AP Psych - Research Methods

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to — upon hearing findings — to think they knew it all along

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to pay more attention to info that supports our preexisting ideas

Overconfidence

The tendency to be overconfident about the things we belive in

Applied research

Research that has clear, practical applications

Basic research

Explains questions of interests to psychologicast, but are non intended to have real-world applications

Quantitative research

Uses numerical measures

Qualitative Research

Uses more complex textual responses and key themes

Hypothesis

• Expresses a relationship between 2 variables

• Often grow out of theories

Variables

Things that can vary among the participants in the research

Dependent variable

Changes depend on the independent variable

Independent variable

• A change in the independent variable changes the dependent variable

• This variable is manipulated

Theories

• Aim to explain some phenomenon

• Generate hypotheses to collect data to support the theory

Falsifiable

Must be possible to gather data that controverts the hypothesis

Operational definitions

• Explains how a variable will be measured

• Defined before the experiment

Sampling

The process by which participants are selected

Sample

The group of participants

Population

Anyone or anything that could possibly be seleted to be part of the sample

Representative sample

• Representative of the larger population

  • Large samples are costly, but more representative

  • Medium size is optimal

Stratified sampling

A process that allows researchers to ensure that the sample represents the population on some criteria

Random Sampling

• Every member of the population has a chance of being selected

• Increases the chances that one can generalize the findings to the larger population

Convenience Sampling

Collecting data from groups that are easily accessible to you

Lab Experiments

• Conducted in a lab

• Can be controlled

Field experiments

• Conducted out in the world

• More realistic

Experimental Method

The only type of research method that shows causal relationships

Assignment

The process by which participants are put into a group

Random assignment

Each participant has equal chance of being put into either group

Experimenter Bias

The unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of groups differently to increase the chances of confirming the hypothesis

Double-blind study

• When neither the participants nor the experimenter can affect the outcome

  • Someone blind to the participants’ conditions interacts with them

• Eliminates experimenter bias

Single-blind study

• When only the participants don’t know which group they have been assigned

• Minimizes demand characteristics and participant bias

Demand characteristics

Cues about the purpose of the study that participants use to respond appropriately

Response/subject bias

The tendency for participants to behave in certain ways

Social desirability bias

The tendency to give answers that reflect well upon oneself

Experimental group

The group that gets the treatment operationalized in the independent variable

Control group

Gets none of the independent variable and serves as a basis for comparison

Hawthorne effect

Merely selecting a group of people on whom to experiment affecting the performance of that group, regardless of what is done to them

Placebo method

When the control group is given a fake but identical treatment

Placebo effect

• The psychological effects on people who took the placebo

  • Seperates the psychological effects from the physiological effects

Correlation

Expresses a relationship between 3 variables without ascribing a cause

Positive Correlation

The presence of one thing predicts the presence of another

Negative Correlation

The presence of one thing predicts the abscence of another

Study

If one seeks to control all other aspects, as they would in an experiment

Likert Scales

Pose a statement and ask people to fill out their level of agreement or disagreement

Directionality problem / Temporal precedence

The inablility to tell which of the variables came first

Third variable

Another variable that may have cause the dependent variable

Naturalistic observation

Observing paticipants in their natural habitats without interacting with them

Structured interview

A fixed number of questions are asked in a particular order

Case Study

Used to get a full, detailed picture of one / a small group of participants