Studied by 6 people
Cultural norms
The shared expectations and rules that guide behavior within a specific culture or society
Random Assignment
each participant has an equal chance of being placed into any group.
case study
one individual is studied in-depth in order to identify behavioral, emotional, and/or cognitive qualities that are universally true, on average, of others
correlation
a statistical index used to represent the strength of a relationship between two factors, how much and in what way those factors vary, and how well one factor can predict the other
positive correlation
that one variable increases as the other variable increases
negative correlation
one variable decreases as the other variable increases
meta-analysis
a research strategy where instead of conducting new research with participants, the researchers examine the results of several previous studies.
naturalistic observation
researchers opt to observe their participants in their natural
habitats without interacting with them at all.
Hypothesis
testable predictions
falsifiable
the principle that states that a research hypothesis must be able to be disproven
operational definitions
Precise definitions of a variable being observed so that is it measurable and manageable
Replication
repeating the original observations with different participants,
materials, and circumstances.
central tendency
a single score that represents a whole set of scores.
variation
the differences and diversity that exist within a population, specifically in terms of traits or characteristics
percentile rank
the percentage of scores in a distribution that a particular score falls above.
mode
the most frequently occurring score or scores.
mean
the total sum of all the scores divided by the number of scores.
Median
The midpoint—the 50th percentile, middle
range
the gap between the lowest and highest
normal curve
a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the
distribution of many types of data
Positive Skew
most values are on the lower end, but there are some exceptionally large values. This creates a "tail" or skew toward the positive end.
negative skew
most values are on the higher end, but there are some exceptionally small values. This creates a "tail" or skew toward the negative end.
bimodal distribution
if two scores appear equally frequently and more frequently than any other score.
standard deviation
a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.
regression toward the mean
the tendency for extreme or unusual scores or events to fall back (regress) toward the average.
random sample
a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.
sample
smaller group of the population
representative sample
a sample that has characteristics that are similar to those in the population.
Convenience method
a sampling method used where a you select a naturally-occurring group of people within the population you want to study.
Confirmation Bias
when you look for evidence to confirm your beliefs while ignoring all other evidence that disapprove of it.
Hindsight Bias
the tendency upon hearing about research findings (and many other things) to think that they knew it all along
Overconfidence
people's tendency to be excessively confident in
their decisions.
Independent variable
the experimental variable or variable that is manipulated by the research
confounding variable
any difference between the experimental and
control conditions
Dependant variable
the variable that is being measured
population
the whole group you want to study and describe
Note 
Flashcard (76)