Module 2: Quiz

Operational definition

A researcher wants to measure attraction. However attraction is a construct. So for a study, the researcher measures attraction as the amount of time to people sitting in the lunchroom hold hands in a one hour period. This idea of turning a construct, like attraction, into something measurable, light times for holding hands, is a(n) (two words):

Longitudinal study

A study started in Wisconsin in 1957 started tracking over 10,000 high school seniors over in their entire life. Periodically, the researchers would contact each person and measure where they were. A study like this that tracks people over time is called a (two words):

Falsifiability

A person believes that there are unicorns in the universe. Even if there aren't any on earth, there will be unicorns on some planet somewhere. This hypothesis is not scientific because it can't be shown to be incorrect. With this inability to be shown to be incorrect means that the theory does not have:

Hypothesis

A research does a study in which some people get exercise before a test and some don't . The researcher than uses previous research to predict that people who exercise will do better on the test. This prediction is called a(n):

Opinions

Many times people are convinced by testimonials. A testimonial is a person who tells their personal story, which is often filled with accounts of other people who have had the same experiences. Although many people treat testimonials as if they establish facts. In reality they are just personal perspectives, which are called:

Inductive reasoning

If we go to a pond and see all the swans in the pond are white, we may then draw the conclusion that all swans in the world are white. This process of drawing conclusions, which is sometimes incorrect, is called (two words):

Experiment

Imagine a study to examine the effects of caffeine on people's test scores. 20 minutes before taking a test, 10 people are randomly chosen to drink a cup of coffee; another 10 people are randomly chosen to drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee neither group knew whether they got caffeine or not. Later, all 20 people take the test. Afterwards, their test scores are compared to see if the people who got coffee got a different test score than people who did not drink coffee. A study like this that uses a controlled method to establish cause-and-effect is called a(n):

Placebo effect

Imagine a study to examine the effects of caffeine on people's test scores. 20 minutes before taking a test, 10 people are randomly chosen to drink a cup of coffee; another 10 people are randomly chosen to drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee neither group knew whether they got caffeine or not. Later, all 20 people take the test. Afterwards, their test scores are compared to see if the people who got coffee got a different test score than people who did not drink coffee. In this study, the researcher gave people the decaffeinated coffee because people sometimes change how they behave just because they think there is an effect even when there isn't one. In other words, some people might act like they had caffeine just because they thought they had caffeine, even though they didn't. What is this called? (Two words)

Dependent variable

Imagine a study to examine the effects of caffeine on people's test scores. 20 minutes before taking a test, 10 people are randomly chosen to drink a cup of coffee; another 10 people are randomly chosen to drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee neither group knew whether they got caffeine or not. Later, all 20 people take the test. Afterwards, their test scores are compared to see if the people who got coffee got a different test score than people who did not drink coffee. In this study, the researcher is looking at how the levels of caffeine (1 cup or none) affects test scores. The test scores that are used to measure the effect of caffeine is called (two words):

Independent variable

Imagine a study to examine the effects of caffeine on people's test scores. 20 minutes before taking a test, 10 people are randomly chosen to drink a cup of coffee; another 10 people are randomly chosen to drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee neither group knew whether they got caffeine or not. Later, all 20 people take the test. Afterwards, their test scores are compared to see if the people who got coffee got a different test score than people who did not drink coffee. In this study, the researcher is looking at how the levels of caffeine (1 cup or none) affects test scores. Whether somebody gets caffeine or not is called the (two words):

Negative correlation

In a corporation, as more and more people are laid off from their work, the satisfaction of peoples remaining decreases. This relationship is called a(n) (two words):

Naturalistic observation

One method that researchers used to figure out what is going on in the world is just looking. The researchers will study something like how much people eat and drink while studying in the cafeteria and later they might try to run a study testing, what changes this behavior. The act of just watching what people do and recording it carefully without getting involved is called (two words):

Case study

The psycho analyst, Sigmund Freud, use people who came to him for therapy for his examples in his writing. He would collect information on them in detail over a long period of time and then write up the results. Freud's work is an early example of what kind of method? (Two words)

Reliability

To be valuable a measurement or measuring tool must give consistent results every time it is used. For example if a scale says that the same book weighs 2lbs one day, 4lbs another day, and 8lbs another day and the book hasn't changed. This scale does not have:

Empirical

To do science, it must be based on evidence that can be observed by others and repeated. In other words, the evidence must be:

Debriefing

When a person participates in an experiment, they sometimes are not the toll with the experiment is about because knowing may cause misleading results. If they are not told the true purpose of the experiment while it is going on, they must be told afterwards. Telling the true nature of the study afterwards is called:

Informed consent

When having people participate in a study, they need to know: *What the study is about *What the risks are *They have the right to quit without penalty at any time *That their personal results will be kept confidential The process of making people aware of this is called (two words):

Archival research

When teachers want to see if they have improved, they often will go back to old student grades and compare them. So they might find the records of students from five years ago and compare them to the records of students from last year. This kind of research, or no data is being collected from students now is called (two words):

Confirmation bias

When we have our beliefs about the world, we choose to look for things that prove our beliefs true. We may even set up situations where we try to make our beliefs true. For example, if a person believes in gun control, that person will look for articles that support the need for gun control and ignore or argue away articles that do not support gun control. This behavior is called (two words):

Survey

Wow going to EMCC, students are often asked to fill out a form on the Internet or on a form expressing how they feel about different issues, such as their teachers and learning. Research studies that collect data this way are called: