroups in the population (divided population into subgroups then randomly take samples in subgroups)

Answer 69

stratified random sample

Question 70

not all individuals are equally likely to participate

Answer 70

non-random sample

Question 71

a group of individuals that are selected because of a pre-existing condition or easy access to participation

Answer 71

convenience group

Question 72

the group that receives treatment of interest

Answer 72

experimental group

Question 73

receives placebo to compare results with the experimental group

Answer 73

control group

Question 74

when there are no other explanations for the relationship between an independent and dependent variable (no extraneous variables), it should be able to repeated and the results would be the same

Answer 74

internal validity

Question 75

whether the results from a study can be applied beyond the scope of the original study

Answer 75

external validity

Question 76

external validity of how the results can be applied to other settings, people, or time periods

Answer 76

generalization

Question 77

serves to establish internal and external validity

Answer 77

replication

Question 78

"quantitative" statistical information that describes a dataset (measures of central tendency such as mean, median, and mode, and standard deviation)

Answer 78

descriptive statistics

Question 79

tests and analyses that allow us to draw conclusions from our data, whether there is a measurable difference between two groups

Answer 79

inferential statistics

Question 80

a single point to describe the centre of data

Answer 80

measure of central tendency

Question 81

the average score, the most commonly used form of central tendency

Answer 81

mean

Question 82

the middle number in a data set

Answer 82

median

Question 83

the most frequently occurring number in a data set

Answer 83

mode

Question 84

the most commonly used measure of variability the average of the squared deviation score is variance, the square root of variance is standard deviation

Answer 84

standard deviation (SD)

Question 85

probability of an event is less than 5%, the finding is real, reliable, and not due to chance.

Answer 85

statistically significant

Question 86

bell-shaped curve, symmetrical, with a single central peak in the middle and the spread of data (SD) gets smaller and smaller as we move away from the mean

Answer 86

normal distribution

Question 87

determined that around 1.64 standard deviations away from the mean represents the most extreme 5% of the population on one side of the distribution

Answer 87

Ronald Fisher