AP psych-scientific methods

scientific method

set of assumptions, attitudes, and procedures that guide researchers in creating questions to investigate, in genreating evidence, and in drawing conclusions.

hypothesis

a prediction that will describe a relationship between two or more variables

operational definition

precise definition for terms specific for this study

dependent variable

they depend on the independent variable; what is measured; the outcome

independent variable

controlled by researcher, manipulated.

confounding variable

anything that differs between an experimental group and a contol group, besides the independent and dependent variables. ex age, health, where oyu slept

norms

standards of performance

meta analysis

pulling the result of several studies and looking for an overall trend

theory

an organized system of assumptions and principles that purports to explain certain phenomena and how they're related

random sample

process of randomly choosing group to participate from the population.

confirmation bias

the tendency to look toward support for your own beliefs

random assignment

after sample, you sign them to a condition, a control group or experimental group

correlational studies

assess the degree of association btw 2 or more attributes that occur naturally (not manipulated); shows how strongly factors are related.

correlation coefficient

numerical indication of the magnitude and direction of the relationship (correlation) btw two variables

positive correlation

when one variable is up and the other variable is up

negative correlation

when one variable is down the other is up

placebo

inert substance; a treatment that has no known effects

expectency effect

changes occur simply because you expect it.

single blind study

only the researchers know who has the placebo

double blind study

when neither the participant nor the researchers who interact with them are inaware of who gets the placebo

longitudinal study

uses subject that start out the same age, they are followed for a long period of time and are assessed periodically.

cross sectional study

uses different age groups

histograms

aka bar graph, on the y axis=frequency, x axis=topic

frequency distribution

aka line graph

median

central score or middle score

mode

score that occurs most frequently

mean

average, add all and divide

positively skewed

more low scores than high scores

negatively skewed

if the extreme score is low and contains more high scores than low

z score

distance from the mean in units of standard deviation

standard deviation

going to be figured out in square root

normal distribution

Expected distribution given a random sampling of people across a large population

range

the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution

ethical standard

informed consent, coercion, anonymity/confidentiality, risk, and debriefing procedures.

Stanley Milgram

conducted experiment studying obedience to authority