PSY 200 Chapter 2 vocab

a descriptive research technique in which the effort is focused on a single case, usually an individual

the principle that personal information obtained from a participant in research or therapy should not be revealed without the individual's permission.

an uncontrolled variable that change along with the independent variable

a statistic that indicates whether two variables vary together in a systematic way; correlation coefficients vary from +1.00 to -1.00.

at the conclusion of an experimental session, informing the participants about the general purpose of the experiment, including any deception that was involved.

the behavior that is measured or observed in an experiment

methods designed to observe and describe behavior

mathematical techniques that help researchers describe their data

neither participants nor research observers are aware of who has been assigned to the experimental and control groups; its used to control for both subject and experimental expectancies

a technique in which the investigator actively manipulates the environment to observe its effect on behavior

the extent to which results generalize to other situations or are representative of real life

the aspect of the environment that is manipulated in an experiment.  It must consist of at least two conditions.

mathematical techniques that help researchers decide whether data are representative of a population or whether differences among observations can be attributed to chance.

the principle that before consenting to participate in research, people should be fulling informed about any significant factors that could affect their willingness to participate

the extent to which an experiment has effectively controlled for confounding variables; internally valid experiments allow for the determination of causality.

the arithmetic average of a set of scores

the middle point in an ordered set of scores; half of the scores fall at or below the median score, and half fall at or above the median score

the most frequently occurring score in a set of scores

a descriptive research technique that records naturally occurring behavior as opposed to behavior produced in laboratory

definitions that specify how concepts can be observed and measured

an inactive, or inert, substance that resembles a experimental substance

a technique ensuring that each participant in an experiment has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the conditions of the experiment

a procedure guaranteeing that everyone in population has an equal likelihood of being selected for the sample

the difference between the largest and the smallest scores in a distribution

when behavior changes as a result of the observation process

a multi-step technique that generates empirical knowledge--that is, knowledge derived from systematic observations of the world.

experimental participants do not know to which condition they have assigned (e.g., experimental versus control); its used to control for subject expectancies

an indication of how much individual scores differ or vary from the mean

a descriptive research technique designed to gather limited amounts of information from many people, usually by administering some kind of questionnaire.

a measure of how the scores in a distribution of scores differ from one another