Final - Methods

Question 1

What is the scientific method

Answer 1

1. Identify the problem
2. Gather information
3. Generate a hypothesis
4. Design and conduct experiments
5. Analyze data and formulate conclusions
6. Restart the process

Question 2

What is a hypothesis

Answer 2

hypothesis is a tentative prediction about the relationship between 2 or more
variables. It is not a fact or truth. The hypothesis needs to be tested using strict scientific principals.

It MUST BE FALSIFIABLE

Question 3

What is a case study

Answer 3

an in-depth analysis of a unique circumstance or individual.

Question 4

What is an advantage of a case study

Answer 4

They allow us to keep a document o rare cases that otherwise would be a lost for
us.

Question 5

What is a disadvantage of a case study

Answer 5

Researcher bias

Question 6

What is a survey

Answer 6

Asking a sample population a question or series of questions

Question 7

What are 2 disadvantages of a survey

Answer 7

1. Sampling Error/Bias: A sample population that isnt representative of the entire population
2. Wording Effects: the influence of language/wording on peoples answers

Question 8

What is illusory superiority

Answer 8

the tendency to decribe our own behaviour as better than the average. (ex// 70% of people think their driving is better than half the population)

Question 9

What is response bias

Answer 9

people answering the question in the way they feel are expected to answer even if not accurate. (ex// people lying about how often they shower because they don’t wanna be judged)

Question 10

what is Acquiescence response bias

Answer 10

a tendency for participants to indiscriminately “agree” with most if not all items on a survey regardless of their actual opinion

Question 11

What is socially desirable bias

Answer 11

participants respond to question they feel would be accepted more by society (ex// lying about liking a movie that everyone else is obsessed with)

Question 12

What is volunteer bias

Answer 12

where only motivated people respond to a survey (ex// in a survey about sex life, only those willing to talk openly about their sex life will do the survey)

Question 13

What are the 2 important criteria to random sampling

Answer 13

1. That every single person in the population of interest has an equal chance of being in the
   survey.
2. Chance and only chance and nothing but chance will determine who ends up in the sample

Question 14

What is a stratified random sample

Answer 14

take the population of interest, and divide it into the groups the
researchers are interested in. From every single one of those groups, we use random sampling (ex// splitting ottawa into neighbourhoods, then taking random people from every neighbourhood)

Question 15

What are 2 advantages of surveys

Answer 15

1. cheap 2. take data from people not regularly observed

Question 16

what are the 5 General Ethical Principles of Psychologists

Answer 16

1. Beneficence and Non-maleficence
2. Fidelity and Responsibility
3. Integrity
4. Justice
5. Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity

Question 17

What is beneficence and non-maleficence

Answer 17

researchers should strive to do good (beneficence) and avoid creating experiments that can intentionally harm (maleficence) participants.

Question 18

what is Fidelity and Responsibility

Answer 18

researchers should be honest and reliable with participants, data, and when they report their findings so that the participants can make informed decisions.

Question 19

What is integrity

Answer 19

psychologists should engage in accurate, honest, and non-biased practices in the science, teaching, and practice of psychology. No fabrication or making up data.

Question 20

What is Justice

Answer 20

those people who participate in the research process should also be the same people who stand to benefit from the research outcomes. ex// scientists used to exclude women from surveys for medicines, but the would release the medicine to both men and women)

Question 21

What is inclusion and exclusion criteria. What is eligibility?

Answer 21

Inclusion: an attribute of participants that is necessary to participate in the study
Exclusion: an attribute of participants that don’t allow them to participate.

The combination of inclusion and exclusion criteria form a study’s eligibility criteria, a set of characteristics shared by all participants that ensure that those participating will meaningfully help to address the research question.

Question 22

what does Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity mean for psychologists

Answer 22

each person is valued in the research process and that researchers should take measures to respect and protect participants’ rights, privacy, and welfare.

Question 23

What is a vulnerable population

Answer 23

potential research participants may not be able to provide free and informed consent

Question 24

What are the 2 criteria of determining a vulnerable population

Answer 24

1. Decisional Impairment: a potential participant has diminished capacity to provide informed consent. (ex// children or mentally ill)
2. Situational Vulnerability: when the freedom of “choice” to participate in research is compromised as a result of undue influence from another source. (prisoners fear of getting punished if they don’t consent, or promising homeless people money to consent)

Question 25

What is correlation

Answer 25

A way to show that as one variable changes, so does another.

Question 26

What is the best way to show correlation

Answer 26

a scatterplot

Question 27

What does positive correlation mean

Answer 27

the variables change in the same direction; that is, as one variable increases, the other variable also increases, and as one variable decreases, the other variable also decreases. (ex// studying and test scores)

Question 28

What does negative correlation mean

Answer 28

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

Question 29

What does zero correlation show

Answer 29

indicates that there is no apparent relationship between variables.

Question 30

What is the line of best fit

Answer 30

a line on scatterplots showing a general relationship between the data to determine the correlation

Question 31

What is the correlation co-efficient

Answer 31

A numerical representation of the strength of a relationship. The value of a correlation coefficient ranges from –1 to +1. Shown as ‘r’

Question 32

What does a correlation co-efficient mean (ex// r = -1 to r = +1)

Answer 32

• or + mean the indicate the direction of the relationship (positive or negative correlation)

the numbers show the strength of the correlation.

Ex// -1 is a strong negative correlation, while +1 is a strong positive correlation.
-0.5 is a weaker negative correlation, while +0.5 is a weaker positive correlation.
When there is no correlation, r = 0

Question 33

What is one disadvantage of correlational research?

Answer 33

Can NOT infer casuality. Based on correlational research alone, we
absolutely, absolutely can not infer causality. We CAN’T say that one vairable causes a change in the other. To infer causality, we must do an experiment.

Question 34

What is an independent variable

Answer 34

the variable that the experimenter will manipulate

Question 35

What is a dependant variable

Answer 35

is the variable(s) the experimenter counts or measures.

Question 36

What are Extraneous/Confounding variables

Answer 36

any variables that are not the focus of study, but that may influence the outcome of research if not controlled.

Question 37

What type of research is the only one that we can draw conclusions from

Answer 37

Experimental research

Question 38

What is the experiment group

Answer 38

the group that receives the subject of interest is called the experimental group. (ex// testing for a medicine, the experiment group is the group that receives the medicine)

Question 39

What is the control group

Answer 39

treated nearly identically to the experimental group but it does not receive the drug of interest.

Question 40

what is Descriptive statistics

Answer 40

a collection of ways to describe the data in the simplest way possible, which involves the use of quantitative values.

Question 41

What is the central tendency

Answer 41

A single data point that best represents the others. (ex// the average is used in a test because it best represents everyone’s score)

Question 42

What are the 3 central tendency and explain what they mean

Answer 42

mean: the average (all data sets added then divided by number of data sets)
median: the middle score in an ordered set of data
mode: the most frequently occurring number in a data set

Question 43

What is one disadvantage of using the mean to represent a data set

Answer 43

It can be significantly affected by extreme values (known as outliers)