Psychology Research Methods Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering sampling, surveys, correlations, variables, experiments, and statistics based on lecture notes.

Survey

Collecting information by asking people questions.

Social desirability bias

Giving answers that make you look more socially acceptable.

Self-report bias

Inaccuracy caused by people reporting information about themselves.

Sampling bias

When a sample does not accurately represent the population.

Random sample

A sample where everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected.

Population

The entire group a researcher wants to study.

Correlation

A relationship between two variables.

Correlation coefficient

A number from $-1$ to $+1$ showing the strength and direction of a correlation.

Variable

A characteristic or factor that can change or be measured.

Scatterplot

A graph showing the relationship between two variables.

Illusory correlation

Believing two variables are related when they actually aren't.

Regression toward the mean

Extreme scores tend to become closer to average when measured again.

Normal curve

A symmetrical, bell-shaped distribution centered around the mean.

Inferential statistics

Statistics used to draw conclusions about a population from a sample.

Meta-analysis

Combining results from multiple studies to find an overall conclusion.

Statistical significance

A result unlikely to have occurred by chance alone.

Effect size

A measure of how large or meaningful a difference or relationship is.

Independent variable

The factor/variable that I change in an experiment.

Dependent variable

The data that I measure in an experiment.

Experimental group

The group that gets the treatment.

Control group

The group used for comparison.