Experimental Psychology, Statistical Analysis, and Psychological Ethics Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering experimental psychology methodology, statistical analysis concepts, data measures, and psychological research ethics.

Intuitions

Internal feelings or compulsions that are often wrong.

Biases

The tendency to favor or support only one's own, narrow views.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction that has yet to be confirmed or unconfirmed by experiment.

Operational Definitions

Exact experimental procedures specified so that an experiment can be replicated.

Theory

Explanations that organize observations and predict outcomes, serving as an overarching idea that has been confirmed by multiple experiments.

Experimental Group

The group in an experiment exposed to the "treatment".

Control Group

The group in an experiment NOT exposed to the "treatment".

Double-Blind

An experimental procedure where both subjects and staff are unaware of which group has received the placebo and which has received the treatment.

Single-Blind

An experimental procedure where either the participants do not know the treatment they are receiving or the researchers do not know the treatment being given to participants.

Independent Variable (IV)

The factor manipulated by experimenters to observe its effect on behavior or mental processes.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The behavior or mental process being measured to observe changes in response to the manipulation of the independent variable.

Random Selection

The process of randomly choosing a representative sample from a diverse population to eliminate bias or skew in results.

Random Assignment

The process of assigning randomly-selected subjects to experimental and control groups to eliminate bias or skew in results.

Convenience Sampling

A sampling technique where subjects are chosen because of their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher.

Confounding Variables

Undesired variables that can impact the data and, unless controlled for, skew or ruin research findings.

Control Variables

Anything controlled by the experimenter in order to reduce confounding variables.

Sampling Bias

Occurs when some members of the intended population are less likely to be included in the sample compared to others.

Experimenter Bias

A process where scientists performing research influence the results, either consciously or unconsciously, to portray a certain outcome.

Social Desirability Bias

The tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others.

Correlation Study

A nonexperimental research method examining how two factors are linked and can predict one another, which does not prove causation.

Naturalistic Observation

Unhindered observations of animals or people in their natural environment.

Case Study

A nonexperimental research method where one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing some universal truth.

Meta-Analysis

A statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies, providing a more precise estimate of effect size based on increased power and resolution.

Bar Graph

A graph with gaps representing categories and numerical values.

Histogram

A bar graph with no gaps depicting frequency distribution across numerical data.

Scatterplot

A graph cluster of two variables with a slope suggesting a positive, negative, or no relationship.

Regression Towards the Mean

The phenomenon that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on its second measurement.

Qualitative Measures

Data collection methods, such as structured interviews or observations, that provide in-depth and complex descriptions of phenomena without quantifying them.

Quantitative Measures

Tools for gathering data in numerical form, such as Likert scales, which can then be statistically analyzed.

Correlation Coefficient

A statistical measure describing the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables, ranging from $-1$ to $1$.

Positive Skew

A graph or distribution where the bulk of the information is skewed right.

Negative Skew

A graph or distribution where the bulk of the information is skewed left.

Bimodal Frequency Distribution

A dataset that contains two peaks, unlike a bell curve which has only one peak.

Central Tendencies

Measures representing the central or typical value for a probability distribution, including mode, mean, and median.

Mode

The most frequently occurring score in a distribution.

Mean

The average score in a distribution.

Median

The middle score in a distribution, with half the scores above it and half below it.

Range

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution.

Percentile

A measure indicating the value below which a given percentage of observations in a group fall.

Standard Deviation

A measure of the amount of variation or dispersion in a set of values, indicating how spread out values are around the mean.

Statistical Significance

The likely probability that random chance was not responsible for the results of a study.

Peer Review

A process by which scholarly work or a research proposal is evaluated by other experts in the field to assess suitability for publication or funding.

Replication

The process of repeating a research study under the same conditions as the original to validate findings and increase reliability.

HIPAA Privacy Rule

A U.S. federal law requiring mental and physical physicians to keep patient information confidential.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Local university boards that screen research proposals and safeguard participants' well-being according to established guidelines.

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

A federally-mandated committee in the U.S. that oversees animal programs, facilities, and procedures.

Informed Assent

A process by which a person, typically a minor or someone unable to give legal consent, agrees to participate in a research study after having it adequately explained to them.