AP Psychology Chapter 2 (Methods)

Anonymity

(n) the condition of being unknown or unacknowledged

Dependent variable

(statistics) a variable in a logical or mathematical expression whose value depends in the independent variable

Independent variable

(statistics) a variable whose values are independent of changes in the values of other variables

Measures of variability (range, standard deviation, variance)

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Institutional Review Board (IRB)

A committee that has been formally designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the research subjects.

case method study

Requires that the student carefully examine individual cases to develop an understanding of legal processes and the relationship between judicial theories and practical legal problems. The student must have a precise understanding of the case's material facts, holding, legal reasoning, authorities cited, and legal process utilized to benefit from this method of study. Merely understanding the gist of a case is insufficient.

Sampling

The process of selecting participants who are members of the population that the researcher wishes to study

Placebo method

Whenever participants in the experiment group are suppose to ingest a drug, participants in the control group are given an inert but otherwise identical substance.

Hawthorne Effect

a change in a subject's behavior caused simply by the awareness of being studied

Positive correlation

a correlation in which large values of one variable are associated with large values of the other and small with small

Negative correlation

a correlation in which large values of one variable are associated with small values of the other

Scatter plot

a graph with points plotted to show a possible relationship between two sets of data.

Hypothesis

a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations

Survey method

a research method that involves gathering information from people through the use of surveys or questionnaires

Sample

a small part of something intended as representative of the whole

regression line

a smooth curve fitted to the set of paired data in regression analysis

Social Desirability

a source of bias in responding to questions on personality inventories that occurs when people try to make themselves "look good" even if it means giving untrue answers

Operational definition

a statement of the procedures used to define research variables

Correlation coefficient

a statistic representing how closely two variables co-vary

Statistical significance

a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

frequency distributions

a summary chart, showing how frequently each of the various scores in a set of data occurs

Random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

experimenter bias

bias introduced by an experimenter whose expectations about the outcome of the experiment can be subtly communicated to the participants in the experiment

Informed consent

consent by a patient to undergo a medical or surgical treatment or to participate in an experiment after the patient understands the risks involved

Field experiment

experimental research that takes place in a natural setting

Controls

factors in an experiment that are kept the same

debriefing

giving participants in a research study a complete explanation of the study after the study is completed

Measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode)

mean- the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores. median- the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it. mode- the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution.

Inferential statistics

numerical methods used to determine whether research data support a hypothesis or whether results were due to chance

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

Confedentiality

preservation of the legal right of the patient to have privacy concerning his or her medical records

p value

probability of an alignment occuring with the score in question or better. A different way of representing the significance of alignmnet; significant P scores will be close to 0.

Basic Research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base

single-blind procedure

research design in which participants don't know whether they are in the experimental or control group

Reliability

research that is consistent through various different experiments

Validity

research that measures what the researcher set out to measure (accurate)

Group-matching

researchers attempt to categorize the subjects (by age, health status, gender, ect.) and ensure that the control group has members similar to those in the experimental group

Laboratory experiment

scientific method of isolating and observing variables in a controlled environment

Applied Research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

Extreme scores or outliers

scores that are far above or below the middle score of any distribution

Positive skew

skewed distribution where data has many more scores toward the lower end of the distribution

Negative skew

skewed distribution with many more scores on the higher end of the distribution

descriptive statistics

statistical procedures used to describe characteristics and responses of groups of subjects

z score

tells how many standard deviations a value is from the mean; have a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one

Coercion

the act of compelling by force of authority

Participant confounding variables

the differences amongst participants; random assignment avoids this

Sampling error

the level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results.

Population

the number of inhabitants (either the total number or the number of a particular race or class) in a given place (country or city etc.)

Response rate

the percentage of people contacted who complete the questionnaire

Representative sample

the population is divided into strata and a random sample is taken from each stratum, sample carefully chosen so that the characteristics of the participants correspond closely to the characteristics of the larger population

Stratified sampling

the population is divided into subpopulations (strata) and random samples are taken of each stratum, A variation of random sampling; the population is divided into subgroups and weighted based on demographic characteristics of the national population

Random sampling

the selection of a random sample

Situation-relevant confounding variables

the situations into which the different groups are put must be equivalent except for the differences produced by the independent variable; include time of day, weather, and presence of others

normal curve

the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes.

Response or participant bias

the tendency for subjects to behave in certain ways

Hindsight Bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

double-blind procedure

this term describes an experiment in which neither the subjects nor the experimenter knows whether a subject is a member of the experimental group or the control group

Theory

well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations