Chapter 2 Psychological Research: Open Stax

fact

objective and verifiable observation, established using evidence collected through empirical research

opinion

personal judgments, conclusions, or attitudes that may or may not be accurate

Why is research important

w/o scientific research forced to rely on intuition, luck, authority, goal of all scientists is to better understand world around then, behavior is observable, mind is not observable

deductive reasoning

ideas are tested against the empirical world

generalization, one hypothesis, then used to get logical conclusions abt real world, if hypothesis is correct than logical conclusions reached through deductive reasoning should also be correct

inductive reasoning

empirical observations lead to new ideas, broad generalizations, conclusions may or may not be correct

hypothesis (plural: hypotheses)

tentative and testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables, bridges realm between odeas and real world

theory

well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena, repeatedly checked, too complex to be checked all at once, create hypothesis to test specterm-21ific theories

James- Lange Theory

emotional experience relies on one psychological arousal associated with the emotional state

naturalistic observation

observation of behavior in its natural setting

survey

list of questions to be answered by research participants—given as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, electronically, or verbally

lets researchers to collect data from a large number of people

archival research

method of research using past records or data sets to answer various research questions, or to search for interesting patterns or relationships, dont interact with any research participants

longitudinal research

studies in which the same group of individuals is surveyed or measured repeatedly over an extended period of time

cross-sectional research

compares multiple segments of a population at a single time

correlation

relationship between two or more variables; when two variables are correlated, one variable changes as the other does, does not imply cause and effect

correlation coefficient

number from -1 to +1, indicating the strength and direction of the relationship between variables, and usually represented by "r"

positive correlation

two variables change in the same direction, both becoming either larger or smaller

negative correlation

two variables change in different directions, with one becoming larger as the other
becomes smaller; a negative correlation is not the same thing as no correlation

cause-and-effect relationship

changes in one variable cause the changes in the other variable; can be
determined only through an experimental research design

confounding variable

unanticipated outside factor that affects both variables of interest, gives false impression that changes in one variable causes changes in the other variable, when, in actuality, the outside factor causes changes in both variables

illusory correlation

seeing relationships between two things when in reality no such relationship exists

confirmation bias

tendency to ignore evidence that disproves ideas or beliefs, looking for evidence that supports a hunch

experimental group

gets experimental manipulation (treatment or variable being tested), designed to answer the research question, experimental manipulation is the only difference between the experimental and control groups, so any differences between the two are due to experimental manipulation rather than chance

control group

serves as a basis for comparison and controls for chance factors that might influence the results of the study, has no testing being done

operational definition

description of what actions and operations will be used to measure the dependent variables and manipulate the independent variables

experimenter bias

researcher expectations that might skew the results of the study

single-blind study

experiment in which the researcher knows which participants are in the experimental group and which are in the control group

double-blind study

experiment in which both the researchers and the participants are blind to group assignments

placebo effect

people's expectations or beliefs influencing or determining their experience in a given situation

statistical analysis

determines how likely any difference between experimental groups is due to chance

reliability

consistency and reproducibility of a given result

validity

accuracy of a given result in measuring what it is designed to measure

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

committee of administrators, scientists, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human participants

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

committee of administrators, scientists, veterinarians, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human participants

informed consent

process of informing a research participant about what to expect during an experiment, any risks involved, and the implications of the research, and then obtaining the person's consent to participate

deception

purposely misleading experiment participants in order to maintain the integrity of the experiment

debriefing

when an experiment involved deception, participants are told complete and truthful
information about the experiment at its conclusion

parsimony

the solution that makes the fewest assumptions is more likely to be correct

dependent variable

variable that the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had, manipulated variable

independent variable

variable that is influenced or controlled by the experimenter; in a sound experimental study, the independent variable is the only important difference between the experimental and control group

falsifiable

able to be disproven by experimental results, a good predict is this, says nothing about statements actual accuracy or inacuracy

null hypothesis

experimental group=control group (stats- fail to reject HO)

experimental hypothesis

experimental group > or < control group (stats- reject HO)

random assignment

method of experimental group assignment in which all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to either group
ex: pulling #s out of a hat

random sampling

everyone has an equal chance of being selected
ex: rolling a dice

random sample

subset of a larger population in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

replication

repeating an experiment using different samples to determine the research's reliability

measures of tendency

mean, median, mode

if data points are spread out

increase in variability

if data points are close together

decrease in variability

attrition

reduction in number of research participants as some drop out of the study over time

clinical or case study

observational research study focusing on one or a few people

empirical

grounded in objective, tangible evidence that can be observed time and time again, regardless of who is observing

generalize

inferring that the results for a sample apply to the larger population

inter-rater reliability

measure of agreement among observers on how they record and classify a particular event

observer bias

when observations may be skewed to align with observer expectations

participants

subjects of psychological research

peer-reviewed journal article

article read by several other scientists (usually anonymously) with expertise in the subject matter, who provide feedback regarding the quality of the manuscript before it is accepted for publication

population

overall group of individuals that the researchers are interested in

sample

subset of individuals selected from the larger population