Psych 255 Exam 2

open-ended questions

respondents can respond in any way they like

forced-choice questions

people give their opinion by picking the best of two or more options

Likert scale

strongly agree to strongly disagree

semantic differential format

rate on a scale from 1 to 5

leading questions

the wording of the questions leads to a particular response

double-barreled question

asks two questions in one

negatively worded questions

the question contains bias and negative phrasing

response sets

people have shortcuts when answering questions

acquiescene

answering stongly agree for every question

fence sitting

answering on the middle of the scale, neutral

desirable responding or faking good

they are embarassed to answer honestly

observational research

recording or observing phenomena

observer bias

the observer’s expectations influence their interpretation of the participant’s behaviors

observer effects

the observer unknowingly influences the participant’s behavior

masked design

the observers are unaware of the study

reactivity

change in behavior when the participants know they are being observed

unobtrusive observations

making yourself less noticeable to participants

biased sample

some members of the population have a much higher probability than other members of being included in the sample

unbiased sample

all members of the population have an equal chance of being selected

convenience sampling

using a sample of people who are easy to contact

self-selection

when a sample is known to contain only people who volunteer to participate

probability sampling

every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

nonprobability sampling

involves nonrandom sampling and result in a biased sample

simple random sampling

each member has an equal chance of being selected

systematic sampling

every 4th person is chosen, there is a system to choosing

cluster sampling

the target population is grouped into clusters and then participants are chosen from the clusters

multistage sampling

a random sample of clusters and then a random sample of people within those clusters

stratified random sampling

strata (demographic catergories) and then individuals are chosen from each

oversampling

researcher intentionally overrepresents one or more groups

random assignment

is used in experimental designs, groups are assigned at random

purposive sampling

participants are recruited in a nonrandom way

snowball sampling

participants are asked to tell their friends about the sample

quota sampling

the researcher has a target sample number and will survey until their number is reached

bivariate correlation

association between exactly two variables

effect size

the strength of a relationship between two or more variables

replication

conducting the study again

restriction of range

not a full range of scores and makes the correlation appear smaller than it truly is

curvilinear association

the relationship between the two variables is not a straight line

spurious association

there is a third variable interference

moderator

when the relationship of two variables changes depending on the level of another variable

multivariate designs

involve more than two measured variables

longitudinal design

provide evidence for temporal precedence

cross-sectional correlations

test to see whether two variables measured at the same point in time are correlated

autocorrelations

they determine the correlation of one variable with itself meausured on two different occasions

cross-lag correlations

show whether the earlier measure of one variable is associated with the later measure of the other variable

multiple regression

helps rule out some third variables

criterion variable

dependent varible

predictor variable

independent variables

Terms for regression

“controlled for” and “adjusting for” and “considering”

parsimony

degree to which a scientific theory provides the simplest explaination of a phenomena

mediator

a mediating variable between the two existing variables