ch. 2 terms

  1. variable
    anything that can change
  2. theory
    a broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations
  3. hypothesis
    an educated guess that derives logically from a theory: prediction that can be tested
  4. operational definition
    provides an objective description of how a variable is going to be measured and observed in a particular study
  5. meta-analysis
    allows researchers to combine the results of several different studies on a similar topic in order to establish the strength of an effect
  6. descriptive research
    research that determines the basic dimensions of a phenomenon, defining what it is, how often it occurs, and so on
  7. case study or case history
    an in-depth look at a single individual
  8. correlational research
    examines the relationships between variables, whose purpose is to examine whether and how two variables change together
  9. third variable problem
    the circumstance where a variable that has not been measured accounts for the relationship between two other variables. third variables are also known as confounds
  10. longitudinal design
    special kind of systematic observation, used by correlational researchers, that involves obtaining measures of the variables of interest in multiple waves over time
  11. experiment
    carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates on or more variables that are believed to influence some other variable
  12. random assignment
    researchers' assignment of participants to groups by chance, to reduce the likelihood that an experiment's results will be due to preexisting differences between groups
  13. independent variable
    a manipulated experimental factor; the variable that the experimenter changes to see what the effects are
  14. confederate
    a person who is given a role to play in a study so that the social context can be manipulated
  15. dependent variable
    the outcome; the factor that can change in an experiment in response to changes in the independen variable
  16. experimental group
    the participants in an experiment who are as much like the experimental group as possible and who are treated in every way like the experimental group except for a manipulated factor, the independent variable
  17. external validity
    the degree to which an experimental design actually reflects the real world issues it is suppose to address
  18. internal validity
    the degree to which changes in the independent variable are due to the manipulation fo the independent variable
  19. experimenter bias
    occurs when the experimenter's expectations influence the outcome of the research
  20. demand characteristics
    any aspects of a study that communicate to the participants how the experimenter wants them to behave
  21. research participant bias
    occurs when the behavior of research participants during the experiment is influence by how they think they are supposed to behave or their expectations about what is happening to them
  22. placebo effect
    occurs when participants' expectations, rather than the experimental treatment, produce an outcome
  23. placebo
    in a drug study, a harmless substance that has no physiological effect, given to participants in a control group so that they are treated identically to the experimental group except for the active agent
  24. double-blind experiment
    experimental design in which neither the experimenter nor the participants are aware of which participants are in the experimental group and which are in the control group until the results are calculated
  25. population
    the entire group about which the investigator wants to draw conclusions
  26. sample
    the subset of the population chosen by the investigator for study
  27. random sample
    a sample that gives every member of the population an equal chance of being selected
  28. naturalistic observation
    the observation of behavior in a real-world setting
  29. descriptive statistics
    mathematical procedures that are used to describe and summarize sets of data in a meaningful way
  30. mean
    a measure of central tendency that is the average for a sample
  31. median
    a measure of central tendency that is the middle score in a sample
  32. mode
    a measure of central tendency that is the most common score in a sample
  33. range
    a measure of dispersion that is the difference between the highest and lowest scores
  34. standard deviation
    a measure of dispersion that tells us how much scores in a sample differ from the mean of the sample
  35. inferential statistics
    mathematical methods that are used to indicate whether results for a sample are liikely to generalize to a population
Author
halvob
ID
88924
Card Set
ch. 2 terms
Description
psychology
Updated