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AP Psych
Chapter 1- Research Methods
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Survey | A technique for ascertaining the self-reportedattitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative , random sample of them. |
| Case study | An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles. |
| Naturalistic observation | Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation. |
| Correlation study | How two factors affect each other. |
| Positive correlation | A relationship between two variables where if one variable increases or decreases the other increases or decreases at the same interval. |
| Negative correlation | A relationship between two variables in which if one variable increases, the other variable decreases. |
| Experiment | Investigator uses one or two independent and observes them on things like behavior or mental processes. |
| Theory | An explanation using an iterated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations. |
| Hypothesis | A testable prediction, often implied by a theory. |
| Independent Variable | The experimental factor the is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied. |
| Dependent Variable | The experimental factor (in psychology, the behavior or mental process) that is being measured; The variable that may change in response to the independent variable. |
| Experimental group | The group of the study that receives the treatment. |
| Control group | The group of the study that does not receive the treatment. |
| Confounding variables | Other variable that could possibly affect the experiment (We want to minimize these). |
| Experimental ethics | Set of ethical principles that must be followed for an experiment to take place. |
| Animals in experimentation | It is ok to harm animals if the result will benefit humans. |
| Population | The entire set of individuals to which generalizations will be made based on an experimental sample. |
| Sample | A subset of a population selected as participants in an experiment. |
| Random sample | Kind of represents a population; theoretically each member could be included. |
| Random assignment | To reduce differences between participants, the participants are randomly assigned to experimental/control groups. |
| Hawthorne Effect | Individuals make modifications to themselves in response to their awareness to being observed. |
| Placebo | A pill, medicine, or procedure that is harmless and the effects of it are only psychological. |
| Placebo effect | A change in behavior in the absence of an experimental manipulation |
| Self-fulfilling prophecy | A prediction made about some future behavior or event that modifies interactions so as to produce what is expected. |
| Single-blind study | Participants don't know if they are in the control or experimental group. |
| Double-blind study | The research participants and the research staff are both unaware as to who is the experimental and control groups. |
| Operational definitions | A definition of a variable or condition in terms of the specific operation or procedure used to determine its presence. |
| Reliability | The degree to which a test produces similar scores each time it is used; stability or consistency of the scores produced by an instrument. |
| Statistical significance | How likely it will be to obtain something by chance. |
| Descriptive statistics | Used to summarize and describe data during research. |
| Mean | Average of the data set. |
| Mode | Most often reoccurring data point in a set. |
| Median | Data point when data set is arrange in numerical order. |
| Normal distribution | How traits are distributed within a population. |
| Positively skewed distribution | Tail on the right side is longer or fatter than the left side. |
| Negatively skewed distribution | Long tail on negative side. |
| Range | Difference between greatest and least data points |
| Standard deviation | How scores vary to the mean score. |
| Inferential statistics | Makes generalization from a sample to a population. |