Psychological Research Methods and Statistics Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts in research methodology, experimental design, descriptive and inferential statistics, ethical guidelines, and psychological biases from the lecture transcript.

Negative Correlation

A relationship between two variables where an increase in one variable corresponds to a decrease in another, such as spending more time exercising and experiencing less depression, or watching more TV and earning lower grades.

Independent Variable

The variable manipulated by experimenters in a study to observe its effect, such as room temperature or food given to participants.

Random Assignment

A procedure used in experimental research to reduce potential confounding variables by ensuring that participant groups are similar to each other at the start of the study.

Double-Blind Study

A research design in which neither the participants nor the person distributing treatments knows who receives the active drug and who receives the placebo.

Control Group

A baseline comparison group in an experimental design (such as Group B) that allows researchers to determine cause and effe relationships between inclipende+ + dependent variables.

Debriefing

An ethical principle requiring researchers to inform participants about the true purpose of a study at the conclusion of the research.

Laboratory Environment

A research setting intentionally designed to re-create psychological forces under controlled conditions.

Scientific Process in Psychological Research

The ordered sequence of research in which researchers first create hypotheses, design their study to measure variables, and subsequently interpret their results.

Mean

The measure of central tendency representing the average of a dataset that is most influenced by skewed data or extreme scores.

Statistical Significance Standard

A threshold in research evaluation where finding a $5\,\text{percent}$ possibility that results are due to chance reflects the minimum standard typically considered statistically significant.

Descriptive Statistics

Statistical procedures used primarily to summarize data.

Inferential Statistics

Statistical procedures used to assess if collected data can be generalized to a broader population.

Normal Distribution Standard Deviation Rule

A distribution property where $68\,\text{percent}$ of all scores fall within one standard deviation on either side of the mean.

Standard Deviation

A statistical measure indicating how much individual scores vary from the average score, where a dataset like $2, 4, 6, 8, 10$ exhibits a small variation.

Experiment

The specific research method required to test whether a specific classroom reward causes students to behave better.

Perfectly Normal Distribution

A distribution of scores where the mean, median, and mode are all equal to the exact same number.

Naturalistic Observation

A non-interventional research method in which behavior is recorded in natural settings, such as observing students' seating patterns in the cafeteria.

Hindsight Bias

The psychological tendency to believe one knew how an outcome would turn out after it occurred, such as Monday morning quarterbacks acting unsurprised by weekend football outcomes.

Random Sample

A sample selection method where every member of a population has an equal chance of selection, such as pulling five student names from a hat containing all students' names.

Positive Correlation

A relationship where two variables change in the same direction, such as lower income levels being associated with fewer hours of sleep, or increased exercise resulting in better sleep.

Human Research Ethical Principles

Ethical guidelines requiring researchers to protect human participants from needless harm and discomfort.

Dependent Variable

The outcome variable measured in an experiment to assess the effect of the independent variable, such as test scores.

90th Percentile

A score standing indicating that an individual's performance is higher than $90\,\text{percent}$ of all other competitors.

Social Desirability Bias

A bias that occurs when a survey respondent answers questions in a manner intended to please the researchers rather than providing honest answers.