Pysch 0.3

Peer reviewers 

Peer reviewers 

experts who evaluate the quality and validity of research before it gets published. Ensures research is sound and conclusions are reliable.

Theory

a roadmap helping observation organization and making predictions about behavior. Guides research and understanding

Hypothesis

A specific, testable prediction derived from a theory.

Falsifiable

ability to be disproven through evidence

Operational Definition 

How a concept is measured or manipulated in a study

Replication

the process of repeating a study to see if you can get the same results

Case Study 

in depth investigation into a person or group. Useful for explaining specific phenomia but not good for studying the general public.

Meta-Analysis 

A statistical amalgamation of multiple studies on the same topic. Good overview of topic however is dependent on the quality of other studies and can be complex

Naturalistic Observation 

Observing people in a natural setting. Reduced likelihood of social desirability bias and good for hypothesis creation however experimenters cannot manipulate variables and is expensive to do.

Survey 

A questionare used to collect data from a large amount of people. Quick, efficient, cheap and can experiment on multiple variables however it easily susceptible to reporting basis'

Social desirability bias

Respondent give answers they think the experimenters want to hear rather than the truth

Self-report bias 

Respondents provide inaccurate info about themselves

Experimenter Bias

Experimenter expectations influence the outcome of the study. Usually through unintentionally encouraging people to answer a certain way

Population 

The whole group a researcher is interested in

Sample

Group of people participating in the experiment

Sampling Bias

inaccurate sample in relation to population

Random Sample 

Every member of the population has equal chance of being selected. Usually using a random number generator.

Convenience Sampling 

selecting people who are currently available

Representative Sample

Sample which is accurate toward the population the experiment is about