Social Psych Chapter 2

American Psychological Association (APA)

A large organization of professional psychologists who provide scholarly publications, writing guidelines, and ethical standards for research.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA)

A statistical test that compares the means and standard deviations of three or more groups, to see if they are different from each other.

Applied science

Research that translates theory into applied problem-solving or social action.

Archival data

Stored information that was originally created for some other purpose that can later be used to test hypotheses, such as census or college records.

Badges

Visual icons that can mark if a study used open science practices.

Basic science

Research that increases understanding and theory within a field like psychology.

Confounding variables

Alternative explanations for why results came out as they did, which limit a researcher’s ability to claim a causal relationship between variables in a study.

Construct validity

The degree to which tests, surveys, and so on chosen for a study really measure what we think they’re measuring.

Constructs

Theoretical ideas that cannot be directly observed, such as attitudes, personality, attraction, or how we think.

Control group

A group of participants in a true experiment that serves as a neutral or baseline group that receives no treatment.

Correlational analysis

A statistic testing if two continuous variables are systematically associated with each other.

Debriefing

Additional details given to participants after participation in an experiment.

Deception

Hiding the true nature of an experiment from a participant so they act more naturally.

Dependent variable

The measured outcome at the end of an experiment that is affected by the independent variable.

External validity

The extent to which results of any single study could apply to other people or settings (see generalizability).

Generalizability

How much the results of a single study can apply to the general population (see external validity).

Hypothesis

A specific statement made by a researcher about the expected outcome of a study.

Independent variable

A variable that is manipulated at the beginning of an experiment to determine its effect; it’s how the groups are different from each other at the start of the study.

Informed consent

Participants’ right to be told what a study will involve, including potential dangers, before the study starts.

Institutional review boards (IRBs)

Committees of people who consider the ethical implications of any study before giving the researcher approval to begin formal research.

Internal validity

The level of confidence researchers have that patterns of data are due to what is being tested, as opposed to flaws in how the experiment was designed.

Naturalistic observation

Watching and recording people’s behaviors where they would have happened anyway, but for research purposes.

Open science

A movement to make science more transparent, cooperative, reproducible, and honest.

Participant observation

A technique used during naturalistic observation where scientists covertly disguise themselves as people belonging in an environment.

Preexperiment

A research design in which a single group of people is tested to see whether some kind of treatment has an effect.

Preregistration

Specifying your hypothesis, procedure, and statistical plan for a study before collecting data.

Quasi-experiment

A research design where outcomes are compared across different groups that occur naturally.

Random assignment

Placing participants into various conditions of a study using a chance method, to eliminate confounding variables by making the groups as equal to each other as possible.

Random sampling

A sampling technique where a researcher randomly chooses people to participate from a larger population of interest.

Reactivity

When people change their behavior because they realize they’re being observed.

Reliability

Consistency of measurement, over time or multiple testing occasions. A study is said to be reliable if similar results are found when the study is repeated.

Results-blind peer review

Asking experts to judge a potential study’s value and quality before the data have been collected and analyzed.

Right to withdraw

The right participants have to stop being in a study at any time or to skip questions on a survey.

Scientific method

A systematic way of creating knowledge by observing, forming a hypothesis, testing a hypothesis, and interpreting the results.

Self-report scale

A survey where participants give information about themselves by responding to several items along the same theme.

Social desirability

The tendency for participants to provide dishonest responses so that others have positive impressions of them or because they don’t want to admit something.

True experiment

A research design comparing two or more groups that have been created with random assignment.

t-test

A statistical test that compared the mean and standard deviations of two groups, to see if they are different from each other.

A food scientist wants to test whether her energy drink causes people to feel more alert. She randomly assigns participants to either consume the energy drink or water, and then an hour later, she asks them how alert they feel. Which kind of research design is she using?

true experiment

True or False: Naturalistic observation is a type of descriptive design.

True

A teacher has demonstrated that her innovative teaching methods are beneficial in her own fourth grade classroom, but she is unsure whether they would work in other 4^th grade classrooms or for students of any other grades. Her results are low on ______.

external validity

A pharmaceutical company is testing a new drug. They have two sets of participants; one is given the drug and the other is not. The set of participants that do not receive the drug is called the ______.

control group

Julie says, “People who go to the doctor are sick more often. I don’t want to go to the doctor, because going to the doctor makes you sick.” The main problem with Julie’s reasoning is that she has ______.

assumed that casual relationships go in one direction.

True or False: Random sampling refers to randomly putting participants into experimental groups.

false

Which method best allows us to determine cause and effect?

true experiment

Rob noticed that his friends seem more focused during study sessions that occur in the afternoon. He makes the statement, “I think student focus is higher during the afternoon, compared to the morning or evening.” Which phase of the scientific method is Rob currently participating?

generate a hypothesis

The ______ movement arose as a response to the “replication crisis”.

open science

Sometimes participants change their behavior if they know they are being observed. What is a potential solution to this problem?

partcipant observation

True or False: A t-test is a statistical test used to compare two groups.

true

Using random assignment to eliminate alternative explanations for the results of a study increases ______.

internal validity

True or False: In a preexperimental research design, two naturally occurring groups are compared to determine if some kind of experience or treatment had an effect.

false

True or False: A study finds that ice cream sales and drownings are correlated. It also finds that both of these variables increase when the temperature is higher. This is an example of a third variable.

true

A substance use researcher wants to know if participants who have been given a sugar pill will still feel “high” if they are told they have been given a drug. By telling participants that they have been given a drug, when in actuality they have not, what is the researcher engaging in?

deception