AP Psychology Scientific Skills Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the AP Psychology Scientific Skills lecture notes.

Confirmation Bias

Gathering evidence supporting a conclusion while ignoring or not seeking evidence that refutes it.

Hindsight Bias

Believing that we knew something only after the event occurs.

Overconfidence

Believing that we know more than we actually do.

Theory

Related hypotheses supported by evidence and may predict many other associated phenomena.

Participant

A person who takes part in a research study

Hypothesis

A predicted outcome that one can test.

Falsifiable Hypothesis

A hypothesis that can be proven incorrect by an experiment.

Operational Definition

A description of the variable that enables replication; it usually explains how one measures it.

Replication

Repeating an experiment to gain more confidence in the initial results.

Case Study

Studying one or a few people in great depth

Naturalistic Observation

Watching and recording everyday behavior in natural settings.

Survey

A study in which researchers select a group of participants from a population and collect data about or opinions from those participants.

Population

The total number of individuals in a given area.

Sample

A subset of a population that the researcher selects for making inferences about the population.

Random Sample

Every person in a population has the same probability of being selected; helps make the sample representative by reducing bias.

Representative Sample

Selecting participants so that the sample accurately reflects the entire population.

Convenience Sample

Selecting participants by chance or availability.

Social Desirability Bias

The tendency to give answers in accordance with what is socially acceptable or the perceived desires of the researcher.

Self-Report Bias

A methodological problem when researchers ask people to describe their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors instead of measuring them directly.

Peer Review

The process of submitting academic work to other professionals in the field for critique and evaluation before being published in journals.

Correlation

A relationship between variables or how well they can predict one another; does not necessarily mean causation.

Directionality Problem

When two variables are related, but it is unknown which is the cause and which is the effect.

Third Variable Problem

A hidden variable that may be causing the other two.

Correlation Coefficient

A numerical representation of a correlation.

Scatterplot

A graphical representation of a correlation.

Positive Correlation

Both variables rise and fall together.

Negative Correlation

The variables are inversely related; as one rises, the other falls.

Independent Variable (IV)

A variable that a researcher manipulates or controls to determine its effect.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The outcome of the IV; what is measured.

Extraneous Variables

Variables that are not the IV or DV but may affect the outcome.

Confounding Variables

An extraneous variable that causes systematic variation which makes it difficult to separate from the IV.

Placebo

A medical or psychological intervention or treatment that lacks the ability to change something (e.g., a sugar pill).

Placebo Effect

A response to a treatment based on the recipient’s expectations; can confound an experiment.

Single Blind Procedure

Participants are unaware of the experimental conditions.

Double Blind Procedure

Both the researchers and the participants do not know who received the treatment.

Random Assignment

Participants are placed in groups randomly; each person has an equal chance of being in any group; decreases the likelihood of confounding variables.

Experimental Group

Receives the treatment.

Control Group

Does not receive the treatment or gets a placebo.

Quantitative Research

Using numerical measurement.

Likert Scales

An attitude measurement with positive and negative evaluations (e.g., Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree).

Qualitative Research

Using descriptive data without numbers.

Structured Interviews

Questions, wording, and order are predetermined and kept consistent for each participant.

American Psychological Association (APA)

Sets the guidelines for ethical research.

Informed Consent

Prior approval to participate; often requires a signature of the participants.

Informed Assent

Prior approval to participate by someone not able to give legal consent (under 18 years old).

Debriefing

Explain the true purpose of a study after completion.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Must give prior approval to the researchers; considers no undue harm, confidentiality, cost-benefit analysis, and deception.

Descriptive Statistics

The main aspects of a data sample without inferring to a larger population; usually, the mean, median, or mode.

Central Tendency

The middle or center point of a set of scores.

Mean

The average; sum of all scores divided by the number of scores; not used when there are extreme outliers and few scores.

Median

The midpoint of scores.

Mode

The most frequently occurring score.

Range

Subtract the lowest score from the highest score.

Histogram

A graphical depiction of continuous data; similar to a bar graph but with the blocks connected.

Standard Deviation (SD)

A measure of the variability of scores around the mean; a small SD means the scores are close to the mean, and a large SD means they vary from the mean.

Normal Curve

Bell-shaped, symmetrical; the mean, median, and mode are the same; fixed proportional values.

Positive Skew

A few extreme scores towards the high end; the mean is greater than the mode.

Negative Skew

A few extreme scores towards the low end; the mean is less than the mode.

Bimodal Distribution

A set of scores with two peaks that values tend to cluster around.

Variation

A measure of the spread of scores within a sample or population.

Inferential Statistics

People use them to determine what can be known about a population from the sample studied.

Statistical Significance

Evaluation of the confidence that the change was not due to chance; often set at 5%; also called the p-value; sample size impacts the significance.

Effect Size

A measure of the magnitude of a relationship between two variables; allows one to interpret the practical significance of the results.

Meta-analysis

A quantitative study that combines the results of multiple studies on a topic into a single study by combining the effect sizes.