Slides 2 Flashcards
(28 cards)
the distribution of a characteristic over the population
epidemiology
what do we need in psychology in order to do research
reliable repeatable constructs
why is all research based on the scientific approach
we need methodologies in place so we don’t end up with biased results
what is the principal of parsimony
when there are competing interpretations one should adopt the simplest one that can account for the data
what is another way of saying the principal of parsimony
Occam’s razor
how can we decide between competing possible causes of a phenomenon?
falsification of hypothesis
______: what results are obtained
findings
_____: what is the explanation for the basis of the findings?
conclusions
validity
the extent to which methods used in a research study measure what they are supposed to measure
reliability
the consistency, or repeatability of a measure
methodology
basis for accumulation of scientific knowledge
principals, procedures, practices
way of thinking about a phenomenon
permits us to draw sound or valid inferences
what is history effects and what does it threat
- history - events outside of experiment
- internal validity
what is statistical regression and what does it threat?
internal validity
statistical regression - tendency for extremely scores to revert to mean of distribution - just bc a pretest scoreis extreme, doesn’t mean scores will not regress in subsequent trials
what is instrumentation a threat of ?
internal validity
- instrumentation
response shift -
change in insturment overtime or measuring procedure
(ex: olympic gold medalist starts competition, all after get lower score)
changes in persons internal standards of
what is maturation and what doe sit threat
- maturation - changes that occur within the participants or due to passage of time
- could even be spontaneous remission
- threats internal validity
what is attrition and what does it threat
loss of participants
can occur to all or select groups,
uneven dropouts are problematic- threat to internal validity
what is selection bias and what does it threat
differences between groups BEFORE manipulation or intervention
- threat to internal validity
ways to combat selection bias
random assignment of groups
matching- grouping subjects together based on particular characteristics
what is diffusion/ imitation of treatment and what does it threat
Ex: researcher could inadvertently expose control group to aspects of therapy group: warmth, attention, someone to talk to
- threat to internal validity
what is specifical treatment / reaction of controls and what does it threat
control subject may be aware they are not receiving treatment and may
1) be motivated to out-perform experimental group
2) feel demoralized and loose interest or motivation in participation
what are sample characteristics and what do they threat
differences between the study sample and other samples/population you wish to generalize your finding to
- external validity threat
what are stimulus characteristics and settings and what do they threat
- if results can only occur under a particular set of conditions/circumstances
- threat to external validity
what is reactivity of experimental arrangements and what does it threat
- the awareness of being in a study my in itself shift behaviour or elicit certain reactions,
- ppl may have motives for participating, own theories about what is happening
- these can lead to changes that do not extend outside of the study
- threat to external validity
what is multiple treatment interference
- what does it threat
subjects receives multiple interventions
- within subjects, great for internal, but not for external
- threat to external validity