Lecture 2

Question 1

What are the three things that make people difficult to study?

Answer 1

complexity, variability, reactivity

Question 2

What are the steps for a scientific approach?

Answer 2

theory, hypothesis, gather evidence, modify theory

Question 3

What are the different ways to collect data?

Answer 3

case study, observational study, psychological test (assessment), surveys

Question 4

Case Study

Answer 4

Observations, formal psychological testing, drawings, clinical interviews,
questionnaires, family interview

Question 5

Observational Study

Answer 5

Researcher observes, measures,
records behavior while trying to avoid
intruding on the people being observed

Question 6

Naturalistic observation examples

Answer 6

home or school

Question 7

Laboratory Observation

Answer 7

controlled room or facility

Question 8

What are the problems with observational studies?

Answer 8

• Mere presence of researchers and
  equipment will change how people behave
• only correlation and not causation

Question 9

Psychological Tests (Assessments)

Answer 9

Measure personality traits,
emotional states, IQ, abilities

Question 10

Objective Tests (Inventories)

Answer 10

measure beliefs, feelings, or behaviors of which people are aware

Question 11

Standardized Tests

Answer 11

scores are based on NORMS

Question 12

Projective Tests

Answer 12

those black and white image tests that determines a person’s personality

Question 13

Assessments & Reliability

Answer 13

test must be reliable and produce same result across time, place, and scorer

Question 14

Test-retest reliability

Answer 14

people tend to do better the second time

Question 15

Alternate-forms reliability for tests/exams

Answer 15

multiple choice versus true/false

Question 16

Assessments & Validity

Answer 16

a test must be valid and it must measure what it sets out to measure

Question 17

Construct validity

Answer 17

items broadly represent the trait in question (job satisfaction question)

Question 18

Predictive validity

Answer 18

ability to predict other measures of the trait in question, related traits (high school GPA reflects college GPA)

Question 19

Surveys

Answer 19

questionnaires an interviews that gather info by asking people directly about their experiences, attitudes, opinions

Question 20

What is required for a survey to be fair?

Answer 20

a group of participants that accurately represents the larger population the researcher wishes to
describe (age, sex, ethnic groups)

Question 21

What are the problems with surveys?

Answer 21

volunteer bias, people lie, and researcher bias (choose questions they want)

Question 22

What are the two types of studies?

Answer 22

correlational studies and experiments

Question 23

Correlational study

Answer 23

a descriptive study that looks for a consistent relationship between two phenomena

Question 24

Correlation

Answer 24

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

Question 25

positive correlation

Answer 25

high and high

Question 26

negative correlation

Answer 26

high and low

Question 27

uncorrelated example

Answer 27

shoe size and IQ

Question 28

What is the range of the coefficient of correlation?

Answer 28

-1 to 1

Question 29

What is true about correlation and causation?

Answer 29

correlation does not establish causation

Question 30

Wha is an experiment?

Answer 30

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

Question 31

What is an independence variable?

Answer 31

the variable that stands alone and isn't changed by other factors

Question 32

What is a dependent variable?

Answer 32

a variable that depends on the independent variable

Question 33

What is a control group?

Answer 33

a group that is sure that the behavior you are interested in would not have occurred anyway

Question 34

What is a random assignment?

Answer 34

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

Question 35

What are experimental effects?

Answer 35

experimenters can influence the results of a study (smile, tone of voice)

Question 36

What do participants try to do during an experiment?

Answer 36

want to please and act in ways that the ordinarily would not

Question 37

What is a single-blind study?

Answer 37

participants don't know which group they are in and not know the purpose of the study

Question 38

What is a double blind study?

Answer 38

neither the researcher nor the participant knows the treatments participants receive

Question 39

What are descriptive statistics?

Answer 39

statistical procedures that organize and summarize data

Question 40

What is an arithmetic mean?

Answer 40

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

Question 41

What is a standard deviation?

Answer 41

a commonly used measure of variability that indicates the average difference between scores in a distribution and their mean (clustered the scores are spread out around the mean)

Question 42

What is inferential statistics?

Answer 42

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

Question 43

What is a significance test?

Answer 43

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

Question 44

What is Cross-sectional experiment?

Answer 44

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

Question 45

What is a longitudinal experiment?

Answer 45

a study in which subjects are followed and periodically reassessed over a period of time

Question 46

What is the ethical consideration's general principle?

Answer 46

Psychologists strive to benefit those with whom they work and take care to do no harm and all experiments cause stress

Question 47

What is informed consent?

Answer 47

a written agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of a all the risks

Question 48

What is debriefing?

Answer 48

a verbal description of the true nature and purpose of a study that psychologists provide to people after they have participated in the study