Term
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Definition
Critical thinking is the process of assessing claims and making judgments on the basis of
well-supported evidence. |
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Term
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Definition
A hypothesis is a specific, testable proposition about a something to be studied (i.e., an
educated guess about what might happen). Hypotheses state in clear, precise words
what researchers think may be true and how they will know if it is not. |
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Definition
Operational definitions are statements describing the exact operations or methods
used to manipulate and/or measure the variables in the research. |
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Term
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Definition
Variables are specific factors or characteristics that are manipulated and measured in
research. |
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Definition
. Data are objective, quantifiable evidence—numbers or scores that represent the
variables of interest and provide the basis for conclusions. |
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Term
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Definition
the degree
to which the evidence is stable and consistent, in other words, able to be replicated |
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Term
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Definition
the degree to which the evidence accurately represents the topic being
studied |
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Term
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Definition
. A theory is basically a set of explanations for why something occurs. More precisely,
it is an integrated set of statements designed to account for, predict, and even suggest
ways of controlling certain phenomena. |
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Term
| four scientific goals of psychology |
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Definition
The scientific method generally consists of four main goals: Describe the phenomenon, make
predictions about the phenomenon, and introduce enough control over the variables in the
research to allow an explanation of the phenomenon with some degree of confidence. |
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Term
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Definition
Naturalistic observation is the process of watching without interfering as behavior occurs
in the natural environment. Naturalistic observation provides large amounts of very rich data
and allows observation of events that would be very difficult to duplicate in laboratory
experiments. |
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Term
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Definition
A case study is an intensive examination of behaviors or mental processes in a particular
individual, group, or situation. Case studies often combine observations, tests, interviews,
and analysis of written records. Case studies are useful when a phenomenon is new, complex
or relatively rare. Case studies are essential in studying some clinical and neurological
problems. |
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Term
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Definition
Surveys give broad portraits of large groups. A survey (also called interview, questionnaire,
or self-report) asks people about their behavior, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and/or
intentions. Surveys are an efficient means of gathering large amounts of data from a large
number of people. |
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Term
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Definition
Correlational studies examine relationships between variables in order to analyze trends in
data, to test predictions, to evaluate theories, and to suggest new hypotheses. The data from
naturalistic observations, case studies, and surveys may be examined to see if relationships
exist between variables |
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Term
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Definition
| An experiment is the only research method that directly tests cause-and-effect relationships between variables. Experiments are situations in which the researcher manipulates one variable and then observes the effect of that manipulation on another variable, while holding all other variables constant. |
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Term
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Definition
Flaws in experimental control include confounding variables, which are factors that might have affected the dependent variable along with or instead of the independent
variable. Three sources of confounding include random variables, participant
expectations, and experimenter bias. |
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Term
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Definition
Random variables are uncontrolled (or uncontrollable) factors such as
differences among participants (background, physical health, personalities, or vulnerability to stress, etc.) as well as differences in research conditions (time of year, time of day, temperature, noise level, etc.). |
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Term
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Definition
Random assignment of participants to experimental or control groups is
used to distribute the impact of uncontrolled variables randomly, and most
likely evenly, across the groups, minimizing the chance they will distort the
results. Random assignment is not the same as random sampling (discussed
below). Random sampling is used to ensure that the people studied are
representative of some larger group, whereas random assignment is used in
experiments to create equivalence among various groups. |
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Term
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Definition
. A placebo is a treatment that contains nothing
known to be helpful, but that nevertheless produces benefits because a person
believes it will be beneficial. |
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