XP

Tenacity

based on method or superstition.

Intuition

person relies on hunches or instinct to answer questions.

Authority

a person find answers by seeking out an authority on the subject.

Rationalism

seeking answers by logical reasoning.

Empiricism

attempt to answers questions by direct observation or personal experience.

Inductive Reasoning

uses a few limited observations to generate hypothesis.

Deductive Reasoning

uses a general hypothesis or premise to generate a prediction about specific observation.

Three Important Principle of the Scientific Method:

1. Empirical

2. Public

3. Objective

Replication

repetition of observation allows verification of findings.

Pseudoscience

system of ideas presented as science but actually lacking some of the key components that are essential to scientific research.

Quantitative Research

produces numerical scores.

Qualitative Research

produces narrative report.

Experiment

to establish the existence of a cause-and-effect relationships between two variables.

Four basic elements of an experiment:

1. Manipulation

2. Measurement

3. Comparison

4. Control

Maturation

changing of variables value to create a set of two/more treatment conditions.

Measurement

a group of participants to obtain a set of scores in each treatment conditions.

Comparison

scores of another treatment condition.

Control

to be sure that they do not influence the two variables being examined.

Independent Variable

variable being manipulated.

Dependent Variable

variable being measured.

Extraneous Variable

other variables that may affect the findings.

Placebo

innert or innocuous medication

Placebo Effect

occurs simply because the individual thinks the medication is effective.

Quasi

means “seeming like”.

Quasi-experiment

superficially resemble experiment, but lack their required manipulation of antecedent conditions.

Linearity

means how the relationship between X and Y can be plotted as line or curve.

Sign

refer to whether the correlation coefficient is positive or negative.

Magnitude

the strength of the correlation coefficient, ranging from -1 to +1.

Probability

obtaining a correlation coefficient of this magnitude due to chance.

Scatterplots

graphic display of pairs of data points on the X and Y axis.

Coefficient of Determination

estimates the amount of variability that can be explained by a predictor variable.

Longitudinal Designs

same group of subject is measured at different points of time to determine the effect of time on behavior.

Cross-sectional Studies

subjects at different developmental stages are compared at the same point in time.

Ethics

professional values, standards of behavior and conduct.

Basic Ethical Principles:

1. Autonomy

2. Beneficence & Nonmaleficence

3. Justice

4. Fidelity & Responsibility

5. Integrity

Autonomy

respect for person; freedom of choice in participation.

Beneficence & Nonmaleficence

protecting participants from harm, ensuring well-being.

Justice

fairness in distribution of benefits and necessary burden.

Fidelity & Responsibility

trust, accountability in personal behavior.

Integrity

accuracy, transparency, truthfulness, honesty, and scientific rigor.

Institutional Review Board

representative committees responsible for determining the ethicality.

Informed Consent

explaining enough details about the study.

Deception

intenionally withholding information (omission).

Debriefing

after participation, fully describing the nature, purpose, and design of the study.

Anonymity & Confidentiality

ensuring security in the availability, access, and use of participant data.

Authorship

giving proper credit to those who worked on the project based on the extent of the contribution.

Research Fraud

misrepresenting research findings.

Transparent Reporting

acknowledging partiality and conflicts of interest.

Characteristics of an Experimental Hypothesis:

1. Synthesis

2. Testable

3. Falsifiable

4. Parsimonious

5. Fruitful

Synthetic

either “true/false”, and uses the “if-then” format.

Testable

can be tested because the means exist for manipulating antecedent conditions.

Falsifiable

worded so that it is disprovable/proven wrong by experimental results.

Parsimonious

simple & does not require many supporting assumptions.

Fruitful

a statement that can lead to new studies.

Independent Variable

the variable an experimenter intentionally manipulates.

Levels

an independent variable are the values of the IV created by the experimenter.

Confounded

the value of an extraneous variable systematically changes along with the IV.

Dependent Variable

the outcome measure the experiementer uses to assess the change in behavior produced by IV.

Operational Definition

specifies the exact meaning of a variable by defining it in terms of observable operations, procedures, and measurements.

Experimental Operation Definition

specifies exact procedure for creating values of the IV.

Measured Operational Definition

specifies exact procedure for measuring the DV.

Reability

refers to the consistency of experimental operational definitions and measured operational definition.

Between-subject Design

allows only one score for each participant.

Treatment I

group of relatively order participants.

Treatment II

group of relatively younger participants.

Equivalent Groups:

1. Created Equally - used to obtain participants should be as similar as possible for all of the groups.

2. Treated Equally - except for the treatment conditions that are deliberately varied between groups.

3. Composed of Equivalent Individuals - participants should be similar to the other groups.

Within-subject Designs

a single group of participants and tests/observes each individual in all of the different treatments being compared.

Internal Validity

study produces a single, unambiguous explanation for the relationship between 2 variables.

Time-related Threats to Internal Validity:

1. History

2. Maturation

3. Instrumentation

4. Regression towards the Mean

5. Order Effects

History

events that occurs in the participants personal lives.

Maturation

study & influences the participants scores.

Instrumentation

changes in a measuring instrument that occur over time.

Regression towards the Mean

tendency for extreme scores on any measurement to move toward the mean.

Order Effects

experience in one treatment condition.

Fatigue

progressive decline in performance.

Practice

progressive improvement in performance.

Sampling

procedure of identifying a representative group from the target population.

Inclusion Criteria

attributes that participants must prossess.

Exclusion Criteria

attributes that disqualify a participant from a study.