Questions I forget: Research Methods

Question 1

Define epistemology

Answer 1

the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of humanknowledge.

Question 2

What is an alternative prediction?

Answer 2

Your prediction

Question 3

Two-tailed hypothesis

Answer 3

a hypothesis that does not state the direction of the relationship

Question 4

Scientific Theory

Answer 4

comprehensive explanation supported by a vast body of evidence

Question 5

Null hypothesis

Answer 5

accepted if the prediction is not supported by the data

Question 6

Structuralism

Answer 6

an approach to psychology interested in the contents and structure of the mind

Question 7

what is a cause-and-effect relationship?

Answer 7

when it is proven that one variable directly affects the other (this is almost impossible to guarantee)

Question 8

What is an independent variable?

Answer 8

The variable that gets manipulated

Question 9

When was the British Psychological Society founded?

Answer 9

1901

Question 10

When was the american psychological association founded?

Answer 10

1892

Question 11

What are levels (or conditions)?

Answer 11

different types of independent variable in a study

Question 12

What is Independent (between-subjects) design?

Answer 12

When different participants experience different levels of the independent variable

Question 13

What is Repeated measures (within-subjects) design?

Answer 13

when all participants experience all levels of the independent variable

Question 14

What is counter-balancing?

Answer 14

when participants are randomly assigned to conditions

Question 15

what does N stand for in a study

Answer 15

number of participants

Question 16

What is repeated measures (within-subjects) design?

Answer 16

when all the participants experience all levels of the independent variable

Question 17

What is the hawthorne effect?

Answer 17

when the behaviour of the participants in a study is affected by the presence of the researcher

Question 18

What is the social Learning theory?

Answer 18

an approach in psychology that is interested in how people learn through observation

Question 19

What is humanistic psychology?

Answer 19

an approach in psychology that emphasises the importance of the individual and the importance of self-actualisation

Question 20

What is psychometrics?

Answer 20

the science of measuring psychological phenomena

Question 21

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 21

the process of learning through reinforcement and punishment

Question 22

What are confounding (or extraneous) variables

Answer 22

variables that either have not or cannot be controlled

Question 23

What is the population in psychology?

Answer 23

the group of people the theory is based on

Question 24

What is random sampling ?

Answer 24

a method of selecting a sample from a population by selecting individuals from the population at random

Question 25

What is Convenience (or opportunity) sampling?

Answer 25

when the researcher selects participants from a group that is easy to access

Question 26

What is a P-value?

Answer 26

the probability of the observed result occurring by chance alone

Question 27

What is a Type I error?

Answer 27

(or a false positive) is when a null hypothesis is rejected when it should have been accepted

Question 28

What is a familywise error?

Answer 28

the probability of making more false positives the more tests are run simultaneously

Question 29

What is HARKing?

Answer 29

when researchers hypothesise after results are known

Question 30

What is the file drawer effect?

Answer 30

unpublished or unreplicated studies being hidden from view

Question 31

What is publication bias?

Answer 31

when studies with statistically significant results are published while those without are not

Question 32

What is Independent (between-subjects) design?

Answer 32

when different participants experience different levels of the independent variable

Question 33

What is the sharp-shooter fallacy?

Answer 33

when someone cherry-picks specific data points or patterns after the study has concluded and claims that they have significance

Question 34

What is falsification?

Answer 34

when one manipulates or distorts existing data

Question 35

What do registered reports comprise of?

Answer 35

developing a hypothesis; designing a study; peer review; collecting and analysing data; writing a report; peer review; and publishing the report

Question 36

What are non-sequiturs?

Answer 36

statements that do not follow logically from the premises

Question 37

What is literate programming?

Answer 37

documentation directly attached to the analysis script

Question 38

What is a data repository?

Answer 38

a database that stores data in a structured format

Question 39

What is a cross-sectional study?

Answer 39

study that looks at different subsections of a population at one point in time

Question 40

What is a cohort?

Answer 40

a subsection of a population all born at a similar time

Question 41

What are the cohort effects?

Answer 41

when different cohorts have fundamental differences that can affect the findings of a study

Question 42

What is an accelerated longitudinal study?

Answer 42

looks at multiple cohorts over a shorter period of time (a combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional)

Question 43

What are prospective studies?

Answer 43

when longitudinal studies are set up to collect data over time in the future

Question 44

What are retrospective studies?

Answer 44

when pre-existing longitudinal data is used to test a hypothesis

Question 45

What is internal validity?

Answer 45

how well the study is measuring what it is supposed to be measuring

Question 46

What is external validity?

Answer 46

the extent to which the findings of a study can generalised to other populations

Question 47

What is ecological validity?

Answer 47

how well the study’s results translate to a real-world setting

Question 48

What are cross-lagged correlations?

Answer 48

when a correlation measured at an earlier moment in time also correlates with that same correlation at a later point (diagonal correlation)

Question 49

What are prospective studies?

Answer 49

when longitudinal studies are set up to collect data over time in the future

Question 50

What is efficacy in relation to studies?

Answer 50

whether the treatment can work

Question 51

What is a feasibility study?

Answer 51

attempts to measure the acceptability and practicality of a treatment

Question 52

What is adherence (or compliance)?

Answer 52

how many participants stick to the treatment regime

Question 53

What does drop out (or attrition) relate to in a study?

Answer 53

how many participants leave the study before it is completed

Question 54

What is a cross-generational problem?

Answer 54

a skew in data brought about by generational-specific factors