Week 2

Question 1

What are five characteristics of good scientific research?

Answer 1

Measurable data that is valid and reliable, results can be generalized, unbiased, available to the scientific community, the research can be replicated.

Question 2

What is a scientific study?

Answer 2

A scientific study starts by asking a testable research question; collecting and examining data (ensuring it is both reliable and valid); using statistical methods to make inferences about significance; and drawing conclusion that are then shared with the scientific community.

Question 3

Dependent variable

Answer 3

Depends on another variable; measured.

Question 4

Independent variable

Answer 4

What is manipulated in the experiment; control and change.

Question 5

Plant growth what is the dependent and independent variables?

Answer 5

Dependent variables: amount of plant growth
Independent variables: Sunlight, amount of water, fertilizer, etc.

Question 6

What is an operational definition and give examples

Answer 6

Operational definition is how we intend to measure this concept. (I.e. what scale, what instrument, what measurement system)

Question 7

What is validity?

Answer 7

How well a measurement measures what it is supposed to measure.

Question 8

Internal validity

Answer 8

The degree to which a cause-effect relationship has been
unambiguously established.

Question 9

External validity

Answer 9

The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and
broader settings.

Question 10

How to test for external validity?

Answer 10

Repeat experiments

Question 11

What is face validity?

Answer 11

Measuring what you are supposed to measure.

Question 12

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 12

An unknown variable that skews the results of a study.

Question 13

What is reliability?

Answer 13

Reliability means that you get the same results each time you use the instrument. Reliability= Dependable

Question 14

Why is replication important?

Answer 14

Replication is important, because fluke/random events happen all the time

Question 15

How can you ensure that the sample of people in a study is generalizable (representative) to the whole population?

Answer 15

Random samples

Question 16

What is a qualitative study?

Answer 16

Qualitative studies gather observations, without attempting to examine the relationships between variables.

Question 17

What is a case-study?

Answer 17

A case-study is an in-depth examination of a group, event, person or animal tp gain insight on a phenomena (experiences, behaviors, etc.)

Question 18

What is the issue with case studies or descriptive studies?

Answer 18

Little generalization- limited in that they can’t draw predictions or causal inferences.

Question 19

What is a correlational study?

Answer 19

Correlational studies examine the relationship, or association, between variables.

Question 20

Why can’t a causal inference be drawn in a correlational study?

Answer 20

Casual inference cannot be drawn because a correlational study does not control for all other variables.

Question 21

What is the correlation coefficient?

Answer 21

The correlation coefficient is a descriptive statistic that is used to illustrate the strength and direction of a relationship/ correlation (I.e. the association) between two variables.

Question 22

What is the range between the coefficients and what does it mean when it’s at each range?

Answer 22

-1 to 1 and the closer the correlation means the closer to the values of –1 and 1. -1= perfect negative correlation 1= perfect positive correlation and 0 is no relation

Question 23

What is a positive correlation?

Answer 23

A positive correlation means that as one variable increases, the other increases or the other way around.
1 is a strong positive correlation

Question 24

What is a negative correlation?

Answer 24

A negative correlation means that as one variable increases, the other decreases.
-1 is a strong negative correlation

Question 25

What does an experimental study do?

Answer 25

Experimental studies attempt to isolate the effect of one or more variables (independent variables) on another variable (dependent variable) it can do this because of random assignment.

Question 26

What is the only study that causality (cause and effect) can be inferred and why?

Answer 26

Experimental studies establish cause-and-effect relationships by controlling for confounding variables through random assignment.

Question 27

What do experimental designs focus on and what are they?

Answer 27

Experimental designs can be within subjects or between subjects.
Within subjects views the change caused by the independent variable are viewed within single individuals.
Between subjects views the change in different groups.

Question 28

What do psychologists often use?

Answer 28

Psychologists often use a between-subjects design with an experimental group (group being manipulated) and a control group (a group of similar participants that serves as a baseline comparison)

Question 29

What is a longitudinal study?

Answer 29

Longitudinal studies look at the same cohort of people over a long period of time- can provide valuable information but can be costly.

Question 30

What are self-reports or surveys and when are they used?

Answer 30

This is used to measure things that are difficult to objectively measure such as feelings, motivations and personal preferences- large participant group with relatively low costs.

Question 31

What is ecological validity?

Answer 31

Ecological validity refers to the conditions under which the study is done, and how well they reflect real life.

Question 32

How is real life data collected?

Answer 32

Experience-sampling collects self-report data dictated by subjects as they go through their daily life.

Diary method: Complete a questionnaire at the end of the day.

Day reconstruction method: A report given after the fact, through a systematic reconstruction which includes emotional experiences.

Electronically activated recorder: an audio recorder that intermittently records while participants go about their normal life; allows for observation outside of the laboratory in a natural setting.

Question 33

What are some ethical issues?

Answer 33

Deception, meant to keep participants blind to the hypothesis, poses an ethical issue.
Who can view the results of the experiment, how their confidentiality be kept.

Question 34

How can you avoid ethical issues?

Answer 34

Debrief subjects with informed consent and avoiding coercion (threaten or force).

Question 35

What is the primary means of data analysis?

Answer 35

Descriptive and inferential

Question 36

What are descriptive statistics?

Answer 36

Descriptive statistics are used to describe the data using numerical terms- most common for central tendency and are based around mean (average), median (middle number) and mode (most common answer).

Question 37

What is the measure of variability?

Answer 37

Standard deviation- how much the data varies around the mean.

Question 38

What does greater deviation from the average mean?

Answer 38

The greater the deviation from the average, the more variability there is in the scores within the data set (bigger range between the highest and lowest scores).

Question 39

What does normal distribution mean?

Answer 39

When a population has an even distribution of scores above and below the mean.

Question 40

What is an inferential statistic?

Answer 40

Inferential statistics use a mathematical formula to determine the statistical significance of a given scientific result.

Question 41

What is a p-value?

Answer 41

A p-value is used to test the validity of the hypothesis and is the percentage probability of a difference between groups being due to chance- the lower the value the lower the probability of it being by chance.

Question 42

What is the cutoff for a p-value?

Answer 42

The cutoff is usually p < 0.05- a 5% chance.

Question 43

What factors affect the statistical significance of a result?

Answer 43

The larger the sample size, the greater the statistical significance

The larger the initial difference the greater the statistical significance

The greater the variation in the measures (I.e. measuring someone’s height has less variation than measuring their running speed), the lower the statistical significance.

Question 44

What is null hypothesis?

Answer 44

The null hypothesis is that there is no statistical significance.

Question 45

What is a type 1 error?

Answer 45

Reject the null- hypothesis when it is actually true (false-positive). When you think there is one and there is not.

Question 46

What is a type 2 error?

Answer 46

Fail to reject the null-hypothesis when it is actually false (false-negative). When you think there is not one and there is one