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| A systematic procedure of observing and measuring phenomena to answer questions about what happens, when it happens. what causes it, and why; involves a dynamic interaction between theories, hypotheses, and research |
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| a model of interconnected ideas or concepts hat explains what is observed and makes predictions about future event |
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| a specific and testable prediction of what should be observed if a theory is correct; in moving from a theory to a hypothesis we operationalize our variables |
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| a scientific process that involves the systematic and careful collection of data |
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| objective observations or measurements |
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| repetition of an experiment to confirm the results |
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| something in the world that can vary and that a researcher can measure |
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| a research method that involves observing and noting the behavior of people or other animals to provide a systematic and objective analysis of the behavior |
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| a type of descriptive study in which the researcher is a passive observer, making no attempt to change or alter ongoing behavior |
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| a type of descriptive study in which the researcher is actively involved in the situation |
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| a research method that studies the same participants multiple times over a period of time |
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| a research method that compare participants in different groups (ie. young and old) at the same time |
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| an unidentified variable that is responsible for differences between the groups in cross-sectional research; societal norms may make the age groups different |
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| systematic errors in observation that occur because of an observer's expectations |
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| experimenter expectancy effect |
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| actual change in behavior of the people or nonhuman animals being observed that is due to the expectations of the observer |
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| a research method that examines how variables are naturally related in the real world, without any attempt by the researcher to alter them or assign causation between them |
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| a problem encountered in correlational studies; the researchers find a relationship between two variables but they cannot determine which variable may have causes changes in the other variable |
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| a problem that occurs when the researcher cannot directly manipulate variables; as a result the researchers cannot be confident that another unmeasured variable is not the actual cause of differences in the variables of interest |
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| a study that tests causal hypotheses by measuring and manipulating variables |
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| a comparison group; the participants in a study that receive no intervention or receive an intervention that is unrelated to the independent variable being investigated |
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| treatment groups; the participants in a study that receive the intervention |
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| in an experiment, the variable that is manipulated by the experimenter to examine its impact on the dependent variable; the proposed cause of change in the dependent variable |
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| in an experiment, the variable that is affected by the manipulation of the dependent variable; proposed to be affected by the independent variable |
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| anything that affects a dependent variable and may unintentionally vary between the experimental conditions of a study |
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| everyone in the group the experimenter is interested in |
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| the degree to which the findings of an experiment can be generalized outside the laboratory |
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| in an experiment, unintended differences between the participants in different groups |
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| placing research participants into the conditions of an experiment in such a way that each participants has an equal chance of being assigned to any level of the independent variable |
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| culturally sensitive research |
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| studies that take into account the role that culture plays in determining thoughts, feelings, and actions |
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| a research method of careful and systematic assessment and coding of overt behavior |
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| when the knowledge that one is being observed alters the behavior being observed; ie. the Hawthorne effect |
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| a research method that involves the intensive examination of unusual people or organizations; an in-depth investigation of an individual subject |
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| methods of data collection in which people are asked to provide information about themselves, such as in questionnaires or surveys |
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| a research method in which researchers quantify perceptual or cognitive processes in response to a specific stimulus; ie. reaction time, response accuracy, and stimulus judgments |
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| electroencephalograph (EEG) |
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| a device that measures electrical activity in the brain; a researcher fits electrodes onto the participants scalp which pick up the brain’s electrical activity |
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| positron emission topography (PET) |
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| a method of brain imaging that assesses metabolic activity by using a radioactive substance injected into the blood stream; computer-aided reconstruction of the brain’s metabolic activity; produces a 3D map of the brain showing the most active regions with increased radioactivity; a visual display of brain activity as measured by the amount of radioactive glucose being used during a specific activity |
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| magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) |
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| a method of brain imaging the produces high quality images of the brain using a powerful magnetic field; energy is released from brain tissue in a form that can be measured by detectors |
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| functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) |
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| an imaging technique used to examine changes in the activity of the working human brain; scans a patient's brain as they are engaging in some activity to assess changes in blood oxygen levels and therefore brain activity |
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| transcranial magnetic stimulation |
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| the use of strong magnets to briefly interrupt normal brain activity as a way to study brain regions |
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| institutional review boards |
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| groups of people responsible for reviewing proposed research to ensure that it meets the accepted standards of science and provides for the physical and emotional well-being of research participants |
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| the extent to which the data collected in a study address the research hypothesis in the way intended |
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| the extent to which a measure is stable and consistent over time in similar conditions; data collected will not vary substantially over time |
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| the extent to which an experimental measure is free from error |
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| an error is introduced to each measurement but the value of the error changes every time; tends to average out over time so it is less likely to produce inaccurate results |
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| the amount of error introduced to each measurement is constant |
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| statistics that summarize the data collected in a study; might show how participants in one condition performed relative to those in another condition |
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| a measure that represents the typical response or the behavior of a group as a whole; ie. mean, median, and mode |
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| a measure of central tendency that is the arithmetic average of a set of numbers |
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| a measure of central tendency that is the value in a set of numbers that halls exactly halfway between the lowest and highest values |
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| a measure of central tendency that is the most frequent score or value in a set of numbers |
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| in a ser of numbers, how widely dispersed the values are from each other and from the mean |
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| a statistical measure of how far away each value is, on average, from the mean |
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| a graphical description of the relationship between to variables |
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| if two values have a positive correlation they increase or decrease together; if two values have a negative correlation as one increases in value the other decreases in value; if two variables show no apparent relationship the value of the correlation will be close to zero |
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| a set of procedures used to make judgements about whether differences actually exist between a set of numbers |
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| when the results obtained from a study would be very unlikely to occur if there really were no differences between the groups of subjects |
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| a study of studies that combines the findings of multiple studies to arrive at a conclusion |
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| researchers to take several samples of the participants’ experiences over time; by repeatedly getting answers to a set of questions, researchers can determine how the responses vary over time |
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| Studies that involve the examining of existing records of past events; comparing crime rates in different cities |
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| Example of a case study: Henry Molaison had very severe epileptic seizures, age 27; Doctors decided to lesion his brain to cure seizures, it worked but he could never form new memories; Showed that these damaged areas of the brain were important in forming new memories, learned some of the ways memories work like the differences between short and long-term memories |
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| “if we don’t hear back from you that you object we are going to move forward”; does not ask for consent but assumes that a lack of objection signifies consent |
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| participation has to be voluntary; participants must choose to be involved with research after they are told about the possible risks and benefits associated with the study |
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| event related potentials (ERP) |
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| shows what is happening in the brain in response to specific stimuli; looks at the output of an EEG in response to a specific stimulus |
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| computerized tomography (CT) |
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| a thin x-ray beam rotates around an area of the body generating a 3D image of the internal structures |
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