PS101 Final

What are the types of frequency distributions?

Ungrouped frequency distributions & grouped frequency distributions

What is an ungrouped frequency distribution?

The number of times each specific data point appears in a data set

What is a grouped frequency distribution?

The number of times a specific data point falls into a range of values in a data set

What are histograms?

A bar chart that shows ungrouped frequency distribution

What is a frequency polygon?

A line graph that shows grouped frequency distributions

What is a measure of central tendency?

A set of data where the mean, median & mode can be found

What is the median?

The middle value of a set of data after it is put in order

What is the mode?

The number that is represented the most in a set of data

What are the measures of variability?

Indicators that show how different the values are within a set of data

What is the range?

The difference between the highest number & the lowest number

What is variance?

o^2 that calculates the mean of the squares

Normal distribution is:

A symmetrical, bell-shaped histogram used in stat analysis

A positively skewed distribution means:

The mean is to the left side of the median aka a left-skewed graph

A negatively skewed distribution means:

The mean is to the right side of the median aka a right-skewed graph

What are measures of association?

Stats that describe the relationship between 2 or more variables

What is a scatter plot?

A method to graph 2 variable data where the independent variables are on the horizontal axis & the dependent variables are on the vertical axis

What is a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient?

A number between +1 to -1 that gives the strength & direction of the relationship between 2 variables

What is a coefficient of determination?

A number between 0 to +1 that shows the variation of dependent variables

What is a population?

Everyone in the group

What is a random sample?

A group made by randomly picking people from a larger population

What is hypothesis testing?

To test a statement about about a population using a sample & dividing them into an experimental & control group

What is a null hypothesis?

There was no difference between the average performance in one group compared to the other

What is an alternative hypothesis?

There was a difference between the average performance in one group compared to the other

What is a sampling distribution?

Distributing a sample

What is the significance level/rejection level?

The level of risk researchers would be willing to take to make a wrong conclusion

What is the effect size?

A measure that shows the degree of relationship between 2 or more variables

What is psychology?

The study of mental processes & behaviours

What are mental processes?

Activities of our brain when engaged in thinking, observing the environment, & using language

What are behaviours?

Observable activities of an organism which is often a response to environmental cues

What are the 4 goals of psychologists?

Description: They have to describe what they observe Explanation: They have to ask themselves why this is happening Prediction: They predict what behaviours or mental processes caused this Control: They can give advice on how to control their behavior

What is culture?

A set of shared beliefs & practices that are transmitted across generations

What is philosophy?

The study of knowledge, reality, & the meaning of life

Who was Hippocrates?

A Greek physician known as the 'Father of Medicine'

What did Hippocrates believe?

Diseases have a physical & rational explanation & are not caused by evil spirits or a punishment from god. Instead it depends from a person's physical & psychological health that was influenced by an excess or lack of 1 or more of the 4 bodily fluids

What were the 4 bodily humours/fluids?

Blood, Phlegm, Yellow bile, Black bile

What is behaviourism?

A branch of psychology that focuses only on observable behaviours

What is cognitive psychology?

A branch of psychology that studies mental processes which includes how people process information

What is humanistic psychology?

A theory of psychology focuses on the unique qualities of humans

What is deductive reasoning?

Starting to reason from getting broad ideas then applying them to specific situations

What are biases?

Beliefs that are created by personal experiences & this leads to how they see reality

What is inductive reasoning?

Way of thinking that uses specific observations to make general conclusions

What does empirical mean?

Information that is based on observable evidence rather than opinions or theories

What are theories?

Information that is based on observable evidence rather than opinions or theories

What is hypothetico-deductive reasoning?

A method where researchers start with a hypothesis then they do experiments to check if their hypothesis is correct

What is a hypothesis?

A general statement that can be tested & might be disproven

What are the steps for the hypothetico-deductive approach?

Make observations, 2. Develop a hypothesis, 3. Test & research the hypothesis by doing experiments , 4. Build a theory if the hypothesis suggested was true

What is pseudopsychology?

Practices or beliefs that seem like psychology but are not based on real science or evidence

What is a variable?

A condition or event that is studied in an experiment

Independent variable

The factor that the researcher changes or controls in an experiment

Dependent variable

The factor that changes because of the independent variable & what is being measured

What does it operationalize mean?

To create a clear definition of a variable that allows you to test it

What are the steps to conduct a research?

Identify questions of interest & review literature 2.Develop a hypothesis 3. Find a research method & participants then collect the data 4. Analyze the data 5. Prepare to get scientific review, publish & replicate 6. Build a theory

In the ' Identify questions of interest & review literature' Stage

Researchers pick a specific topic that they would want to investigate

In the 'Develop a hypothesis' Stage

Researchers would create a hypothesis which is a prediction about the relationship between variables

In the 'Find a research method & participants then collect the data' Stage

Researchers choose a method that works for their hypothesis study & collect data without being biased

In the 'Analyze the data' Stage

After the data gets collected, researchers check if it supports the hypothesis or not

In the 'Prepare to get scientific review, publish & replicate' Stage

After analyzing the data, researchers prepare their research to be published. Their papers would be peer-edited

In the 'Build a theory' Stage

After getting the results of the research, researchers develop a theory to explain what was observed during the experiment

What is a sample?

The group of people studied in an experiment

What is a random selection?

A method where the people in the sample have a equal chance of being selected in the study

What are descriptive research methods?

Type of research method that is to show a relationship between the variables of interest without looking at its cause and effect

What are experimental research methods?

Type of research method that is used to show a cause & effect relationship between the variables

What are the types of descriptive research?

Case studies, observations, & surveys

What are the advantages of using the descriptive research method?

Develop ideas more earlier, More reflective of the actual behaviour, Easier to collect data

What are the disadvantages of using the descriptive research method?

No control over the variables, Biases between the researcher & participant, Can't explain the cause & effect

What are the advantages of using the experimental research method?

Researchers have precise control over variables , Can explain & identify the cause & effect

What are the disadvantages of using the experimental research method?

Ethical concerns, Can have conditions & Biases between the researcher & participant

What is a case study?

A type of descriptive research study that focuses on a single person

What are the advantages of a case study?

It will provide details into a person's behaviour

What are the disadvantages of a case study?

The results can't be generalized to everyone

What is naturalistic observation?

A type of descriptive research study where researchers watch the people being studied

What are the advantages of a naturalistic observation?

Can study things that are too unethical to do in an experiment

What are the disadvantages of a naturalistic observation?

Can be time consuming & the observers might only notice what they expect to see

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

Effect that happens when people that are being observed in studies change their behaviours because they know that they are being watched

What are surveys?

A type of descriptive research study where researchers give participants a questionnaire or interview them

What are the advantages of surveys?

Can allow researchers to gather information that might not be able to be done by case studies or observations

What are the disadvantages of surveys?

Some people might not tell the truth & give answers that are socially acceptable

What is an experiment?

Is a controlled observation where researchers manipulate the amount of independent variables to see what effect it has on dependent variables

When experimenting, the sample would be divided into 2 groups:

Experimental group & control group

What is an experimental group?

Group that is exposed to the independent variable

What is a control group?

Group that will not be exposed to the independent variable

What is a random assignment?

Giving people in a sample an assignment to make sure that everyone has an equal chance of being in the control or experimental group

What is a double-blind procedure?

A type of study where neither the participant or the researcher knows what treatment or procedure the participant will get

What is a correlation?

The relationship between 2 or more variables

What is the correlation coefficient?

A number between +1 to -1 that gives the strength & direction of the relationship between 2 variables

What is a positive correlation?

When both variables increase together

What is a negative correlation?

When 1 variable increases & the other decreases

What is a perfect correlation?

When the correlation is -1 or +1

What are experimental analyses?

Used to examine the differences between groups & determine causes of the differences

How can experimental analysis be divided?

Descriptive statistics & inferential statistics

What are descriptive statistics?

Stats that describe or summarize the data gathered from a study

What are inferential statistics?

Stats that tell researchers what can be concluded or inferred from their results

What is the mean?

The arithmetic average of a set of scores found when the sums are added then divided by the number of values

What is the standard deviation?

sqrt (o) that calculates the square root of the variance

A higher standard deviation will be

More spread out

A lower standard deviation will be

More clustered

A standard deviation of zero will happen when:

All values are equal

What is replication?

A repeated testing of a hypothesis to make sure that the results got in the first experiment are not by chance

What are t-tests used for?

Used to compare the means of 2 groups

What are Analyses of Variance used for?

Used to compare the means of more than 2 groups