Psychological Research Methods and Science

Vocabulary flashcards covering core topics, scientific principles, experimental designs, validity threats, and ethics in psychological research.

Scientific Psychology

A branch of psychology distinguished from commonsense psychology by its reliance on systematic and objective methods.

Scientific Mentality

The scientific assumption that the universe is orderly and understandable.

Replication

The process of repeating research procedures to verify the robustness of findings.

Method Section

The section in an experimental report that describes participants, materials, and procedures.

Measurement

A tool of psychological science involving assigning numerical values to behavior.

Treatment Condition

A set of antecedent conditions applied to participants in an experiment.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

A committee that primarily exists to protect research participants in a study.

Informed Consent

An ethical principle requiring participants to voluntarily agree after understanding the study.

IACUC

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; the committee that oversees ethical animal research.

Plagiarism

Presenting another person's work as your own.

Phenomenology

A psychological approach that focuses on immediate personal experience.

Case Study

A descriptive record of one individual's experiences compiled by an observer.

Naturalistic Observation

Observation performed in natural settings without manipulation or researcher interaction.

External Validity

The ability to generalize research findings beyond the study to real-world situations.

Simple Random Sampling

A sampling technique that gives each member of a population an equal chance of selection.

Reliability

The consistency of measurement in a research study or instrument.

Experiment

A research design involving manipulated conditions and controlled comparison to best demonstrate causation.

Debriefing

An explanation of a study's true purpose provided to participants after data collection.

Physical Variables

Environmental factors (such as testing in the morning versus evening) that threaten internal validity if not controlled.

Test-Retest Reliability

Consistency demonstrated when the same scale or test is administered twice and produces similar scores.

Experimenter Bias

Unconscious actions by an experimenter, such as nodding approval, that influence responses toward expected outcomes.

Stratified Random Sampling

A sampling method that ensures proportional representation of specific subgroups in a population.

Subject Mortality

A threat to internal validity occurring when participants drop out of a study prior to completion.

Convenience Sampling

A sampling method selecting participants based on easy accessibility, such as recruiting from a single class.

Cross-Sectional Study

A design comparing different groups or cohorts (such as freshmen and seniors) at one specific point in time.

Predictive Validity

The degree to which a test score accurately forecasts a future outcome or performance.

Independent Variable

The presumed cause in an experiment that is manipulated by the researcher.

Quasi-Experimental Design

A research design used when random assignment of participants to conditions is impossible.

Double-Blind Procedure

An experimental control procedure that minimizes experimenter bias by keeping both participant and experimenter unaware of group assignments.

Operational Definition

Defining a concept or variable in terms of the specific, concrete operations used to measure it.

Field Study

A research method combining high ecological realism with systematic observation in natural settings.

Induction and Deduction

The process of developing a theory from observations (induction) and subsequently testing specific predictions generated by that theory (deduction).

Maturation

A threat to internal validity caused by physical or psychological changes in participants over time.

Testing Effects

An alternative explanation for score improvements resulting simply from taking a pretest prior to a posttest.

Construct Validity

The degree to which a test accurately measures the underlying theoretical construct it claims to assess.

Selection Threat

A threat to internal validity arising when non-equivalent pre-existing groups are compared without random assignment.

Purposive Sampling

A non-probability sampling method where participants are specifically targeted based on relevant criteria or experience.

Self-Correction

The scientific principle of updating or revising theories when new empirical evidence contradicts existing views.

History Threat

A threat to internal validity caused by external events occurring during data collection that impact participant responses.

Interrater Reliability

The degree of agreement or consistency between independent evaluators scoring the same behavioral data.