Week 2

Question 1

What is a population

Answer 1

entire group of people of interest (e.g., all PSYC1010
students at York)

Question 2

How did prefrontal lobotomies occur and what was it for ?

Answer 2

Used to treat schizophrenia and other severe
mental disorders
* Severed the fibres connecting the frontal lobe
and thalamus

Question 3

What is a sample

Answer 3

smaller group of people, drawn from the population, who
participate in the study (e.g., a group of 20 students who actually do
your study

Question 4

What is random selection and why is random selection important?

Answer 4

Choosing participants from a larger
population in such a way that every
person has an equal chance of being
selected
* Helps to ensure sample accurately
represents population
* Important for studies seeking
generalizability

Question 5

What is operational definition

Answer 5

Translating your research question into specific, testable procedures that can be measured & observed

Question 6

Name all methods of research

Answer 6

Naturalstic observation
Case Study
Self report measures and surveys
Correlational designs
Experimental designs

Question 7

What is naturalstic observation + advantages and disadvantages

Answer 7

Watching behaviour in
in a natural/real world
setting..

Advantage : High external validity (generalizable)
* Rich, detailed information
* Sometimes the only possible option

Disadvantage : Lack of control
* Time and resource consuming
* Observer bias
* Can’t draw cause & effect conclusions

Question 8

Case study, and advantage + disadvantage

Answer 8

An in-depth analysis of a single person or setting. Includes detailed
descriptive accounts of behaviour, history and other factors

• Qualitative data
  Common when studying rare, unusual or noteworthy phenomena (lowfrequency)
• E.g., brain injuries, medical/clinical diagnosis, rare diagnosis

Advantages
* Rich, detailed descriptions and
data
* Sometimes the only possible
method

Disadvantages
* Low external validity
* Researcher bias

Question 9

What are self report methods + examples

Answer 9

Surveys & questionnaires, interviews

self-report methods involve collecting data
via asking participants to describe their own
behaviours, attitudes, views, perceptions

Question 10

Advantages and disadvantages of survey questionnaires

Answer 10

Advantage : * Affordable & efficient
* Large samples
* Many different variables
* Anonymity
* ”Snapshot” of how a group of people think/behave at a given time
* Can inform policy, lawmakers, public agencies

Disadvantages :
Assumption is that people answer honestly and provide meaningful
responses BUT:
- Careless/random responding
- Misunderstanding questions

Question 11

What is response bias and social desirability

Answer 11

Response bias: tendency for participants to respond inaccurately or
untruthfully

• Social desirability: “faking good”, responding in a way that presents
  them in a positive light

Question 12

What is reactivity ?

Answer 12

Reactivity is a concern across self-report, behavioural & physiological

Question 13

How do you choose a measure

Answer 13

1. Think about your operational variable and research question / hypothesis
2. Make your own measure or use established
3. What is the cost of the measure ?
4. What is the quality of the measure

Question 14

What do you use to evaluate measures ?

Answer 14

Reliability
* Consistency of measurement

Validity
* Extent to which a measure assesses what it claims to measure
* A test must be reliable to valid, but a reliable test can still be
completely invalid

Question 15

What is reliability ?

Answer 15

Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. A test is reliable if it
gets the same result repeatedly.
* Test-retest reliability
* Interrater reliability

Question 16

What is test retest reliability ?

Answer 16

How consistent is the measure
across time points?
* Test-retest correlation:
correlation b/w scores at Time 1
and 2

Question 17

What is inter rater reliability?

Answer 17

How consistent is the measure
across different raters?
* Cohen’s kappa: extent of
agreement between raters

Question 18

Example of inter rater reliability

Answer 18

Feline preference behaviours
Watch the participant interact with the cat and record how many times
they engage in the following feline preference behaviours such as:
* Petting the cat
* Making cute faces at the cat
* Giving the cat treats

Do raters have similar scores ?

Question 19

What is validity

Answer 19

Validity refers to how well a measure measures the variable its

Question 20

When is a measure high validity ?

Answer 20

a measure is valid (high validity) if it seems to actually measure what
the construct is designed to measure

Question 21

What is correlational/non experimental method

Answer 21

• Examine the strength of relationship between variables
• Variables observed, but not manipulated
• Correlation coefficient range from -1.0 to +1.0 (positive, negative, or
  zero)
• Higher value means stronger relationship

Question 22

Explain correlation vs causation

Answer 22

Just because two things are related (e.g., A + B) does not mean that
one thing causes the other!

• Many possible explanations
• Determining causation is only possible through experimentation!

Question 23

Pro and con of correlational/non experimental designs

Answer 23

Advantages
* Can establish trends across large amounts of data
* Good for describing behaviour
* Can be used to predict future behaviour
* Sometimes necessary due to ethical issues

Disadvantages
* Cannot infer causal direction
* Third-variable problem (aka confounding variable

Question 23

What is a third variable/confounds in correlation

Answer 23

A third variable is an outside factor that influences both variables,
potentially creating a false or misleading association between them

Question 24

What is the experimental method ?

Answer 24

Research designs that focus on determining causal influence between variables * At least one variable is manipulated, one is measured or observed * Random assignment of participants to experimental or control group

Question 25

What does IV and DV stand for ?

Answer 25

Independent variable (IV): manipulated by researcher, causes change in other variable (different levels = different experimental conditions) Dependent variable (DV): affected by changes in IV; is measured by researcher

Question 26

What is the control condition

Answer 26

Basis for comparison, lacks any treatment or manipulation of the IV

Question 27

What is placebo effect

Answer 27

Improvement because you expect improvement * Subjects must be blind (unaware of which treatment they receive)

Question 28

What is nocebo effect

Answer 28

Harm resulting from the expectation of harm

Question 29

What is expectancy effect ?

Answer 29

* Researchers’ hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias outcome * Double-blind designs prevent this

Question 30

What is demand characteristics

Answer 30

Cues that participants pick up allowing them to guess the researcher’s hypothesis * Disguising the study’s purpose can decrease this

Question 31

What is replication and explain the two types

Answer 31

Replication is the repetition of findings previously presented or published. § There are two types of replication: § Exact or direct replication § Conceptual replication

Question 32

What is informed consent

Answer 32

Potential participants should be informed in advance of all aspects of the research that may influence their decision to participate

Question 33

What is protection from harm and discomfort

Answer 33

* Psychologists must take reasonable steps to avoid harm to research participants * E.g., not harm them, not cause psychological distress, provide them with counseling services etc

Question 34

When is deception required ?

Answer 34

Required in cases where knowing the true purpose would change their behaviour of responses (e.g., the bystander effect) * Are not told the purpose of the study * Misled (given a false purpose) OR not told