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Psychology chapter 2
vocabulary terms
44
Psychology
12th Grade
01/23/2014

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Term
Scientific Method
Definition
a five-step process for empirical investigation of a hypothesis under conditions designed to control biases and subjective judgments
Term
empirical investigation
Definition
an approach to research that relies on sensory experience and observation as research data
Term
theory
Definition
a testable explanation for a set of facts or observations
Term
hypothesis
Definition
a statement predicting the outcome of a scientific study; a statement describing the relationship among variables in a study
Term
operational definition
Definition
specify descriptions of concepts involving the conditions of a scientific study; operational definitions are stated in terms of how the concepts are to be measured or what operations are being employed to produce them
Term
independent variable
Definition
a stimulus condition so named because the experimenter changes it independently of all the other carefully controlled experimental conditions
Term
random presentation
Definition
a process by which chance alone determines the order in which the stimulus is presented
Term
data
Definition
pieces of information, especially information gathered by a researcher to be used in testing a hypothesis
Term
dependent variable
Definition
the measured outcome of a study; the responses of the subjects in a study
Term
replicate
Definition
in research this refers to doing a study over to see whether the same results are obtained; as a control for bias, replication is often done by someone other than the researcher who performed the original study
Term
components of the research process
Definition
developing a research question, surveying the literature, hypothesis, independent variable, dependent variable, extraneous variables, controls, sampling/subjects, procedure, results/statistics, discussion
Term
experiment
Definition
a kind of research in which the researcher controls all the conditions and directly manipulates the conditions, including the independent variable
Term
confounding variables
Definition
variables that have an unwanted influence on the outcome of an experiment
Term
controls
Definition
constraints that the experimenter places on the experiment to ensure that each subject has the exact same conditions
Term
random assignment
Definition
each subject of the sample has an equal likelihood of being chosen for the experimental group of an experiment
Term
seven non-experimental methodologies
Definition
ex-post facto design, correlation study, survey, naturalistic observation, longitudinal study, cross-sectional study, cohort-sequential study
Term
ex post facto
Definition
research in which we choose subjects based on a pre-existing condition
Term
survey
Definition
a quasi-experimental method in which questions are asked to subjects; when designing a survey, the researcher has to be careful that the questions are not skewed or based toward a particular answer
Term
naturalistic observation
Definition
a research method in which subjects are observed in their natural environment
Term
longitudinal
Definition
a type of study in which one group of subjects is followed and observed for an extended period of time
Term
cross sectional study
Definition
a study in which a representative cross section of the population is tested or surveyed at one specific time
Term
cohort sequential study
Definition
a research method in which a cross section of the population is chosen and then each cohort is followed for a short period of time
Term
correlation study
Definition
a type of research that is mainly statistical in nature; correlation studies determine the relationship (or correlation) between two variables
Term
personal bias
Definition
the researcher allowing personal beliefs to affect the outcome of a study
Term
expectancy bias
Definition
the researcher allowing his or her expectations to affect the outcome of a study
Term
double-blind study
Definition
an experimental procedure in which both researchers and participants are uninformed about the nature of the independent variable being administered
Term
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Definition
a committee at each institution where research is conducted to review every experiment for ethics and methodology
Term
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
Definition
a committee at each institution where research is conducted to review every experiment, involving animals, for ethics and methodology
Term
frequency distribution
Definition
a summary chart, showing how frequently each of the various scores in a set of data occurs
Term
histogram
Definition
a bar graph depicting a frequency distribution; the heigh of the bars indicates the frequency of a group of scores
Term
descriptive statistics
Definition
statistical procedures used to describe characteristics and responses of groups of subjects
Term
measure of central tendency
Definition
help us locate the center of a set of measurements
Term
measure of variability
Definition
to describe the "spread-outness" of scores around some measures of central tendency
Term
mean
Definition
the measure of central tendency most often used to describe a set of data-calculated by adding all the scores and dividing by the number of scores
Term
mode
Definition
a measure of central tendency for a distribution, represented by the score that occurs more often than any other
Term
median
Definition
a measure of central tendency for a distribution, represented by the score that separates the upper half of the scores in a distribution from the lower half
Term
range
Definition
the simplest measure of variablility, represented by the difference between the highest and the lowest values in a frequency distribution
Term
standard deviation (SD)
Definition
a measure of variablility that indicates the average difference between the scores and their mean
Term
normal distribution
Definition
a bell-shaped curve, describing the spread of a characteristic throughout a population
Term
correlation
Definition
a relationship between variables, in which changes in one variable are reflected in changes in the other variable- as in the correlation between a child's age and height
Term
correlation coefficient
Definition
a number between -1 and +1 expressing the degree of relationship between two variables
Term
inferential statistics
Definition
statistical techniques (based on probibility theory) used to assess whether the results of a study are reliable or whether they might be simply the result of chance; inferential statistics are often used to determine whether two or mroe groups are essentially the same or different
Term
representative sample
Definition
a sample obtained in such a way that it reflects the distribution of important variables in the larger population in which the researchers are interested- variables such as age, income level, ethnicity, and geographic distribution
Term
significant difference
Definition
psychologists accept a difference between the groups as "real", or significant, when the probability that it might be due to an atypical sample drawn by chance is less than 5 in 100
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