research skills FULL 💃😮‍💨⭐️❤️😘

What is science?

A systematic approach to understanding the world through observation, measurement, and theory testing.

What is the philosophy of science?

The study of how scientific knowledge is produced and evaluated.

What is positivism?

The view that knowledge should be derived from observable, measurable phenomena.

What is falsification?

The idea that scientific theories must be testable and falsifiable.

Who proposed falsification?

Karl Popper.

What is a paradigm?

A shared set of assumptions guiding scientific research.

Who introduced the idea of paradigms?

Thomas Kuhn.

What is the replication crisis?

Difficulty reproducing many published findings.

What is reproducibility?

Ability to obtain the same results using the same data and methods.

What is replicability?

Ability to obtain similar results in new data.

What is questionable research practice (QRP)?

Practices that increase false-positive findings.

What is p-hacking?

Manipulating analyses to obtain significant results.

What is HARKing?

Hypothesising after results are known.

What is open science?

A movement promoting transparency, sharing, and reproducibility.

What is preregistration?

Specifying hypotheses and methods before data collection.

What is research ethics?

Guidelines protecting participants and research integrity.

What is informed consent?

Participants’ voluntary agreement after being informed.

What is deception in research?

Misleading participants when justified and ethically approved.

What is debriefing?

Explaining the true purpose of a study after participation.

What is research design?

The overall structure of a study.

What is an experimental design?

Manipulating an IV to examine causal effects on a DV.

What is a correlational design?

Examining relationships without manipulation.

What is internal validity?

Confidence that changes in DV are caused by the IV.

What is external validity?

Generalisation of findings beyond the study.

What is a confounding variable?

An extraneous factor affecting the DV.

What is a research question?

A clear, focused question guiding a study.

What is a hypothesis?

A testable prediction about variables.

What is the null hypothesis (H₀)?

There is no effect, difference, or relationship.

What is the alternative hypothesis (H₁)?

There is an effect, difference, or relationship.

What is a directional hypothesis?

Predicts the direction of an effect.

What is a non-directional hypothesis?

Predicts an effect without direction.

What is an independent variable (IV)?

The variable manipulated or measured as a cause.

What is a dependent variable (DV)?

The outcome variable.

What is an operational definition?

How a variable is measured or manipulated.

What are levels of measurement?

Nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio.

What is nominal data?

Categorical data with no order.

What is ordinal data?

Categorical data with rank order.

What is interval data?

Numeric data with equal intervals but no true zero.

What is ratio data?

Numeric data with a true zero.

What is a distribution?

The pattern of values in a dataset.

What is a normal distribution?

Symmetrical, bell-shaped distribution.

What is skewness?

Asymmetry in a distribution.

What is positive skew?

Long tail to the right.

What is negative skew?

Long tail to the left.

What is sampling?

Selecting participants from a population.

What is random sampling?

Each population member has equal chance of selection.

What is convenience sampling?

Sampling based on accessibility.

What is sampling bias?

Systematic over- or under-representation.

What is inferential statistics?

Using sample data to infer population properties.

What is descriptive statistics?

Summarising data.

What is a population?

The entire group of interest.

What is a sample?

A subset of the population.

What is a p-value?

The probability of obtaining results if H₀ is true.

What does p < .05 mean?

Less than 5% probability results occurred by chance.

What is statistical significance?

Evidence sufficient to reject the null hypothesis.

What does statistical significance NOT mean?

The effect is large or important.

What is a Type I error?

False positive (rejecting a true H₀).

What is a Type II error?

False negative (failing to reject a false H₀).

What is a t-test?

A test comparing means.

What is a one-sample t-test?

Comparing a sample mean to a population mean.

What is an independent samples t-test?

Comparing two different groups.

What is a paired samples t-test?

Comparing the same participants across conditions.

What influences t-test outcomes?

Effect size, variability, and sample size.

What is effect size?

A measure of the magnitude of an effect.

Why is effect size important?

It shows practical importance.

What is Cohen’s d?

A standardised mean difference effect size.

What is a small effect size (d)?

Approximately 0.2.

What is a medium effect size (d)?

Approximately 0.5.

What is a large effect size (d)?

Approximately 0.8 or greater.

What is statistical power?

The probability of detecting a true effect.

What increases statistical power?

Larger samples, larger effects, less noise.

What is an underpowered study?

A study unlikely to detect real effects.

What is publication bias?

Preference for significant results.

What is the file drawer problem?

Non-significant studies remain unpublished.

What is a research report?

A structured account of a study.

What does IMRaD stand for?

Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.

What goes in the Introduction?

Theory, background, hypotheses.

What goes in the Methods section?

Participants, design, materials, procedure.

What goes in the Results section?

Statistical analyses and findings.

What goes in the Discussion section?

Interpretation, limitations, implications.

What is APA style?

A standard format for psychological writing.