Methods Flashcards
hindsight bias
the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that you knew this info prior
overconfidence
humans tend to think they know more than they do
theory vs hypothesis
theory- a proven explanation of organized principles
hypothesis- a testable prediction that has not been completely proven
operational definition
a report of all procedures to specifically define your experiment’s variables
population
the participants in the group being studied
random sample
a sample of the population that can unbiasedly and equally report results
correlation
a measure of how much one factor predicts another
correlation coefficient
a statistical index of the relationship between things on a scale between -1 to +1.
positive=increasexincrease w/ high correlation
negative=increasexdecrease w/ high correlation
zero= no correlation
illusory correlations
perceived but nonexistent correlations (we notice coincidences more often) between vivid cases
experiment
a way to research the effects of an independent variable on a dependent variable
random assignment
assigning participants to experimental and control group by chance
double blind procedure
neither the participants nor staff know whether participants have received treatment or placebo- corrects volunteer and experimenter bias
placebo effect
experimental results caused by expectations alone
measures of central tendency
mean, median, mode
measures of variation
range and standard deviation
false consensus
incorrectly believing everyone agrees with your own opinions
hawthorn effect
people change the way they act in the experiment because they know they are being watched
single blind procedure
participants don’t know which group they’re in- corrects participant/volunteer bias
informed consent
people have a right to know they are being studied and what it is
deception
not clarifying an aspect of an experiment
in order to do this you need special permission from the psych committee (IRB)
debrief
after experiment interview to assess participant wellbeing
stratified sampling
instead of random sampling, you sample a percentage that is proportionate to the population
third variable problem
two things appear correlated but there is a third variable that correlates with both
case studies
observing to discover more about universal principles based on one person/small group
can study unique things
can’t generalize