Psychology Research Methods and Statistics Vocabulary

Flashcards covering psychological research terminology, statistical concepts, study designs, and potential experimental biases.

Illusory correlation

Perceiving a relationship or connection between two variables when none actually exists, often because unusual events stick in memory more.

Regression toward the mean

The statistical tendency for extreme scores, performances, or events to be followed by results that are closer to the average.

Critical thinking

Thinking carefully about claims instead of just accepting them by looking at evidence, checking source reliability, and considering alternative explanations.

Hindsight bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have predicted it all along.

Peer reviewers

Experts in the same field who read a study before publication to check for errors, weak methods, or unsupported claims to prevent bad science from spreading.

Theory

An explanation built from tested evidence that ties together many facts and observations, and can be used to make predictions.

Hypothesis

A specific, testable prediction usually based on a theory.

Falsifiable

The property of a hypothesis or theory being able to be proven false through testing.

Operational definition

A precise description of how a variable is measured in a specific study, allowing other researchers to replicate it exactly.

Replication

Repeating a study, often with different participants or settings, to test whether the original finding is reliable or a fluke.

Case study

An in-depth investigation of one individual or a small group that provides rich detail but may not generalize to everyone.

Naturalistic observation

Observing subjects in their natural environment without interfering or controlling anything, offering high real-life accuracy but difficulty in determining cause and effect.

Survey

A research method that gathers self-reported data from a sample using questionnaires or interviews to estimate attitudes or behaviors of a larger population.

Social desirability bias

A tendency where people distort their answers to seem more likeable, moral, or normal than they actually are.

Self-report bias

Inaccuracy in survey or interview data caused by memory errors, exaggeration, or misunderstanding questions.

Sampling bias

A flaw occurring when a sample is not representative of the population because certain individuals were more or less likely to be included.

Random sample

A sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen, helping results generalize to the whole population.

Population

The complete group that researchers want to draw conclusions about, beyond just the individuals actually studied.

Correlation

A measure of the relationship between two variables as they change together, which does not imply causation.

Correlation coefficient

A statistic ranging from $-1.0$ to $+1.0$ where the sign indicates direction and the number indicates strength (closer to $\pm 1$ indicates a stronger relationship).

Variable

Any factor that can change and be measured or manipulated in research.

Scatterplot

A graph that plots two variables as dots to visually display whether and how strongly they are correlated.