Psychological Research

variable

something that can be changed

subject

participant

sample

a collection of subjects selected for observation in empirical research

population

larger collection of subjects, researchers make generalizations about

replicable

study can be repeated

falsifiable

study can be proven wrong

precise

study is clear

parsimonious

simplest explanation of study

observation

looking at something

case study

intense examination of one person with unique characteristics

correlation

strength of relationship between variables

experiment

cause and effect

sampling bias

when sample is not representative of the population from which it is drawn from

subject bias

subject changes behavior/response to align with researchers expectations

experiment bias

researchers expectations about outcome of a study influence results obtained

descriptive statistics

summarizing data using measures like mean, median and mode

inferential statistics

draws conclusions, generalize findings to larger populations ex: t-tests, anova, hypothesis tests

statistical significance

results is probably not due to chance

survey

gets information to a lot of people