PSY 300 Final Exam Terms

Confederate

A person who seems to be a regular participant, but is actually part of the experiment

Lab Experiments

Typical experiment with controlling of variables, laboratory setting with experimenters/researchers manipulating things to try and see the effects of certain phenomena in behavior

Quasi Experimental Design

Like regular experiments where you are trying to see a difference between groups, but the big difference is that you as a researcher don't have control who goes into your different groups for your independent variable

Field Experiment

Experiment done outside of a laboratory setting/in the ‘real world’

Independent Group Design

Different participants in different conditions

Repeated Measures Design

Same participants in different conditions

Internal Validity

The ability as an experimenter to say with confidence that the independent variable is what caused a change in behavior

External Validity

The ability as an experimenter to say with confidence that the results of a study are generalizable, and that the results would be the same outside of a lab/experimental setting

One Way ANOVA

A type of statistical analysis; run when you have one independent variable with multiple groups

Two Way ANOVA

A type of statistical analysis; run when you have two independent variables with multiple groups

Independent Samples T-Test

A type of statistical analysis; run when you have different participants in different conditions

Paired Samples T Test

A type of statistical analysis; run when you have the same participants in the same conditions

Chi-Square Analysis

A type of statistical analysis; run when you have only nominal (categorical) variables that you’re comparing

Need Based Analysis

Type of program evaluation; an analysis of if people need/would use a specific type of program

Program Rationale Analysis

Type of program evaluation; an analysis of the rationale behind a program

Process Evaluation Analysis

Type of program evaluation; An ongoing monitoring of a program

Outcome Evaluation Analysis

Type of program evaluation; analysis of if the goal of the program have been met

Efficiency Assessment

Type of program evaluation; analysis of if a program is worth the money

P Hacking

A type of statistical manipulation where a researcher either takes out certain pieces of data or completely fabricates data to change the p value and make it statistically significant

Cross Sectional Research

Type of developmental research design; studying people of different age groups at the same time

Longitudinal Research

Type of developmental research design; when the same group of people are studied over a long period of time

Sequential Design

Type of developmental research design; when two or more groups of people of different ages are studied over a long period of time

Microgenetic Design

Type of developmental longitudinal research design; participants take many assessments over a short period of time

Information in Intro Section of Research Report

Introduction of topic and why it’s important; Lit review; Present research questions with hypotheses

Information in Methods Section of Research Report

Participants (demographic info, total number of participants, how they were selected, whether and/or how they were compensated, measures taken to comply with ethical guidelines); Procedure (specify exactly what happened in the study, summarize each step of the study and the instructions given to the participants); Measures (describe and operationalize measures used in study, sample item and sample response choices)

Information in Results Section of Research Report

Each paragraph should address one research question (Reiterate question and hypotheses; Justification of statistical analysis used; List the mean, standard deviation, p value, and any other important results from statistical analysis); do not speculate why you got certain results

Information in Discussion Section of Research Report

Review topic and briefly summarize findings; Discuss why results refuted or supported your research hypothesis; Whether results supported or refuted past research; Limitations of study; Larger implications of results; Suggestions for future research

Importance of Pilot Studies

Allows researchers to be on the same page about side, makes sure the procedure runs smoothly/allows researchers to tweak parts of study that aren't working well

Threats to Generalization

Sample not representative of population as a whole; experimenter bias unknowingly affecting data; the use of pre-tests can affect the way people respond to research and how they behave in the study (and are not things that happen in real life); the possibility of the experimental method not representative of reality; cultural differences

Solutions to Threats of Generalization

Running statistics to predict the probability that results apply to beyond one study; Conducting qualitative lit reviews of other similar research; Conducting quantitative meta analyses, which are statistical analyses of results from many different studies; Replication of the study