Term
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Definition
| Extraneous outside factors that can contaminate findings. Control these to improve internal validity. |
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Term
| Advantages of Lab Experiments |
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Definition
1. Evidence of Causality: Establish cause and effect link.
2. Control: Environment, Variables, and Subjects.
3. Cost: Low compared to other research methods.
4. Replication: Easily permitted. |
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Term
| Disadvantages of Lab Experiments |
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Definition
1. Artificiality: Behavior can be altered when out of the norm.
2. Researcher Bias: Manipulation to get desired hypothesis.
3. Limited Scope: Small scale may not lend to large scale. |
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Term
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Definition
| A method to control bias in which neither subjects nor researchers know whether a given subject belongs to the control group or to the experimental group. |
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Term
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Definition
| Any experimental design that would be too tim-consuming, expensive, and ethically questionable to take place |
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Term
| Conducting Experimental Research |
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Definition
1. Select the setting: Typically a lab.
2. Experimental Design: Depends on hypothesis, variables...
3. Operationalize Variables: IV's + DV's
4. Manipulate IV: Straightforward or Staged.
5. Assign subjects to conditions: Random sample.
6. Pilot Tests: A mini experiment to verify manipulations
7. Administer Experiment
8. Analyze + Interpret: What do the results indicate? |
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Term
| Straightforward Manipulation |
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Definition
| Written materials, verbal instructions, or other stimuli are presented to the subjects. |
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Term
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Definition
| Constructed events and circumstances that enable the independent variable to be manipulated. Simple or complex. Sometimes involves a confederate. |
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Term
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Definition
| A person who pretends to be a subject but who is actually part of the manipulation. |
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Term
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Definition
| A test to determine if the manipulation of the independent variable actually has the intended effect. |
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Term
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Definition
| After the experiment, the researcher explains the purpose and the implications of the study to the researched person or group. |
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Term
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Definition
| Arbitrarily assigning subjects to various treatment groups. |
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Term
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Definition
| Grouping subjects on characteristics that may relate to the dependent variable. |
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Term
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Definition
| a blueprint or set of plans for conducting lab research |
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Term
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Definition
R: Represents a random sample or random assignment
O: Observation or Measurement
X: Represents a treatment or manipulation |
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Term
| Pretest-Posttest Control Group |
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Definition
| Two random sample groups. Two initial Observations. One group gets a manipulation while the other is a control. Two post observations. |
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Term
| Posttest-Only Control Group |
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Definition
| Two random sample groups. NO initial Observations. One group gets a manipulation while the other is a control. Two post observations. |
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Term
| Solomon Four-Group Design |
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Definition
| Four random sample groups. ONLY two initial Observations. Two groups get a manipulation while the others are control. Four post observations. |
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Term
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Definition
| Several measurements of the same subjects |
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Term
| Quasi-Experimental Designs |
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Definition
| Experimental situation where subjects are not randomly assigned to experimental conditions. Example: Bought out radio station employee morale. |
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Term
| Advantages of Field Experiments |
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Definition
1. High external validity: Subjects in normal habitat.
2. Non reactive: Subjects unaware of study taking place
3. Useful for studying complex social processes
4. Can be inexpensive.
5. Might be the only option. |
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Term
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Definition
| Influence that a subject's awareness of being measured or observed has on his or her behavior. |
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Term
| Disadvantages of field experiments |
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Definition
1. Practically impossible depending on situation
2. Control |
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Term
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Definition
| Condense data sets to allow for easier interpretation. Organizing data into a meaningful way. |
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Term
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Definition
| A collection of numbers. Can be ordered or unordered. |
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Term
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Definition
| A table of scores ordered according to magnitude and frequency of occurrence. |
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Term
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Definition
| Answers the question of what a typical score is in a data distribution using mean median and mode. Looks at where data is centered. |
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Term
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Definition
| Score or scores that occur most frequently. Has major drawbacks. |
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Term
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Definition
| The midpoint of a distribution. |
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Term
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Definition
| The average of a distribution. |
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Term
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Definition
| Pull the mean toward their direction. |
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Term
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Definition
| Describe the way the scores are spread out about the central point. The tools used? Range, Variance, and Standard Deviation. |
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Term
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Definition
| Help make data more manageable by measuring to basic tendencies of distribution: central tendency & dispersion |
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Term
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Definition
| The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution. |
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Term
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Definition
| An index of the degree to which scores differ from the mean. |
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Term
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Definition
| The square root of the variance. More meaningful because it is expressed in the same units as the measurement used to compare it. |
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Term
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Definition
| a curve which all representative data in a data distribution conforms to. |
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Term
| Percentage of data that falls into a normal curve |
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Definition
Within 1 positive and negative standard deviation: 34.1%
Between 1-2 positive/negative std. deviations: 13.5%
Between 2-3 positive/negative std. deviations: 2.2% |
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Term
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Definition
1. Provide direction for a study
2. Eliminate trial-and-error research
3. Help rule out intervening and confounding variables
4. Allow for quantification of variables |
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Term
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Definition
Compatible with current knowledge
Logically consistent
Succinct
Testable |
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Term
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Definition
| asserts that the statistical differences or relationships discovered in an analysis are due to chance or random error. |
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Term
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Definition
| short hand for significance level |
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Term
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Definition
| Wrongly reject null hypothesis when it's actually true. |
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Term
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Definition
| Fail to reject the null hypothesis when it's actually false |
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Term
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Definition
| Tells strength and direction of a correlation. |
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Term
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Definition
| (IV) Categorical + (DV) Categorical |
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Term
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Definition
| (IV) Categorical + (DV) Quantitative |
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Term
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Definition
| (IV) Quantitative + (DV) Quantitative |
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Term
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Definition
| "Everything is on the up and up!" +X & +Y |
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Term
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Definition
| "What comes up, must come down" +X & -Y |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Correlation is necessary, but not sufficient condition for claiming causality. Theory may tell us they are causally related – but remember there are other criteria that have to be considered |
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Definition
Cause and effect must be correlated
Cause must precede the effect
Must account for alternative explanations |
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Term
| Reporting and interpreting ANOVA: Analysis of variance |
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Definition
Assess the difference in the means of a quantitative variable for different values of a nominal variable
Used to compare two or more sample means
We use “k” to stand for the number of sample means we are comparing
H0: Mean1 = Mean2 = Mean3 = … = Meank
HR: At least one mean is different. |
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Term
| Reporting and interpreting Chi-Square (X2) |
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Definition
Is there a trend?
Chi-square (χ 2) test: Is there a trend?
Yes or no.
Are there any differences from “expected” (all things equal) values?
Doesn’t tell you where the differences are, or the nature of the trend, just if there is one or not.
Use Pearson’s Chi-square
Evaluated for significance using p value
If p < .05, χ 2 is significant – the data suggests X differences in Y (or Y differences in X).
Are there voting differences in political party affiliation? |
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Term
| Levels of Measurement: Nominal |
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Definition
| Categories, no one category is necessarily above or below another. ex: Religious ID |
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Term
| Levels of Measurement: Ordinal |
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Definition
| Categories, but they are ordered. ex: Horse Race Results (1st, 2nd, 3rd) |
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Term
| Levels of Measurement: Interval |
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Definition
| Categories, Ordered with equal distance between each category. ex: Temperature |
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Term
| Levels of Measurement: Ratio |
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Definition
| Categories, Ordered with equal distance between each category, with meaningful zero. ex: age |
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Term
| ANOVA assesses the difference in the means of a quantitative variable for different values of a nominal variable. What is an example? |
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Definition
Example: Do males and females differ in their weight?
Sex is the Nominal variable
Weight is the Quantitative variable |
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