Ways of Knowing, Scientific Research, Ethics, and Measurement

Vocabulary flashcards covering foundational concepts in psychological research methods, including ways of knowing, scientific principles, statistical concepts, ethical guidelines, research claims, validities, and measurement scales.

Personal Experience

A way of knowing based on one's own lived events or stories heard from others, which lacks systematic comparison groups and contains potential confounds.

Comparison Group

A group in research that enables systematic comparison to determine what happens both with and without the presence of a specific cause or treatment.

Confound

An alternative explanation or third variable that is related to both the presumed cause and the effect, making cause-and-effect conclusions unreliable.

Intuition

A way of knowing based on gut feelings or common sense, which feels compelling but is vulnerable to cognitive biases.

Good-story Bias

A bias in intuition where people tend to accept explanations simply because they feel narratively compelling or make intuitive sense.

Confirmation Bias

A cognitive error where individuals cherry-pick evidence that supports pre-existing beliefs while ignoring disconfirming evidence.

Availability Heuristic

A cognitive bias where people estimate the frequency or likelihood of an event based on how easily vivid, recent, or memorable examples come to mind.

Present-present Bias

A cognitive bias where people focus on instances where both the cause and effect are present, failing to notice cases where one or both are absent.

Bias Blind Spot

The tendency for individuals to recognize biases in others while believing that they themselves are unbiased.

Empiricism

The core feature of scientific research stating that knowledge must be based on systematic, direct, and unbiased observations made using the senses or measurement tools.

Falsifiability

A criterion for a good scientific theory stating that it must be capable of being disproven by some conceivable empirical observation.

Parsimony

The scientific principle linked to Occam's razor stating that when two theories explain data equally well, the simpler theory requiring fewer assumptions is preferred.

Theory

A broad conceptual framework or model that explains how variables are related to one another.

Research Question

A specific question derived from a broader theory that directs scientific investigation.

Hypothesis

A precise, testable prediction derived from a theory that outlines a specific outcome expected in a research study.

Null Hypothesis

The baseline statistical prediction stating that there is no effect, no relationship, or no difference between groups in a study.

Alternative Hypothesis

The specific prediction derived from a researcher's theory stating that an effect, relationship, or difference actually exists.

p-value

A statistic reflecting the probability of obtaining the observed study results, or more extreme results, if the null hypothesis were true.

Statistical Significance

A decision made when an observed result is very unlikely under the null hypothesis (typically $p < 0.05$), leading researchers to reject the null hypothesis.

Type I Error

A false positive error that occurs when a researcher rejects the null hypothesis and claims an effect exists when it actually does not.

Type II Error

A false negative error that occurs when a researcher fails to reject the null hypothesis and misses a real effect that actually exists.

Effect Size

A quantitative measure of the magnitude, strength, or practical importance of an observed relationship or difference.

Cohen's d

An effect size measure calculating the difference between group means relative to variability, with conventional benchmarks of $0.20$ for small, $0.50$ for medium, and $0.80$ for large.

Replication

The process of repeating a scientific study to verify whether its original findings can be consistently reproduced across different samples or settings.

Universalism

A scientific community norm stating that scientific claims should be evaluated strictly on their merit and quality, rather than on the credentials or status of the researchers.

Communality

A scientific community norm stating that scientific knowledge belongs to the public and should be openly shared through publication and presentations.

Disinterestedness

A scientific community norm requiring researchers to seek objective truth rather than striving to prove their own personal theories or claims correct.

Organized Skepticism

A scientific community norm emphasizing that researchers should critically evaluate all claims and evidence before accepting them.

Basic Research

Research designed to enhance general knowledge and fundamental understanding of theoretical principles or mechanisms.

Translational Research

Research that tests lab-based knowledge or theoretical interventions under controlled laboratory settings before moving them to real-world applications.

Applied Research

Research conducted in real-world, naturalistic settings to evaluate practical solutions or interventions where they will actually be used.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

An unethical 40-year U.S. government study involving Black men in Alabama who were deceived about their diagnosis, denied informed consent, and refused available treatment.

Belmont Report

An ethical framework established in response to unethical research practices that outlines three core principles: Respect for persons, Beneficence, and Justice.

Respect for Persons

An ethical principle dictating that participants must be treated as autonomous agents capable of informed choices, while individuals with diminished autonomy receive protection.

Informed Consent

A formal process and document informing prospective participants about study procedures, risks, benefits, confidentiality, and voluntary participation rights prior to joining.

Active Deception

The intentional misrepresentation of information or outright lying to research participants, such as using a confederate who poses as another participant.

Passive Deception

The withholding of full study details, exact hypotheses, or specific procedures through omission or broad descriptions to prevent participant behavior from altering.

Debriefing

A mandatory post-study session explaining the true purpose of the research, revealing any deception (dehoaxing), and alleviating any lingering stress or distress (desensitizing).

Concern for Welfare

An ethical principle requiring researchers to protect participants from physical, psychological, social, economic, or legal harm while ensuring study benefits outweigh risks.

Anonymous Study

A study design in which no identifying information is ever collected from participants, making participant identity impossible to trace.

Confidential Study

A study design where participant identifying information is collected but kept secure, separated from data, and restricted to the research team.

Justice

An ethical principle requiring the fair and equitable distribution of research burdens and benefits across demographic and social groups.

Data Fabrication

A form of research misconduct involving the intentional invention or creation of non-existent data.

Data Falsification

A form of research misconduct involving the alteration, manipulation, or selective reporting of actual research data to falsify outcomes.

Frequency Claim

A scientific claim that describes the specific rate, percentage, or level of a single measured variable.

Association Claim

A scientific claim arguing that two measured variables are linked or correlated, such that knowing the value of one helps predict the other.

Causal Claim

A scientific claim asserting that a specific change in one variable directly produces a change in another variable.

Variable

Any attribute, condition, or characteristic that can take on different values or change across individuals or context.

Constant

Any attribute or condition in a study that is intentionally kept identical and unchanged across all participants.

Manipulated Variable

A variable in a research study that is directly controlled, set, or varied by the experimenter.

Measured Variable

A variable in a research study that is observed and recorded in its natural state without direct experimenter manipulation.

Construct

A broad, theoretical, or conceptual variable that cannot be directly observed but is of theoretical interest to researchers.

Operational Definition

The specific procedure, instrument, or manipulation used to measure or control a conceptual construct in an empirical study.

Predictor Variable

The measured variable in a correlational design that is theoretically hypothesized to come first or predict another variable.

Outcome Variable

The measured variable in a correlational design that is theoretically hypothesized to be predicted by another variable.

Independent Variable

The manipulated causal variable in an experiment that is controlled by the researcher to evaluate its impact.

Dependent Variable

The measured outcome variable in an experiment that depends on changes in the independent variable.

Temporal Precedence

A criterion for establishing causality requiring the cause variable to occur prior to the effect variable in time.

Internal Validity

The extent to which a study's design eliminates alternative explanations and confounds, ensuring that changes in the outcome are truly driven by the cause variable.

Construct Validity

The extent to which an operational definition accurately measures or manipulates the specific conceptual construct it was designed to capture.

External Validity

The degree to which research findings generalize beyond the specific study sample to other populations, settings, times, or methods.

Statistical Validity

The extent to which the numerical inferences, statistics, estimates, and conclusions drawn from a study are accurate, reasonable, and supported by data.

Statistical Power

The probability that a study will successfully detect a true relationship or effect if one actually exists, which increases with larger sample sizes.

Margin of Error

A statistic reflecting the precision of a sample estimate, defining a confidence interval within which the true population value is expected to fall.

Random Assignment

An experimental technique using chance to assign participants to different conditions, ensuring groups are equivalent on average prior to manipulation.

Self-report Measure

A measurement method where participants report on their own internal states, beliefs, feelings, or behaviors through surveys, questionnaires, or interviews.

Observational Measure

A measurement method that directly or indirectly records observable behaviors, actions, or physical traces.

Physiological Measure

A measurement method that records biological processes or physical indicators such as brain activity, heart rate, or hormone levels.

Nominal Scale

A categorical measurement scale consisting of distinct, unranked categories with no numerical value or logical order.

Ordinal Scale

A measurement scale using ranked categories where order is known, but the intervals between ranks are unequal or unknown.

Interval Scale

A quantitative measurement scale with equal numerical intervals between values but no true, meaningful zero point.

Ratio Scale

A quantitative measurement scale featuring equal numerical intervals and an absolute, meaningful zero point representing complete absence of the construct.

Reliability

The consistency, stability, or repeatability of a measurement instrument across repeated tests or evaluations under identical conditions.

True Score Theory

A theoretical model stating that every observed measurement score is composed of an individual's true underlying score plus random measurement error.