AP Psych Chapter 2 review (textbook)

Step 5: Evaluating the Theory

Research findings are then submitted to journals where they are reviewed. From here the work is accessible by the scientific community where it is read, cited, and criticized - special type of study involves meta-analysis: summarizes large body of evidence from the research literature on a particular topic (compare all studies and conclude whether result is consistent)

ethics with animal subjects

The APA expects testing on animals to be done with attention to comfort, health and humane treatment. Infection, illness and pain of animal subjects should be minimized.

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; variable experimenter changes to see what it's effects ared

informed consent

an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate (included right for participants to withdraw at any time)

Thinking critically about Psychological research (5 things)

Avoid over-generalizing based on little information, distinguish between group results and individual needs (we can't generalize from a small group of people, and we can't apply conclusions from a.p group to an individual), Look for answers beyond a single study, Avoid attributing causes wheee none have been found, and consider source of psychological information (whatever the source, you're responsible for reading the details behind the reported findings and for analyzing the study's credibility)

Step 4: Drawing Conclusions

Based on the analysis conducted on the data, conclusions are drawn about the findings. Changes are made to theory after findings have been reliably replicated

measures of dispersion

- describes how much scores in a sample differ from one another range: distance between highest and lowest scores standard deviation: measures how much scores vary (on average) around the mean of a sample

Step 3: Testing Through Empirical Research

-The hypotheses must now be tested via research by collecting and analyzing data -operational definition: provides description of how a variable is going to be measured and observed in a particular study (ensures everyone agrees on what a variable means) - key aspect in process of testing hypothesis is data analysis

Step 1: Observing some phenomenon

-The phenomena observed is referred to as a variable (anything that can change) -scientists develop theories (broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations) - theories tell us about relationship between variables

measures of central tendency

mean: (most common measurement) urging averages of scores median: score that falls exactly in the middle of score distribution after they've been arranged from highest to lowest mode: score that occurs most often in a dataset

random sample

method of selecting from a population in which each person has an equal probability of being selected

deception

misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire -researcher can (in some cases) deceive participants about purpose/execution of study if it's likely to effect results - psychologist must ensure deception won't harm participant & they will be debriefed ASAP afterwards

experimenter bias

phenomenon that occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained -experimenters can sometimes subtly communicate to participants how the experimenter wants them to behave (demand characteristics)

ethics guidelines

publications that detail a wide variety of ethical situations that professionals might face in their work and offer principles for dealing with the situations in an ethical manner informed consent, confidentiality, debriefing, and deception

Types of Psychological Research

descriptive, correlational, experimental

Placebo

harmless substance prescribed as a dummy pill (no psychological effect)

longitudinal design

research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time - involves obtaining measures of variables of interest in multiple waves over time

2 Types of validity in experimental designs (include definitions)

internal validity- degree to which changes in changes in dependent variable are due to manipulation of the independent variable in external validity- degree to which experimental design actually reflects real-world issues it's supposed to address

Correlation is NOT causation

just because two variables correlate strongly does not mean that one caused the other - At times, some other variable that hasn't been measured accounts for relationship between 2 others (third variable/third variable problem)

descriptive research

research methods that involve observing behavior to describe that behavior objectively and systematically (includes observation, surveys, and case studies) - allows researchers to get sense of a subject of interest, but can't answer how and why things are the way they are

experimental research

Experiment: researcher manipulates 1+ variables that are believed to influence some other variables - if manipulation leads to difference between two groups, we could say manipulated variable caused those differences (experiment has demonstrated cause & effect)

All done (if you competed this sequentially)! Make sure you review both chapters 1 and 2 for the test. You got this. Breathe, take your time, and have confidence in yourself!

I'm so proud of you! Keep going!

experimental group

In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable

Control group

In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

Psychology's scientific method

Observing some phenomenon, formulating hypothesis and predictions, testing through empirical research, drawing conclusions, and evaluating the theory

research participant bias

Occurs when the behavior of research participants during the experiment is influenced by how they think they are supposed to behave or their expectations about what is happening to them

placebo effect

Participants' expectations, rather than deprime tal treatment, produce a particular outcome

correlational research

Research that examines the relationships between variables, whose purpose is to examine whether and how two variables change together - correlation coefficient tells us about strength & direction of relationship between 2 variables (falls between -1.00 and 1.00; closer to + or - 1.00 means stronger relationship) - zero correlation means there's no systematic relationship between the variables - allows us to use one variable to predict score on another

Inferential statistics standard

Standard is that if odds are 5/100 (0.05) or less that differences are due to chance - 0.05 level of statistical significance is minimum level of probability scientists will accept for concluding differences observed are real

dependent variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable

Step 2: Formulating Hypotheses and Predictions

Theories generate many hypotheses. The more hypotheses that are confirmed about a theory the more credibility for the theory.

Confederate

a person who is given a role to play in a study so that the social context can be manipulated

inferential statistics

numerical data that allow one to generalize- to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population -we want to know if something is likely to be replicated or found consistently in a variety of studies

descriptive statistics

numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups.p (Includes measures of central tendency)

Confidentiality

the act of holding information in confidence, not to be released to unauthorized individuals (keeping all data gathered on individuals completely confidential and/or completely anonymous)

Population

the entire group about which the investigator wants to draw conclusions

Debriefing

the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants

Sample

the subset of the population chosen by the investigator for study