Psychological Science Practices/ Research Methods

What are the 3 components of scientific attitude?

Curiosity, skepticism, & humility

Define hindsight bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

Define confirmation bias

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

Define overconfidence

To overcome the accuracy of our beliefs & judgements

• The tendency to be more confident than correct

Perceiving order in random events

When people perceive patterns to make sense of their world —> Even in random unrelated data because sequences do not look random often

Scientific method steps

• Theory

• Hypothesis

• Falsifiability

• Peer reviews

What are the 2 portions of measuring behavior or mental processes

• Quantitative research

• Qualitative research

Define experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more variables to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

Define hypothesis

Expresses a relationship between 2 variables

Define Independent variable

Manipulated/changed by the experimenter to observe its effects

Define dependent variable

The effects/changes that occur in relation to the independent variable

What is an operational definition?

A statement of procedures (operations) used to define research variables

Define population

All the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn

Sample

A small group of participants, out of the total population, that a researcher studies

Define random sampling

A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Define convenience sampling

A research sampling strategy that involves selecting participants based on their accessibility & availability to the researcher

Define stratified sampling

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

Define experimental group

When the independent variable is applied

Define control group

Treated the same way as experimental group but independent variable isn’t applied

Define room assignment

Each participant has an equal chance of being placed into a group

Confounding variables

Any difference between the experimental and control conditions except for the independent variable that might affect the dependent variable

Validity

Does the research measure what the researcher set out to measure?

Reliability

Ability to repeat a research study with different participants in different

Falsifiability

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

Experimenter bias

The unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase their chance of confirming their hypothesis

What are the 2 types of eliminating biases?

The single-bind procedure & the double-blind procedure

Single-blind procedure

Participants are unaware of which participants received the treatment

Double-blind procedure

Participants & experimenter(s) are unaware of which participants received the treatment

Sampling bias

A flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample

Social desirability bias

A type of response bias that occurs when survey respondents provide answers according to society’s expectations, rather than their own beliefs or experiences

What is the placebo method?

When the experimental group gets the experimental drug while the control group is given an inert but otherwise identical substance

Placebo effect

Psychological effects of people thinking they took an experimental drug

What are the components of non-experimental research designs?

Naturalistic observation, Case study, & Meta-analysis

Naturalistic observation

Observation of subject(s) in a natural setting without manipulating or controlling the situation

Case study

Intensive investigation of a participant(s)

Meta-analysis

A statistical procedure for analyzing the results of multiple studies to reach an overall conclusion

Likert scales

A common type of survey which pose a statement & ask people to express their level of agreement/disagreement with the statement

Correlation

A measure of the extent to which 2 factors vary together (and how well one predicts the other)

Correlation does not?

Does not demonstrate causation

What is correlation measured with?

Measured with scatterplots

What is correlation measured by?

Measured by a correlation coefficient (-1 to +1)

Positive correlation

• Direct relationship

• Both factors increase together

  • Both factors decrease together

• Perfect positive correlation (+1.00)

Negative correlation

• Inverse relationship

• 1 factor increases while the other decreases

• Perfect negative correlation (-1.00)

No correlation is equal to?

No correlation = 0

Correlation does not equal

Causation