Vocab - Chapter 1: Statistics And Scientific Method

Front 1

POPULATION

Back 1

the complete set of individuals, objeccts, or scores that the investigator is interested in studying

Front 2

SAMPLE

Back 2

subset of the population, chosen for time-economic reasons

Front 3

VARIABLE

Back 3

any property or characteristic of some event, object, or person that my have different values at different times depending on the conditions

Front 4

CONSTANT

Back 4

a property or characteristic of some event, object, or person that does not have different values at different times

Front 5

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

Back 5

the variable in an experiment that is systematically manipulated by the investigator

(e.g., when measuring the effects of various levels of alcohol consumption on social behavior, the IV is alcohol level)

Front 6

DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Back 6

the variable that the investigator measures to determine the effect of the IV

(e.g., when measuring the effects of various levels of alcohol consumption on social behavior, the DV is social behavior)

Front 7

DATA

Back 7

the measurements that are made on the subjects of an experiment

also known as raw or original scores, data include age, gender, and number of subjects

Front 8

STATISTIC

Back 8

a number calculated on sample data that quantifies a characteristic of the sample

(e.g., the average value of a SAMPLE set of scores)

Front 9

PARAMETER

Back 9

a number calculated on population data that quantifies a characteristic of the population

(e.g., the average value of a POPULATION set of scores)

Front 10

OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES

Back 10

three types include:
(A) naturalistic observation
(e.g., anthropology)

(B) parameter estimation
(e.g., surveys, public opinion polls, market research)

(C) correlational studies
(i.e., attention on two or more variables to see whether or not they are related, e.g., obesity and high blood pressure)

Front 11

TRUE EXPERIMENTS

Back 11

type of research in which an attempt is made to determine whether changes in one variable produce changes in another variable

Front 12

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

Back 12

concerned with techniques that are used to describe or characterize the obtained data

Front 13

INFERENTIAL STATISTICS

Back 13

involves techniques that use the obtained sample data to infer to populations

Front 14

AUTHORITY
(METHOD OF KNOWING)

Back 14

something is considered true because of tradition or because some person of distinction says it is true

(e.g., believing in evolution because a distinguished professor says so)

Front 15

RATIONALISM
(METHOD OF KNOWING)

Back 15

using reasoning alone to arrive at knowledge; it assumes that if the premises are sound and the reasoning is carried out correctly according to the rules of logic, then the conclusions will yield truth

Front 16

INTUITION
(METHOD OF KNOWING)

Back 16

knowledge acquired through sudden insight: a clarifying idea that springs into consciousness all at once as a whole; it is not arrived at by reason

Front 17

SCIENTIFIC METHOD
(METHOD OF KNOWING)

Back 17

utilizing both reasoning and intuition for establishing truth, it relies on OBJECTIVE assessment

by some means, usually by reasoning deductively from existing theory or inductively from existing facts or through intuition, the scientist arrives at a hypothesis; he or she designs an experiment to objectively test the hypothesis, and the resultant data is either supported or rejected