scientific inquiry psych

Ethical guidelines

Standards to protect the well-being, rights, and dignity of participants in psychological research.

Ethics committee

A group that reviews and approves research proposals to ensure ethical standards are maintained.

Informed consent

The process of obtaining voluntary agreement from participants after fully informing them about the study.

Withdrawal rights

Participants' right to leave the study at any time without facing any penalty.

Deception

Withholding information from participants that must be justified and followed by debriefing.

Confidentiality

The obligation to keep participants' personal information private and secure.

Debriefing

Informing participants of the study's true purpose and providing support after their involvement.

Independent variable

The variable that is manipulated or changed by the researcher in a study.

Dependent variable

The variable that is measured to see if it is affected by the independent variable.

Control variables

Variables kept constant in an experiment to prevent them from influencing the dependent variable.

Extraneous variables

Variables other than the independent variable that could affect the dependent variable.

Confounding variables

Variables that systematically vary with the independent variable, complicating the analysis of results.

Random sampling

A method where every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for a study.

Stratified sampling

Dividing the population into subgroups and randomly sampling from each subgroup.

Placebo effect

A change in a participant's behavior due to their belief in receiving treatment.

Experimenter effect

The influence of the researcher's expectations or behavior on the results.

Single-blind study

Study in which participants are unaware of which group they are in to reduce bias.

Double-blind study

Study where neither participants nor researchers know group assignments to minimize bias.

Qualitative data

Non-numerical data that describes qualities or characteristics.

Quantitative data

Numerical data that can be measured and analyzed statistically.

Objective measures

Physiological measurements used to gather numerical data about participants' responses.

Subjective measures

Data collected through self-reported ratings or evaluations by participants.

Mean

The average of a dataset, calculated by summing values and dividing by the number of values.

Median

The middle value in a dataset when it is ordered from least to greatest.

Pearson’s correlation coefficient

A measure of the strength and direction of linear relationships between two variables.

Internal validity

The extent to which a study accurately measures the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

External validity

The degree to which research findings can be generalized to other contexts or populations.

Test-retest reliability

The consistency of results when a test is repeated over time.

Inter-rater reliability

The level of agreement among different researchers or observers evaluating the same phenomenon.

Generalisability

The extent to which findings from a sample can be applied to the broader population.

Critical evaluation

The assessment of the quality and credibility of information from various scientific sources.