Final Exam Prep: Chapters 10-14

Question 1

The researchers manipulated at least one variable and measured another

Answer 1

experiment

Question 2

a variable that is controlled, such as when the researcher assigns participants to a particular level (value) of the variable

Answer 2

manipulated variable

Question 3

_________ take the form of records of behaviour or attitudes, such as self-reports, behavioural observations, or physiological measures

Answer 3

measured variable

Question 4

the manipulated (causal) variable

Answer 4

independent variable

Question 5

the levels of the independent variable is also referred to as it’s ________

Answer 5

condition

Question 6

the measured variable, or the outcome variable

Answer 6

dependent variable

Question 7

any variable that an experimenter holds constant on purpose

Answer 7

control variable

Question 8

A level of an independent variable that is intended to represent “no treatment” or a neutral condition. Also called control condition.

Answer 8

control group

Question 9

A group in an experiment whose levels on the independent variable differ from those of the treatment group in some intended and meaningful way. Also called comparison condition

Answer 9

comparison group

Question 10

In an experiment, a description of when the levels of a variable fluctuate independently of experimental group membership, contributing to variability within groups.

Answer 10

unsystematic variability

Question 10

A control group in an experiment that is exposed to an inert treatment, such as a sugar pill. Also called a placebo control group.

Answer 10

placebo group

Question 10

A general term for a potential alternative explanation for a research finding; a threat to internal validity

Answer 10

confound

Question 11

An experiment using an independent-groups design in which participants are tested on the key dependent variable twice: once before and once after exposure to the independent variable

Answer 11

pretest/posttest design

Question 11

A threat to internal validity in an experiment in which a second variable happens to vary systematically along with the independent variable and therefore is an alternative explanation for the results

Answer 11

design confound

Question 12

In an experiment, a description of when the levels of a variable coincide in some predictable way with experimental group membership, creating a potential confound.

Answer 12

systematic variability

Question 13

An experimental design technique in which participants who are similar on some measured variable are grouped into sets; the members of each matched set are then randomly assigned to different experimental conditions.

Answer 13

matched groups

Question 13

A threat to internal validity that occurs in an independent-groups design when the kinds of participants at one level of the independent variable are systematically different from those at the other level.

Answer 13

selection effect

Question 14

An experiment using an independent-groups design in which participants are tested on the dependent variable only once

Answer 14

posttest-only design

Question 14

The use of a random method (e.g. flipping a coin) to assign participants into different experimental groups.

Answer 14

random assignment

Question 14

An experimental design in which different groups of participants are exposed to different levels of the independent variable, such that each participant experiences only one level of the independent variable

Answer 14

independent-groups design

Question 15

An experimental design in which each participant is presented with all levels of the independent variable

Answer 15

within-groups design

Question 16

An experiment using a within-groups design in which participants are exposed to all the levels of an independent variable at roughly the same time, and a single attitudinal or behavioral preference is the dependent variable

Answer 16

concurrent-measures design

Question 16

An experiment using a within-groups design in which participants respond to a dependent variable more than once, after exposure to each level of the independent variable

Answer 16

repeated-measures design

Question 16

In a within-groups design, a threat to internal validity in which exposure to one condition changes participant responses to a later condition

Answer 16

order effect

Question 17

A type of order effect in which participants’ performance improves over time because they become practiced at the dependent measure (not because of the manipulation or treatment).

Answer 17

practice effect

Question 18

In a repeated-measures experiment, presenting the levels of the independent variable to participants in different sequences to control for order effects

Answer 18

counterbalancing

Question 18

A type of order effect, in which some form of contamination carries over from one condition to the next.

Answer 18

carryover effect

Question 18

A method of counterbalancing in which all possible condition orders are represented.

Answer 18

full counterbalancing

Question 19

A formal system of partial counterbalancing to ensure that every condition in a within-groups design appears in each position at least once

Answer 19

Latin square

Question 19

A threat to internal validity in which a historical or seasonal event systematically affects only the participants in the treatment group or only those in the comparison group, not both

Answer 19

selection-history threat

Question 19

In an experiment, an extra dependent variable researchers can include to determine how well a manipulation worked

Answer 19

manipulation check

Question 19

A method of counterbalancing in which some, but not all, of the possible condition orders are represented.

Answer 19

partial counterbalancing

Question 19

A cue that leads participants to guess a study’s hypotheses or goals; a threat to internal validity.

Answer 19

demand characteristic

Question 20

A study completed before (or sometimes after) the study of primary interest, usually to test the effectiveness or characteristics of the manipulations

Answer 20

pilot study

Question 20

The participants in an experiment who are exposed to the level of the independent variable that involves a medication, therapy, or intervention

Answer 20

treatment group

Question 20

An experiment in which a researcher recruits one group of participants; measures them on a pretest; exposes them to a treatment, intervention, or change; and then measures them on a posttest

Answer 20

one group, pretest/posttest design

Question 21

A threat to internal validity that occurs when it is unclear whether a change in the treatment group is caused by the treatment itself or by an external or historical factor that affects most members of the group

Answer 21

history threat

Question 21

A threat to internal validity that occurs when an observed change in an experimental group could have emerged more or less spontaneously over time

Answer 21

maturation threat

Question 22

A threat to internal validity related to regression to the mean, a phenomenon in which any extreme finding is likely to be closer to its own typical, or mean, level the next time it is measured (with or without the experimental treatment or intervention).

Answer 22

regression threat

Question 23

In a pretest/posttest, repeated-measures, or quasi-experimental study, a threat to internal validity that occurs when a systematic type of participant drops out of the study before it ends

Answer 23

attrition threat

Question 23

In a repeated-measures experiment or quasi-experiment, a kind of order effect in which scores change over time just because participants have taken the test more than once; includes practice effects

Answer 23

testing threat

Question 24

A threat to internal validity that occurs when a measuring instrument changes over time.

Answer 24

instrumentation threat

Question 25

A bias that occurs when observer expectations influence the interpretation of participant behaviors or the outcome of the study.

Answer 25

observer bias

Question 25

A threat to internal validity in which participants are likely to drop out of either the treatment group or the comparison group, not both.

Answer 25

selection-attrition threat

Question 25

A study design in which the observers are unaware of the experimental conditions to which participants have been assigned.

Answer 25

masked design

Question 26

A response or effect that occurs when people receiving an experimental treatment experience a change only because they believe they are receiving a valid treatment.

Answer 26

placebo effect

Question 26

A study in which neither the participants nor the researchers who evaluate them know who is in the treatment group and who is in the comparison group.

Answer 26

double-blind study

Question 26

In an experiment, an extra dependent variable researchers can include to determine how well a manipulation worked

Answer 26

manipulation check

Question 27

Unsystematic variability among the members of a group in an experiment, which might be caused by situation noise, individual differences, or measurement error

Answer 27

noise

Question 27

A cue that leads participants to guess a study’s hypotheses or goals; a threat to internal validity

Answer 27

demand characteristic

Question 27

A study that uses a treatment group and a placebo group and in which neither the researchers nor the participants know who is in which group

Answer 27

double-blind placebo control study

Question 28

A finding that an independent variable did not make a difference in the dependent variable; there is no significant covariance between the two.

Answer 28

null effect

Question 28

An experimental design problem in which independent variable groups score almost the same on a dependent variable, such that all scores fall at the high end of their possible distribution

Answer 28

ceiling effect

Question 29

An experimental design problem in which independent variable groups score almost the same on a dependent variable, such that all scores fall at the low end of their possible distribution

Answer 29

floor effect

Question 30

A result from a factorial design, in which the difference in the levels of one independent variable changes, depending on the level of the other independent variable; a difference in differences

Answer 30

interaction effect

Question 30

A phenomenon in which an extreme finding is likely to be closer to its own typical, or mean, level the next time it is measured, because the same combination of chance factors that made the finding extreme are not present the second time

Answer 30

regression to the mean

Question 31

The degree to which the recorded measure for a participant on some variable differs from the true value of the variable for that participant. Measurement errors may be random, such that scores that are too high and too low cancel each other out; or they may be systematic, such that most scores are biased too high or too low

Answer 31

measurement error

Question 32

Unrelated events or distractions in the external environment that create unsystematic variability within groups in an experiment

Answer 32

situation noise

Question 33

The likelihood that a study will show a statistically significant result when an independent variable truly has an effect in the population; the probability of not making a Type II error

Answer 33

power

Question 34

A condition in an experiment; in a simple experiment, a cell can represent the level of one independent variable; in a factorial design, a cell represents one of the possible combinations of two independent variables

Answer 34

cell

Question 35

A variable such as age, gender, or ethnicity whose levels are selected (i.e., measured), not manipulated

Answer 35

participant variable

Question 35

In a factorial design, the overall effect of one independent variable on the dependent variable, averaging over the levels of the other independent variable.

Answer 35

main effect

Question 36

A study similar to an experiment except that the researchers do not have full experimental control (e.g., they may not be able to randomly assign participants to the independent variable conditions)

Answer 36

quasi-experiment

Question 36

A study in which there are two or more independent variables, or factors

Answer 36

factorial design

Question 37

In a factorial design, the arithmetic means for each level of an independent variable, averaging over the levels of another independent variable

Answer 37

marginal means

Question 38

A study in which researchers gather information from just a few cases

Answer 38

small-N design

Question 39

A variable that resembles an independent variable, but the researcher does not have true control over it (e.g., cannot randomly assign participants to its levels or cannot control its timing).

Answer 39

quasi-independent variable

Question 39

A small-N design in which a researcher observes behavior for an extended baseline period before beginning a treatment or other intervention, and continues observing behavior after the intervention

Answer 39

stable-baseline design

Question 39

A quasi-experiment that has at least one treatment group and one comparison group, in which participants have not been randomly assigned to the two groups, and in which at least one pretest and one posttest are administered.

Answer 39

nonequivalent control group pretest/posttest design

Question 40

A quasi-experiment that has at least one treatment group and one comparison group, in which participants have not been randomly assigned to the two groups, and in which at least one posttest are administered.

Answer 40

nonequivalent control group posttest-only design

Question 40

An experimental design for studying a therapeutic treatment, in which researchers randomly assign some participants to receive the therapy under investigation immediately, and others to receive it after a time delay

Answer 40

wait-list design

Question 41

A quasi-experiment in which participants are measured repeatedly on a dependent variable before, during, and after the “interruption” caused by some event

Answer 41

interrupted time-series design

Question 41

A quasi-experiment with two or more groups in which participants have not been randomly assigned to groups; participants are measured repeatedly on a dependent variable before, during, and after the “interruption” caused by some event, and the presence or timing of the interrupting event differs among the groups

Answer 41

nonequivalent control group interrupted time-series design

Question 41

A study in which researchers gather information from only one animal or one person.

Answer 41

single-N design

Question 42

A small-N design in which researchers stagger their introduction of an intervention across a variety of contexts, times, or situations

Answer 42

multiple-baseline design

Question 42

A small-N design in which a researcher observes a problem behavior both before and during treatment, and then discontinues the treatment for a while to see if the problem behavior returns

Answer 42

reversal design

Question 43

Describing a study whose results have been reproduced when the study was repeated, or replicated

Answer 43

replicable

Question 44

A replication study in which researchers repeat the original study as closely as possible to see whether the original effect shows up in the newly collected data

Answer 44

direct replication

Question 45

A replication study in which researchers examine the same research question (the same conceptual variables) but use different procedures for operationalizing the variables.

Answer 45

conceptual replication

Question 46

A replication study in which researchers replicate their original study but add variables or conditions that test additional questions

Answer 46

replication-plus-extension

Question 47

A series of related studies, conducted by various researchers, that have tested similar variables.

Answer 47

scientific literature

Question 48

A way of mathematically averaging the effect sizes of all the studies that have tested the same variables to see what conclusion that whole body of evidence supports

Answer 48

meta-analysis

Question 49

A problem relating to literature reviews and meta-analyses based only on published literature, which might overestimate the support for a theory because studies finding null effects are less likely to be published than studies finding significant results, and are thus less likely to be included in such reviews

Answer 49

file drawer problem

Question 50

A questionable research practice in which researchers create an after-the-fact hypothesis about an unexpected research result, making it appear as if they predicted it all along

Answer 50

HARKing

Question 51

A family of questionable data analysis techniques, such as adding participants after the results are initially analyzed, looking for outliers, or trying new analyses in order to obtain a p value of just under .05, which can lead to nonreplicable results

Answer 51

p-hacking

Question 52

The practice of sharing one’s data, hypotheses, and materials freely so others can collaborate, use, and verify the results

Answer 52

open science

Question 53

When psychologists provide their full data set on the Internet so other researchers can reproduce the statistical results or even conduct new analyses on it

Answer 53

open data

Question 54

When psychologists provide their study’s full set of measures and manipulations on the Internet so others can see the full design or conduct replication studies

Answer 54

open materials

Question 55

A term referring to a study in which, before collecting any data, the researcher has stated publicly what the study’s outcome is expected to be.

Answer 55

preregistration

Question 56

The extent to which the tasks and manipulations of a study are similar to real-world contexts; an aspect of external validity. Also called mundane realism

Answer 56

ecological validity

Question 57

A researcher’s intent for a study, testing association claims or causal claims to investigate support for a theory. See also generalization mode

Answer 57

theory-testing mode

Question 58

The intent of researchers to generalize the findings from the samples and procedures in their study to other populations or contexts. See also theory-testing mode

Answer 58

generalization mode

Question 59

A subdiscipline of psychology concerned with how cultural settings shape a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and how these in turn shape cultural settings

Answer 59

cultural psychology

Question 60

A real-world setting for a research study

Answer 60

field setting

Question 61

The extent to which a laboratory experiment is designed so that participants experience authentic emotions, motivations, and behaviors

Answer 61

experimental realism