unit 2 test

Research Method - Descriptive Research - Observational

(Naturalistic & laboratory) help collect data in real-time & be able to watch. (naturalistic) researchers view who they are studying in their natural habitats/environments (laboratory) more controlled in a laboratory. less time consuming. the researcher has to be very focused. if an observer doesn't know what they're doing/ are distracted/ have a bias/ etc. the data could be unreliable or untrue.

standard deviation

A measure of how many scores in a set of data vary around the mean. To get the standard deviation you Add up the deviations from the mean and then you square it. After that you divide that number over the number of scores. finally the score you get you square it & that is the standard deviation.

statistical significance

A statement of How likely it is that a result happened by chance

A double-blind control is essential for which of the following?

Assessment of a treatment designed to reduce schizophrenic symptoms

normal curve

Data is normally distributed. Most scores are towards the mean while there's less towards the extremes. It's shaped like a bell. There is symmetry.

In an experiment which of the following variables refers to the outcome that is measured by the experimenter?

Dependent

Which of the following research approaches would be best for testing the hypothesis that the presence of certain odors causes people to gamble more?

Experimental

Research Method - Descriptive Research - Case-Study

Focus on one singular person in depth to get an idea of an entire group/ species/ etc. help to be able to study rare phenomena in certain people. biases can interfere with the information studied. one person cannot truly generalize an entire group of people.

Which of the following statements best describes the placebo effect?

It can be brought about by the individual's expectations.

In a normal distribution which of the following statements is true about the area that falls between one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below the mean?

It contains the middle 68% of the distribution.

Professor González is interested in evaluating the ability of a new method of note-taking to improve student grades. Group A is trained in the new method and group B uses the traditional outline method of taking notes. What is Professor González' independent variable?

Method of note-taking

Which of the following best describes the graph above?

Negatively skewed distribution

A researcher surveyed social adjustment in the same group of 20 people from early childhood through adulthood. In this example the group of 20 people surveyed was the study's

Sample

Standard deviation is a measure of how much

Scores in a group differ from the mean of that group

What does statistically significant mean? How is it measured?

Statistically significant - it is highly likely that your observed difference in scores was not due to chance. a statistically significant difference (a difference that would show up by chance 5% of the time or less) is expressed as a P-value. The probability of concluding that a difference exists when it does not. The smaller the p-value the more meaningful and reliable results. The p-value can never be zero because a researcher can never be 100% sure the results did not occur by chance.

Scatterplot

a visual representation of the relationships or values of 2 variables

Which of the following studies demonstrates a cross-sectional research design?

Testing first, third, and fifth graders at the beginning of the school year

mean

The average from a set of data. you get the mean by adding all the numbers and then dividing by the number of scores.

An instructor conducted an experiment to determine the effects of two different methods of study on the amount students learned in introductory physics. The results showed that the average amount learned by the group using one method was greater than the average amount learned by the group using the other. However the difference was not statistically significant. Which of the following is the most appropriate conclusion to be drawn?

There is a possibility that the difference between the two groups occurred by chance.

When is it permissible for a psychologist to share a client's test scores with another person?

When the client provides written permission to share results

Cofounding Variable

a factor that isn't the independent variable that could cause an effect on the experiment

Experimental Group

a group of participants exposed to the independent variable. the medication or what is being tested

Placebo

a harmless medication used to test the effectiveness of the real medication

Theory

a model that describes a behavior & to understand human thoughts. an explanation to excuse future behaviors.

Survey

a questionnaire to collect data & examine a group of people

What does central tendency mean?

a single number that represents an entire group of numbers

Hindsight Bias

a term used when someone is overconfident in predicting a scenario playing out. Also known as "I knew it!". It causes distortion of memories & it makes us more confident to believe that we will predict something next time.

To determine whether a cause-effect relationship exists between two variables a researcher must use

an experimental approach

Double-Blind Procedure

an experimental procedure where the participants & the experimenter don't know if they've taken medication or a placebo

Hypothesis

an idea that which testing & examining can be proven.

Operational Definition

carefully worded statements. usually more eloquent. we need these so we know exactly what is being talked about.

Research Method - Experimental Research

cause & effect of a scenario. changing independent variables to affect the dependent variable to see how it affects or it even affects at all. in the experiment one variable is changed & the others are affected as well. the researchers can have control over the variables & the research. can be combined with other research methods. the personal bias of a researcher could play a part & affect the research. there can be human error while performing this kind of research. the groups might be incapable to compare. the results could possibly only apply to one scenario.

In an experiment to test the effects of hunger on aggressive behavior aggressive behavior would be the

dependent variable

Drawing a random sample of people from a town for an interview study of social attitudes ensures that

each person in the town has the same probability of being chosen for the study

Random Assignment

giving participants experimental/control groups randomly

Random Sample

individuals randomly selected to represent an entire group

In order to yield information that is generalizable to the population from which it was drawn a sample

must be normally distributed

Illusory Correlation

perceiving a relationship between two variables when there is none

Replication

repeating a study which different candidates to confirm that the results stay the same

Experiment

research method to test a hypothesis

Correlation Coefficient

statistic to measure the strength of a correlation. it can range from -1.0 (perfect negative correlation) & +1.0 (perfect positive correlation)

What is the normal curve?

symmetrical pattern of variation from the mean. Also known as a normal curve or bell curve. the calculation describing how much scores vary from the mean is the standard deviation.

range

the difference between the highest and lowest score in a set of data

Independent Variable

the experimental factor that is being tested

Control Group

the group of participants that is not exposed to the independent variable. they are used to compare to the experimental group

list three measures of central tendency

the mean - an average of all data (add all scores, divide by # of scores). the median - middle point. the mode - most frequently occurring score

median

the middle score in a set of data

mode

the number that most frequently pops up in a set of data

Depending Variable

the outcome factor. the variable that could change due to the independent variable

The results of a correlational study involving student volunteers in a psychology laboratory might not apply to the general population because

the sample is not randomly chosen and therefore may not be a representative sample

Population

total people from where a study is focusing on

Experimental research differs from correlational research in that experimental research

uses a dependent variable

List three conditions necessary for data to be useful and drawing conclusions about human behavior

Reliable. without bias. if the experiment is repeated you will get similar / same answers. There is a large amount of data. there is low variability in data. the data was collected from a representative sample of individuals. not a biased sample.

Operational definitions are used for which of the following reasons?

They enable researchers to replicate studies by precisely describing the variables and how they are used.

Critical Thinking

analyzing facts to come up with an opinion. this comes from logic. being open to new perspectives. & questioning instead of judging.

Correlation

association or connection between two variables. a positive correlation. negative correlation. & no correlation are the possible outcomes.

Positively skewed distribution

data that contains a large number of low scores result in a positively-skewed distribution. The mean is higher than the median. In this case the median is a better measure of the central tendency. If the peak of the curve is leaning towards the left it is a positively skewed distribution.

Negatively skewed distribution

data that has a large number of high scores result in a negatively skewed distribution. The mean is lower than the median. In this case the mean is a better measure of the central tendency. If the peak of the curve is leaning towards the right it is a negatively skewed distribution.

In experimental psychology a significant difference refers to a

difference not likely due to chance

A researcher randomly assigned boys and girls to each of the two groups. One group watched a violent television program while the other group watched a nonviolent program. The children were then observed during a period of free play and the incidence of aggressive behavior was recorded for each group. This research method is best characterized as

experimental

A survey shows that children who have encyclopedias in their homes earn better grades in school than children whose homes lack encyclopedias. The researcher concludes that having encyclopedias at home improves grades. This conclusion is erroneous primarily because the researcher has incorrectly

inferred causation from correlation

Naturalistic Observation

the subject is studied in their natural habitat with no alterations by the researcher

Research Method - Descriptive Research - Survey

to collect data from various people. more responses & greater amount of "test subjects". responses could be limited in value. harder to analyze statistically if open-ended.

Research Method - Correlational Research - Positive / Negative Correlations

to predict. it shows the possibility of a connection but it cannot directly prove that there is one.

Case Study

where one individual person is studied & examined for a period of time in hopes to find out something that resonates with all