Psych 100 Exam Prep

Week 2 Research Methods

Cause-and-effect

Related to whether we say one variable is causing changes in the other variable, versus other variables that may be related to these two variables.

Confidence interval

An interval of plausible values for a population parameter; the interval of values within the margin of error of a statistic.

Distribution

The pattern of variation in data.

Generalizability

Related to whether the results from the sample can be generalized to a larger population.

Margin of error

The expected amount of random variation in a statistic; often defined for 95% confidence level.

Parameter

A numerical result summarizing a population (e.g., mean, proportion).

Population

A larger collection of individuals that we would like to generalize our results to.

P-value

The probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample, or more extreme, under a conjecture about the larger population or process.

Random assignment

Using a probability-based method to divide a sample into treatment groups.

Random sampling

Using a probability-based method to select a subset of individuals for the sample from the population.

Reliability

The consistency of a measure.

Sample

The collection of individuals on which we collect data.

Statistic

A numerical result computed from a sample (e.g., mean, proportion).

Statistical significance

A result is statistically significant if it is unlikely to arise by chance alone.

Validity

The degree to which a measure is assessing what it is intended to measure.

Confounds

Factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an experiment.

Correlation

Measures the association between two variables, or how they go together.

Dependent variable

The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an experiment.

Experimenter expectations

When the experimenter’s expectations influence the outcome of a study.

Independent variable

The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment.

Longitudinal study

A study that follows the same group of individuals over time.

Operational definitions

How researchers specifically measure a concept.

Participant demand

When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants them to behave.

Placebo effect

When receiving special treatment or something new affects human behaviour.

Quasi-experimental design

An experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions.

Random assignment

Assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by chance.

Ambulatory assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that assess the behavior, physiology, experience, and environments of humans in naturalistic settings.

Daily Diary method

A methodology where participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviour of the day at the end of the day.

Day reconstruction method (DRM)

A methodology where participants describe their experiences and behavior of a given day retrospectively upon a systematic reconstruction on the following day.

Ecological momentary assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that repeatedly sample participants’ real-world experiences, behaviour, and physiology in real-time.

Ecological validity

The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life.

Electronically activated recorder, or EAR

A methodology where participants wear a small, portable audio recorder that intermittently records snippets of ambient sounds around them.

Experience-sampling method

A methodology where participants report on their momentary thoughts, feelings, and behaviours at different points in time over the course of a day.

External validity

The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and broader settings.

Full-cycle psychology

A scientific approach whereby researchers start with an observational field study to identify an effect in the real world, follow up with laboratory experimentation to verify the effect and isolate the causal mechanisms and return to field research to corroborate their experimental findings.

Generalize

Generalizing, in science, refers to the ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on a smaller sample of observations. For these conclusions to be true the sample should accurately represent the larger population from which it is drawn.

Internal validity

The degree to which a cause-effect relationship between two variables has been unambiguously established.

Linguistic inquiry and word count

A quantitative text analysis methodology that automatically extracts grammatical and psychological information from a text by counting word frequencies.

Lived day analysis

A methodology where a research team follows an individual around with a video camera to objectively document a person’s daily life as it is lived.

White coat hypertension

A phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in the hospital or doctor’s office but not in their everyday lives.