psychology 201: midterm 1, chapter 2

Question 1

scientific method

Answer 1

systematic procedure that begins with the observation of a phenomenon and the question of why that phenomenon occurred

Question 2

theory

Answer 2

explanation or model of how a phenomenon works

Question 3

hypothesis

Answer 3

specific, testable, prediction, narrower than the theory it is based on

Question 4

research

Answer 4

the careful collection, analysis, and interpretation of data

Question 5

data

Answer 5

measurements gathered during the research process

Question 6

replication

Answer 6

involves repeating a study to see if the results are similar

Question 7

HARKing

Answer 7

“hypothesizing after the results are known” instead of generating a theory before running the study and analyzing the results

Question 8

small samples

Answer 8

a larger sample is required to achieve an accurate estimation of the population effects

Question 9

p-hacking

Answer 9

testing the same hypothesis using statistical tests in different variations until one produces a statistically significant result

Question 10

underreporting null effects

Answer 10

can cause readers to draw invalid inferences because entire studies or hypothesis tests are missing from the study

Question 11

pre-registration

Answer 11

documenting a study’s hypotheses, methods, and analysis plan ahead of time and publishing it on a time-stamped website

Question 12

descriptive studies

Answer 12

research methods that involve observing behavior to describe that behavior objectively and systematically

Question 13

case studies

Answer 13

intensive observation, recording, and description of an atypical person or organization

Question 14

participant observation

Answer 14

a type of descriptive study in which the researcher is involved in the situation

Question 15

reactivity

Answer 15

the phenomenon that occurs when knowledge that one being observed alters the behavior being observed

Question 16

observer bias

Answer 16

when a researcher’s expectations, opinions, or biases influence what they perceive or record in a study

Question 17

experimenter expectancy effect

Answer 17

actual change in the behavior of the people/nonhuman animals being observed that is due to the expectations of the observer

Question 18

self report methods

Answer 18

surveys or questionnaires, can be used to gather data from a large number of people in a short time
-can be hard to gather data from children or data free from personal bias

Question 19

correlational studies

Answer 19

examine how variables are naturally related in the real world, without any attempt by the researcher to alter them or conclude that one variable causes the other

Question 20

positive correlation coefficient

Answer 20

higher values on one variable predicts higher values on the other

Question 21

negative correlation coefficient

Answer 21

higher values on one variable predicts lower values on the other

Question 22

directionality problem

Answer 22

a problem encountered in correlational studies, the researchers find a relationship between two variables, but they cannot determine which variable may have caused changes in the other variable

Question 23

third variable problem

Answer 23

a problem that occurs when the researcher cannot directly manipulate variables, as a result, the researcher cant be confident that another unmeasured variable is not the actual cause of the differences in the variables of interest

Question 24

experiment

Answer 24

the researcher manipulates one variable to measure the effect on a second variable

Question 25

control group

Answer 25

consists of similar participants who experience everything the experimental group receives except for the treatment

Question 26

experimental group

Answer 26

the group of study participants who receive the treatment

Question 27

independent variable

Answer 27

the variable that is manipulated in a research study

Question 28

dependent variable

Answer 28

the variable that is measured in a research study

Question 29

population

Answer 29

everyone in the group the experimenter is interested in

Question 30

random sample

Answer 30

gives each member of the population an equal chance of being chosen to participate in the study

Question 31

convenience sample

Answer 31

people who are conveniently available for the study, this sample is almost certainly biased

Question 32

selection bias

Answer 32

unintended differences between the participants in different groups, it could be caused by nonrandom assignment to groups

Question 33

informed consent

Answer 33

experiment participants are aware of a study's procedure without giving away the purpose

Question 34

debriefing

Answer 34

must take place after a study's completion if deception is used, researchers inform the participants of the study's goals

Question 35

confidentiality

Answer 35

personal, identifying information about participants cannot be shared with others

Question 36

beneficence

Answer 36

researchers have an ethical obligation to weight the potential benefits of a study against its risks and to minimize risks as much as possible

Question 37

construct validity

Answer 37

the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure

Question 38

external validity

Answer 38

the degree to which the findings of a study can be generalized to other people, settings, or situations

Question 39

internal validity

Answer 39

the degree to which the effects observed in an experiment are due to the independent variable and no to confounds

Question 40

reliability vs accuracy

Answer 40

reliability- the stability and consistency of a measure over time accuracy- the degree to which the measure is error free

Question 41

descriptive statistics

Answer 41

statistics that summarize the data collected in a study

Question 42

central tendency

Answer 42

a measure that represents the typical response or the behavior of a group as a whole

Question 43

mean

Answer 43

average of a set of numbers

Question 44

median

Answer 44

the value that falls exactly halfway between the lowest and highest set of values

Question 45

mode

Answer 45

most frequent score or value in a set of numbers

Question 46

variability

Answer 46

in a set of numbers, how widely dispersed the values are from each other and from the mean

Question 47

range

Answer 47

the distance between the largest and smallest values

Question 48

standard deviation

Answer 48

a statistical measure of how far away each value is, on average, from the mean

Question 49

correlation

Answer 49

measures the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables

Question 50

causation

Answer 50

one variable is the reason another happens/occurs

Question 51

confound

Answer 51

anything that affects a dependent variable and that might unintentionally vary between the study's different experimental conditions

Question 52

inferential statistics

Answer 52

a set of procedures that enables researchers to decide whether differences between or more groups are probably just chance variations or whether they reflect true differences in the populations being compared

Question 53

naturalistic observation

Answer 53

a type of descriptive study in which the researcher is a passive observer, separated from the situation and making no attempt to change or alter ongoing behavior

Question 54

random assignment

Answer 54

placing research participants into the conditions of an experiment in such a way that each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any level of the independent variable