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Chapter 2
Methods in Psychology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| empiricism | the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation |
| scientific method | a set of principles about the appropriate relationship between ideas and evidence |
| theory | a hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon |
| hypothesis | a falsifiable prediction made by a theory |
| empirical method | a set of rules and techniques for observation |
| operational definition | a description of a property in concrete, measurable terms |
| measure | a device that can detect the condition to which an operational definition refers |
| electromyograph (EMG) | a device that measures muscle contractions under the surface of a person's skin |
| validity | the extent to which a measurement and a property are conceptually related |
| reliability | the tendency for a measure to produce the same measurement whenever it is used to measure the same thing |
| power | the ability of a measure to detect the concrete conditions specified in the operational definition |
| demand characteristics | those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think they should |
| naturalistic observation | a technique for gathering scientific information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments |
| double-blind | an observation whose true purpose is hidden from both the observer and the person being observed |
| variable | a property whose value can vary across individuals or over time |
| correlation | two variables are said to "be correlated" when variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of the other |
| natural correlation | a correlation observed in the world around us |
| third-variable correlation | the fact that two variables are correlated only because each is casually related to a third variable |
| third-variable problem | the fact that a causal relationship between two variables cannot be inferred from the naturally occurring correlation between them because of the ever-present possibility of third-variable correlation |
| experiment | a technique for establishing the causal relationship between variables |
| manipulation | the creation of an artificial pattern of variation in a variable in order to determine its causal powers |
| independent variable | the variable that is manipulated in an experiment |
| dependent variable | the variable that is measured in a study |
| experimental group | the group of people who are treated in a particularly way, as compared to the control group, in an experiment |
| control group | the group of people who are not teated in the particular way that the experimental group is treated in an experiment |
| self-selection | a problem that occurs when anything about a person determines whether he or she will be included in the experimental or control group |
| random assignment | a procedure that uses a random event to assign people to the experimental or control group |
| internal validity | the characteristic of an experiment that establishes the causal relationship between variables |
| external validity | a property of an experiment in which the variables have been operationally defined in a normal, typical, or realistic way |
| sample | the partial collection of people drawn from a population |
| population | the complete collection of participants who might possibly be measured |
| case method | a method of gathering scientific knowledge by studying a single individual |
| random sampling | a technique for choosing participants that ensures that every member of a population has an equal chance of being included in the sample |
| informed consent | 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 | a verbal description of the true nature and purpose of a study |
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honeymilk
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