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PSYC Chapter Two
MTA PSYC 1011 Chapter Two: Research Methods
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Base Rate | How common a trait or behavior is in the general population. |
| Between-Subjects Design | When in an experiment, researchers assign different groups to the control or experimental condition. |
| Blind | Being unaware of who is in the experimental and control groups. |
| Case Study | Research design that examines one person (or small group) in depth over an extended time period. |
| Central Tendency | The measure of the central scores in a dataset, or where the group tends to cluster. |
| Control Group | The group of participants that do not receive the independent variable in an experiment. |
| Correlational Design | A research design that examines how much two variables are associated. |
| Demand Characteristics | Cues that participants pick up on that can allow them to guess the purpose of the study they're in. |
| Dependent Variable | The variable that's measured to see the effects of the independent variable. |
| Descriptive Statistics | Numerical characterizations that describe data. |
| Double-Blind | When the researchers nor the participants are aware of who is in the experimental or control group. |
| Existence Proofs | A demonstration that a psychological phenomenon can happen. |
| Experiment | A research design that uses random assignment of participants to conditions and directly manipulates the independent variable. Can infer causation. |
| Experimental Group | The group that receives the manipulation in an experiment. |
| Experimenter Expectancy Effect | When a researcher's hypothesis leads them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study. |
| External Validity | How much we can generalize findings to real-world settings. |
| Heuristic | A mental shortcut that streamlines our thinking to make sense of things in the world. |
| Illusory Correlation | The perception of an association between two variables where none exists. |
| Independent Variable | The variable that is manipulated by an experimenter. |
| Inferential Statistics | Mathematical methods that allow us to determine if we can generalize findings from our sample to the full population. |
| Informed Consent | Informing research participants of what is involved in a study before asking them to participate. |
| Internal Validity | The extent to which we can make cause-and-effect relationships from a study. |
| Mean | The average of scores. A measure of central tendency. |
| Median | The middle score in a dataset. A measure of central tendency. |
| Meta-Analysis | A statistical method that researchers use to interpret psychological literature. |
| Mode | The most common score in a dataset. A measure of central tendency. |
| Naturalistic Observation | Research by watching behavior in real-world settings, no manipulation from researcher. |
| Operational Definition | The definition of what the researcher is measuring. |
| Placebo Effect | Expecting improves leading to improvement. |
| Prefrontal Lobotomy | A surgical procedure that cuts the fibers connecting the frontal lobes from the thalamus. |
| Random Assignment | Randomly sorting participants into groups. |
| Random Selection | Ensuring every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen for a study. |
| Range | The difference between the highest and lowest scores. A measure of variability. |
| Reliability | The consistency of measurement. |
| Response Sets | The tendency of participants to change their response to questionnaires. |
| Scatterplot | Grouping points on a graph in which each dot represents someone's data. |
| Standard Deviation | Addresses how far each data point is from the mean. A measure of variability. |
| Statistics | Using math to describe and analyze data. |
| Validity | How well a measure assesses what its designed to measure. |
| Variability | The measure of how loosely or tightly grouped scores are. |
| Within-Subject Design | Each participant acts as their own control in an experiment. |