Research Methods

Prefrontal Lobotomy

Surgical procedure that severs fibres connecting the frontal lobes of the brain from the underlying thalamus.

Facilitated Communication

A technique that involves a facilitator physically supporting the hand, arm, or wrist of a person with communication difficulties to help them type messages on a keyboard, letter board, or other communication device.

Heuristic

A mental shortcut that allows people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently, often based on past experiences.

Representative Heuristic

A cognitive bias where people judge the probability of an event based on how much it resembles a typical case, often leading to misjudgments.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision.

Naturalistic Observation

Watching behaviour in real-world settings without trying to manipulate the situation.

External Validity

Extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings.

Case Study

Research design that examines one person or a small number of people in depth, often over an extended time period.

Existence Proof

Demonstration that a given psychological phenomenon can occur.

Survey

a quantitative and qualitative research method that collects data from a group of people to learn about their opinions, attitudes, and behaviours — usually through questionnaires or interviews.

Random Selection

Procedure that ensures every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate.

Reliability

The consistency of a measure, indicating that it produces stable and consistent results over time.

Inter rater Reliability

the degree of agreement among different observers assessing the same phenomenon.

Validity

Extent to which a measure assesses what it purports to measure.

Response Set

Tendency of research participants to distort their responses to questionnaire items.

Correlational Design

Research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated.

Positive Correlation

A relationship between two variables where an increase in one variable corresponds to an increase in the other variable.

Negative Correlation

A relationship between two variables where an increase in one variable corresponds to a decrease in the other variable.

No (Zero) Correlation

A relationship between two variables where changes in one variable do not predict changes in the other variable.

Confirmation Bias

the tendency to search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.

Scatterplot

Grouping of points on a two-dimensional graph in which each dot represents a single person's data.

Illusionary Correlation

Perception of a statistical association between two variables where none exists.

Experiment Group

Research design characterized by random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation.

Control Group

In an experiment, the group of participants that doesn't receive the manipulation.

Independent Variable

Variable that an experimenter manipulates.

Dependent Variable

Variable that an experimenter measures to see whether the manipulation has an effect.

Operational Definition

A working definition of what a researcher is measuring.

Placebo Effect

Improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement.

Blind Study

Unaware of whether one is in the experimental group or control group.

Experimenter Expectancy Effect

Phenomenon in which researchers' hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study.

Double-Blind Study

When neither researchers nor participants are aware of who's in the experimental or control group.

between-subjects design

different groups are assigned to control or experimental conditions.

Demand Characteristics

Cues that participants pick up from a study that allow them to generate guesses regarding the researcher's hypothesis.

Informed Consent

Informing research participants of what is involved in a study before asking them to participate.

Statistics

Application of mathematics to describing and analyzing data.

Descriptive Statistics

Numerical characterizations that describe data.

Central Tendency

Measure of the "central" scores in a data set, or where the group tends to cluster.

Mean

Average; a measure of central tendency

Median

Middle score in a data set; a measure of central tendency

Mode

Most frequent score in a data set; a measure of central tendency

Variability

Measure of how loosely or tightly bunched scores are.

Range

Difference between the highest and lowest scores; a measure of variability.

Standard Deviation

Measure of variability that takes into account how far each data point is from the mean.

Inferential Statistics

Mathematical methods that allow us to determine whether we can generalize findings from our sample to the full population.

base rate

How common a characteristic or behaviour is in the general population

Cognitive biases

Systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, often affecting decision-making.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to see events as having been predictable after they have already happened, leading to overconfidence in one's ability to predict outcomes.

Overconfidence

The tendency to overestimate one's own abilities, particularly in making accurate predictions or judgments.

Random assignment

Randomly sorting participants into groups

within-subject design

each participant acts as his or her own control

Extrasensory perception

Perception of events outside the known channels of sensation

Scientific method

A systematic approach used in psychology and other sciences to formulate hypotheses, conduct experiments, and analyze data to draw conclusions and advance knowledge.

meta-analysis

A statistical technique that combines the results of multiple studies to identify patterns, trends, or overall effects across a body of research.

Nocebo Effect

Harm resulting from the mere expectation of harm.

Hawthorne Effect
(type of Reactivity)

The alteration of behaviour by study participants due to their awareness of being observed.

Covert Observation

Observation in which the observer's presence or purpose is kept secret from those being observed

malingering

Deliberate faking of a physical or psychological disorder motivated by gain

Self-report measure

A method in which participants provide subjective data about their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviours, often through questionnaires or interviews.

Practical significance

The importance or relevance of a research finding in real-world applications

Statistical significance

applies that the results are not likely due to chance

Social Desirability Bias

the tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favourably by others, often leading to distorted or inaccurate self-reports.

Participant Observation

A qualitative research method where the researcher immerses themselves in a group or community to observe behaviours and interactions in their natural context.

Structured Observation

A research method where observers record specific behaviours in a predetermined manner, often using checklists or coding systems.

Analytical Thinking

A cognitive process that involves breaking down complex information into smaller parts to understand and evaluate it systematically.

Intuitive Thinking

A cognitive process that relies on instinctive judgments and immediate perceptions rather than systematic reasoning. It often involves quick decision-making based on prior experiences and feelings.

Conceptual Definition

Explains the meaning of a concept or construct in abstract, theoretical terms. ie. happiness, driving performance

leading questions

items are presented in an unbalanced way that can be overtly or subtly suggest that one viewpoint or response is preferable to another

loaded questions

items that contain emotionally charged words that suggest one viewpoint or response is preferable to another, or they contain assumptions with which the option to disagree is not provides

double-barrelled question

items that ask about two issues within one question, forcing respondents to combine potentially different opinions into one judgment

double negatives

items whose phrasing contains two negative words

Experimental Design

a structured process for conducting experiments to test hypotheses and establish cause-and-effect relationships

Ethics

represents a system of moral principles and standards

Internal Validity

the extent to which a research study establishes a trustworthy cause-and-effect relationship.