important psych keywords

Internal validity

a measure which ensures that a researcher's experiment design closely follows the principle of cause and effect.

Construct validity

how well a test measures the concept it was designed to evaluate.

External validity

concerns the generalizability of research findings to the broader population or real-world settings.

Population validity

refers to whether you can reasonably generalise the findings from your sample to a larger group of people (the population)

Ecological validity

refers to the genuine reflection of real-world situations in research findings.

Validity

The extent to which the results really measure what they are supposed to measure.

Reliability

The extent to which the results can be reproduced when the research is repeated under the same conditions.

Methodological triangulation

involves using more than one method to gather data, such as interviews, observations, questionnaires, and documents.

structured interview

the interview schedule states exactly what questions should be asked, as well as the order of the questions. The interview procedure is thus highly controlled.

A semi-structured interview

could look like an informal conversation, but the interview does follow a schedule which involves a set of open-ended questions that permit the respondent to answer more freely while maintaining the focus of the interview.

focus groups

Group interviews

participant observation

the researcher immerses themself in the group that is being observed

non-participant observation

where the researcher is not part of the group

reactivity

when both people and animals often change their behavior when they are observed.

Likert Scale

asks a participant whether something is never, seldom, sometimes, often, or always true. It may also ask if they strongly disagree, disagree, have no opinion, agree, or strongly agree

Conformity

when people change their thoughts, beliefs, or behaviors to fit in with a group.

researcher bias

researcher's conservative beliefs cause him or her to create a biased survey or have sampling bias.

sampling bias

research study does not use a representative sample of a target population

Reductionist argument

reduction of a complex argument down to an easier set of facts

bidirectional ambiguity

uncertainty about which variable is influencing which

experiment

find out if cause-and-effect relationship exists between two variables

laboratory

controlled setting

field study

naturalistic setting

Quasi-experiment

participants are grouped based on a trait or behavior

True experiment

randomly allocates participants to conditions

Natural experiment

refers to an independent variable that is environmental in nature and outside of the control of the researcher

mundane realism

the level to which the situation represents a real-life situation

artificiality

situation created is so unlikely to occur that one has to wonder if there is any validity in the findings

prospective study

researcher measures a variable at the beginning of a study and then watches the effect of this variable over time

longitudinal study

study involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods

cross-sectional research

researcher analyzes data collected from a population at a specific point in time

retrospective

researcher ask participants about past behavior

correlation

relationship of one variable influencing the other

positive correlation

when both variables are affected in the same way

negative correlation

one variable increases, the other decreases.

application

how a theory or empirical study is used

operationalized

need to be written in such a way that it is clear what is being measured

standardized

procedures that are written in enough detail that they can be easily replicated by another researcher.

extraneous variables

the influence of outside variables

Participant variability

characteristics of the sample affect the dependent variable

hypothesis

predicts how the independent variable affects the dependent variable

experimental hypothesis

predicts the relationship between the IV and the DV - that is, what we expect will come out of the manipulation of the independent variable

null hypothesis

states that the IV will have no effect on the DV, or that any change in the DV will be due to chance.

reject the null hypothesis

to show that the predicted cause-and-effect relationship between the IV and the DV actually exists.

control condition

compare the two conditions in order to see if there is a difference.

double-blind control

participants do not know whether they are in the experimental or control group

Demand characteristics

participants form an interpretation of the experiment's purpose and subconsciously change their behavior to fit that interpretation.

•Expectancy effect

goal of "helping" the researcher

Screw you effect

goal to destroy the credibility of the study

Social desirability effect

participant answers in a way that makes him/her look good to the researcher