Week 1 Flashcards
What is psychology?
psychology is a science that studies the brain, and other things associated with the brain
What characterizes the scientific method? Why is the scientific method a useful tool? What are hypotheses and theories?
The scientific method is a procedure for finding truth by using empirical evidence.
A hypotheses is a falsifiable prediction made by a theory.
A theory is a hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon.
What characterizes the following research designs: description- survey (in text: case method, naturalistic observation), correlation, and experimentation?
Naturalistic observation is a technique for gathering scientific information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments.
Correlation is when one value of a variation is synchronized with variations in the value of the other.
Experimentation is a technique used to establish the casual relationship between variables.
Case method is a procedure for gathering scientific information by studying a single individual.
Explain the strength and direction of correlations (correlation coefficient). Given a correlation coefficient, to be able to determine the relationship between the variables.
A correlation coefficient is a mathematical measure of both the direction and strength of a correlation, which is symbolized by the letter r.
A perfect positive correlation is when every time the value of one variable increases by a fixed amount so does the second variable.
A perfect negative correlation is when one variable increases by a fixed amount and the second variable decreases by a fixed amount.
When there is no correlation then the one variable increases but the second does not increase or decrease by a certain fixed amount.
Why doesn’t correlation show causation?
Correlation can not show causation because it does not tell you what kind of relationship the variables have.
Given the experiment, what are the dependent variable and the independent variable? What is random sampling and random assignment? What are the sample and population and how are they related? What are the experimental and control groups?
An independent variable is the variable that is being manipulated in an experiment. The dependent variable is the variable that is measured in the study.
Random assignment is a procedure that lets chance assign people to the experiment or control group. Random sampling is for choosing participants that ensures that every member of a population has a chance of being included in the sample.
A sample is a partial collection of people drawn from a population. A population is a complete collection of participants who might possibly be measured.
The experimental group is a group of people who are exposed to a particular manipulation as compared to the control group, in an experiment. The control group is people no exposed to the particular manipulation as compared to the experimental group in an experiment.
What is statistical significance? In other words, what do you know if a research finding is statistically significant? At what point is an experiment is a test of statistical significance conducted?
Statistical significant means that there is less than a 5% chance that a result would happen if random assignment had failed.
What are operational definitions, reliability, validity, power, internal validity, and external validity?
An operational definition is a description of a property in concrete measurable terms.
A reliability is the tendency for an instrument to produce the same measurement whenever it is used to measure the same thing.
Power is an instrument’s ability to detect small magnitudes of the property.
Validity is the goodness with which a concrete event defines a property.
What are demand characteristics? Why is it important to have an observer make blind observations? What is double-blind observation?
Demand characteristics are those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone else wants or expects.
It is important for an observer to make blind observations because expectations can influence the observer’s observations.
A double-blind observation is an observation whose true purpose is hidden from both the observer and the person being observed.
What are descriptive statistics- frequency distribution, central tendency (mean, median, mode), and variability ( range, standard deviation)?
A frequency distribution is a graphical representation of measurements arranged by the number of times each measurement was made.
Mode is the value of the most frequently observed measurement.
The mean is the average value of all the measurements.
The median is the value that is in the middle; that is, greater than or equal to half the measurements and less than or equal to half the measurements.
Range is the value of the largest measurement in a frequency distribution in a frequency distribution minus the value of the smallest measurement.
Standard deviation is a statistic that describes the average difference between the measurements in a frequency distribution and the mean of that distribution.
Why is nonrandom sampling not a fatal flaw in psychology research?
Nonrandom sampling is not fatal flaw because psychologists can not study people who are not able to give informed consent and most research is done at universities and colleges and that participants are university students who volunteer.
Ethics: What are the 3 features of ethical research described in the Belmont Report? What is informed consent? What is debriefing and why must it be part of a study?
The three features of ethical research described in the Belmont Report was respect for persons, research should be beneficent, and research should be just.
Informed consent is a written agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of all the risks that participation may entail.
Debriefing is verbal description of the true nature and purpose of study. If a participant was changed in anyway the psychologist must try to undo the change that occurred to the participant.
