Unit 0: Science Practices Vocabulary

confirmation bias

tendency to gather evidence that confirms preexisting expectations, pursuing supporting evidence while dismissing contradictory evidence

cultural norms

shared rules and expectations within a society or group that guide how people should think, behave, and interact

experimenter bias

researcher’s expectations/behavior influence results of study

hindsight bias

tendency after event happened to overestimate extent outcome could have been foreseen

overconfidence

overestimation of actual abilities to perform task successfully, excessive certainty in accuracy of one’s belief

peer review

assess validity, quality, and originality of articles for publication by members in the field to maintain integrity of science by filtering invalid/poor quality articles

case study

(non-experimental research) in-depth investigation of individual/small group who may have highly unusual trait

confidentiality

protection of identity, safeguards against access to sensitive information

confounding variables

outside factor that influences both the independent and dependent variables, making it hard to tell if the results are really due to the independent variable

control group

group not receiving treatment (placebo)

debriefing

giving participants fuller explanation of study they participated before or during research

deception research

participants not fully informed about the study to prevent their behavior from being influenced, but it must be ethical, cause no harm, and always be followed by a thorough debriefing

dependent variables

y-axis, variable that is measured

double-blind study

neither participant nor researcher know who is receiving treatment, used to prevent bias in results

experiment

research method where variables manipulated to test cause-and-effect relationship

experimental group

group receiving treatment

falsifiability

possibility that an idea, hypothesis, or theory can be disproven by observation or experiment

generalizability

extent finding could apply to broader population

hypothesis

testable, specific prediction about how something works

independent variable

x-axis, manipulated variable

informed assent

child/someone not fully able to give legal consent agree to participate, while a parent or guardian still gives full informed consent

informed consent

individual agree to take part in study after being told the benefits and risks upfront

institutional review board

established to protect human research participants

likert scales

rating scale commonly used in surveys that measures opinions by asking how strongly they agree or disagree with a statement (1-5)

naturalistic observation

(non-experimental research) watching and recording behavior in natural setting without interference

operational definition

clear, specific explanation of how a concept or variable will be measured or observed in a study

placebo

drug/behavioral treatment participant believes is treatment but actually not

placebo effect

person experiences real changes in symptoms/behaviors because they believe they’re receiving treatment but no active ingredient present

professional ethics

principles and standards of conduct that guide how individuals in a profession should behave to ensure integrity, responsibility, and respect in their work

qualitative research/measures

non-numerical, case studies, interviews

quantitative research/measures

numerical data

random assignment

process of placing participants into experimental/control groups by chance to reduce bias (how you divide participants into groups once in study)

replication

repeating study/experiment to see if results are consistent and reliable

survey

collecting self-reported data from many people through questions

theory

well-supported widely accepted explanation of natural phenomena based on extensive evidence

validity

accuracy, experiment actually measures what it is intended to measure

bimodal distribution

2 peaks/data clustering causing main outcomes

central tendency

center, mean mode median

correlation research

(non-experimental research) extent 2 variables related

correlation coefficient

shows strength and direction of relationship between 2 variables

convenience sampling

participants chosen based on availability

directionality problem

in correlational research when it’s unclear whether one variable causes changes in the other or vice versa.

effect size

any of various measures of magnitude/meaningfulness of relationship between 2 variables

mean

average

median

middle number

meta-analysis

(non-experimental research) statistical combination of results from 2 or more separate studies

mode

most frequent

negative skew

left skew

normal curve/distribution

bell shaped, symmetrical, most data near mean, fewer scores toward extremes

percentile rank

xth percentile, percentage of scores in a distribution that fall below a particular value

population

entire group of individuals that a study aims to draw conclusions about

random sample

subset of population chosen with equal chance of being selected, no bias, and representative (how you choose participants from population)

range

highest score minus lowest score showing spread

regression toward the mean

tendency of outliers to be followed by data points closer to mean by chance

sampling bias

type of error when some member are more likely to be included so the results doesn’t represent the population (inaccurate/skewed)

standard deviation

how much scored deviate on average from mean

statistical significance

statement that results are unlikely to occur by chance when p<0.05

third variable problem

undiscovered causative variable

variation

how spread out/different data points from each other and from average

psychology

scientific study of human behavior and mental processes

critical thinking

analyzing and evaluating information, evidence, and claims to make evidence-based judgments

reliability

consistency

sampling

process of selecting sample from population

representative sample

reflects characteristics of population

self-reported bias

inaccurately/selectively report information about themselves

social desirability bias

tendency of individuals to respond to questions or behave in ways they believe will be viewed favorably by others

participant bias

participants change behavior because they know they’re in study

single-blind study

controls for participant bias by not telling participants which group they are assigned

positive skew

right skew

confederate

someone who secretly works with the researcher while pretending to be a participant, often used to create specific social situations, but their use requires ethical safeguards like debriefing

correlation

measure of relationship between 2 variables show how 1 change when other does

illusory correlation

people believe 2 things related even though no relationship exist

laboratory environment

control variables as much as possible to establish cause-and-effect relationship under standardized conditions

descriptive statistics

numerical measures that summarizes and describes data (mean, median, mode)

inferential statistics

technique allow researchers determine results from sample generalized to larger population