Psy 101 Chapter 2

Front 1

Empricism

Back 1

The reliance on observable data.

Front 2

Self-Reports

Back 2

The indication about our internal state or subjective feeling.

Front 3

Testability

Back 3

Scientific explanations that can be proved true or false by looking at empirical data.

Front 4

Parismony

Back 4

Simplicity.

Front 5

Determinism

Back 5

The belief that a behavior follows a lawful order and is ultimately predictable.

Front 6

Basic Research

Back 6

Designed to answer theoretical questions or satisfy the curiosity of the researcher, it initially appears to have no practical implications.

Front 7

Applied Research

Back 7

Research where the practical implications and applications are obvious.

Front 8

Population

Back 8

All members of a group.

Front 9

Biased Sample

Back 9

A sample of people from a population who have a characteristic or set of characteristics that may affect the outcome of the research.

Front 10

Random Sample

Back 10

A sample in which all members of the population have an equal chance of being included in the sample.

Front 11

Representative Sample

Back 11

Has all the relevant characteristics of the population of interest, represented in the same proportions.

Front 12

Descriptive Research

Back 12

Observing and describing a behavior.

Front 13

Naturalistic Observation

Back 13

The observation of the behavior takes place in its natural setting.

Front 14

Participant Observation

Back 14

Joining a group or situation in order to study behavior.

Front 15

Interview/Survey

Back 15

Participants are asked to respond to a series of questions.

Front 16

Case Studies

Back 16

In-depth studies of individuals.

Front 17

Correlational Research

Back 17

The study of the degree to which two variables are related to one another.

Front 18

Variables

Back 18

Anything that can change or take on different values.

Front 19

Positive Correlation

Back 19

Variables change in the same direction at the same time.

Front 20

Negative Correlation

Back 20

Variables change in opposite directions at the same time.

Front 21

Correlation Coefficient

Back 21

The statistic or number representing the degree to which two variables are related.

Front 22

Experimental Research

Back 22

The manipulation of variable to determine cause and effect.

Front 23

Independent Variable

Back 23

Variable manipulated or controlled by the experimenter.

Front 24

Dependent Variable

Back 24

Variable that is measured; the outcome.

Front 25

Treatment Group

Back 25

Participants exposed to the independent variable.

Front 26

Control Group

Back 26

Participants not exposed to the independent variable.

Front 27

Extraneous Variable

Back 27

Variable other than the independent and dependent variable(s) that are present in the experimental situation.

Front 28

Quasi-Experimental Research

Back 28

Active manipulation of independent variable is not possible.

Front 29

Small-n-Research

Back 29

Uses only a few participants, or sometimes only one.

Front 30

ABA Design

Back 30

Used to answer basic research questions when there is no immediate practical application in mind.

A=Baseline Phase - Initial level of response before intervention.

B=Treatment Phase - The intervention is added.

A=Second Baseline Phase - After intervention is removed.

Front 31

ABAB Reversal Design

Back 31

Adds a second treatment phase so that the research ends with the treatment in effect. Commonly used to answer applied research questions.

Front 32

Experimenter Bias

Back 32

Things a researcher may do that unknowingly affects the data and conclusions.

Front 33

Participant Bias

Back 33

Effect of a participant's expectations on his or her responses.

Front 34

Placebo

Back 34

Medication that looks like the real thing but contains no active ingredients.

Front 35

Double-Blind Procedure

Back 35

Neither the experimenter nor the participant knows who is receiving treatment and who is receiving a placebo.

Front 36

Descriptive Statistics

Back 36

Summary of data.

Front 37

Measure of Central Tendency

Back 37

A single number used to represent a set of data.

Front 38

Mean

Back 38

The arithmetic average of the data.

Front 39

Median

Back 39

Middle score in an ordered distribution.

Front 40

Mode

Back 40

The most frequently occurring score in a distribution.

Front 41

Measure of Variability

Back 41

Describes how spread out the data are.

Front 42

Range

Back 42

The difference between the highest value and the lowest value.

Front 43

Standard Deviation

Back 43

The measure of how much an average, individual data differ from the mean.

Front 44

Inferential Statistics

Back 44

Used to make predictions about population based on samples.

Front 45

Statistical Significance

Back 45

Experimental results are reliable and not merely due to chance.

Front 46

Replication

Back 46

Repeating studies to verify results.