unit 0: research method and data interpretation

psychology

science of behavior and mental process; uses research and interpretation of resulting data, evidence, and analysis

3 key elements of scientific attitude

1. curiosity

2. skepticism

3. humility (humble)

critical thinking

examines assumption, appraises the source, and discern hidden biases

hindsight bias

known as i-knew-it-all-along phenomenon; ex) after getting a question wrong and the answer is revealed, you go “oh i knew that”

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct

peer reviewers

scientist who are experts, evaluate a study’s theory, originality, and accuracy.

hypothesis

a testable prediction; a good theory produces testable prediction

falsifiability (of hypothesis)

marks the scientific stregnth; can it be proven false?

operational definition (of research)

the procedures and concepts

replicate

(repeat) the original observations with different participants, materials, and circumstances; if they get similar results, confidence in the finding’s reliability grows.

case studies

in-depth analyses of individuals or groups; surveys

naturalistic observation

recording the natural behavior of many individuals, and surveys and interviews asking people questions

social-desirability bias

people answering in a way they think will please the researcher

self-report bias

when people don’t accurately report or remember their behaviors

convenience sampling

collecting research from a group that is readily available, such as your friends at school, rather than a sample that would represent all the students at your school

representative sample

a subset of a population that accurately reflects the characteristics of the larger group it is drawn from; this is crucial for ensuring that research findings can be generalized to the entire population and are not affected by sampling bias. methods like random sampling used to create a representative sample.

random sample

selecting randomly

population

the complete set of cases from which samples may be drawn

correlation

describes the relationship between two or more variable; correlation does not prove causation, experiment does

correlation coeffecient

statistical measure describing the direction and strength of two variables’ relationship

scatter plots

positive (r = +#)

no relationship (r = 0.00)

negative (r = #)

perfect (r - 1.00)

illusory correlation

the illusion of a relationship; superstition

regression toward the mean

the illusion that uncontrollable events correlate with our actions is also fed by a statistical phenomenon

experiment

a research method used to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between variables; experiments prove correlation

experimental group

the group receiving the treatment; will not know which group they are

control group

the group that doesn’t receive the treatment; constant; will not know which group they are

random assignment

a research method where participants are randomly placed into different experimental groups (like the control and experimental groups) to ensure each person has an equal chance of being in any group ; note the difference between random sampling, which creates a representative survey sample, and random assignment, which equalizes the experimental and control groups

placebo

a pseudotreatment; causing the placebo effect

placebo effect

just thinking you are getting a treatment can boost your spirits, relax your body, and relieve your symptoms

single-blind procedure

the participants are often blind (uninformed) about what treatment, if any, they are receiving

double-blind procedure

neither the participants nor those who administer the drug and collect the data will know which group is receiving the treatment

independent variable

factor the researcher manipulates or changes

confounding variable or third varaible problem

other factors that can potentially influence a study’s results that cannot be controlled by the researcher

dependent variable

the data measured after the experiment

experimenter bias

when researchers may unintentionally influence results to confirm their own beliefs

quantitive research

methods use numerical data to represent degrees of a variable, for example using a likert scale

qualitative research

methods rely on in-depth, narrative data; (ex) structured interviews

animal research ethical standards

ethical standards to prevent animal abuse

institutional review board (irb)

looks on ethical side of things; humans and animals

the 4 ethical guidelines for human irb

1. informed consent for adult and informed assents for minors

2. protected participant from greater-than-usual harm and discomfort

3. keep information about individual participants confidential

4. fully debrief people (explain research afterward, including any temporary deception)

descriptive statistics

measure and describe characteristics of group under study

histogram

a bar graph

central tendency

a score that represents a whole set of scores; mean, median, mode

mean

or arithmetic average; the total sum of all the scores divided by the number of scores

median

midpoint of a data distribution (the 50th percentile); if you arrange all the scores in order from the highest to the lowest, half will be above the median and half will be below it

mode

the simplest measure; the most frequently occurring score or scores

percentile rank

the percentage of scores that are less than a given score; so, if you are in the 79th percentile in a math competition in your state, your score is higher than 79 percent of your peers

skewed distribution

a set of scores that is not symmetrical; mean is skewed

variation

how similar or diverse the scores are

range

the gap between the lowest and highest; subtract the highest and lowest to get the range

standard deviation

a more useful standard for measuring how much scores deviate (differ) from one another; average score distance from average score - (ex) 65, 80, 95 = sd →15

normal curve

symmetrical bell-shaped distribution

statistically significant

significant how reliable and significant results are; determines if result is generalized to a large population

sample size

how many is in your experiment or is surveyed