PSYC 246 Exam 1

evidence-based treatment

a psychotherapy technique whose effectiveness has been supported by empirical research

empiricism

the use of verifiable evidence as the basis for conclusions; collecting data systematically and using it to develop, support or challenge a theory

hypothesis

a statement of the specific result the research expects to observe from a particular study

hypothesis

a statement of the specific result the researcher expects to observe from a particular study if the theory is accurate

data

a set of observations representing the values of some variable, collected from one or more research studies

preregistered

a term referring to a study in which, before collecting any data, the researcher has states publicly what the study’s outcome is expected to be

replication

the process of conducting a study again to test whether the result is consistent

weight of evidence

a conclusion drawn from reviewing scientific literature and considering the proportion of studies that is consistent with a theory

self-correcting

a process in which scientists make their research available for peer review, replication, and critique with the goal of identifying and correcting errors in the research

applied research

research whose goal is to find a solution to a particular real-world problem

basic research

research whose goal is to enhance the general body of knowledge, without regard for direct application to practical problems

translational research

research that uses knowledge derived from basic research to develop and test solutions to real-world problems

journal

a monthly or quarterly periodical containing peer-reviewed articles on a specific academic discipline or subdiscipline, written for a scholarly audience

journalism

news and commentary published or broadcast in the popular media and produced for a general audience

falsifiable

a feature of a scientific theory, in which it is possible to collect data that will indicate that the theory is wrong

universalism

one of Merton’s four scientific norms, stating that scientific knowledge is created by a community, and its findings belong to community

communality

one of Merton’s four scientific norms, stating that scientific knowledge is created by a community, and its findings belong to a community

disinterestedness

one of Merton’s four scientific norms, stating that scientists strive to discover the truth whatever it is; they are not swayed by conviction, idealism, politics, or profit

organized skepticism

one of Merton’s four scientific norms, stating that scientists question everything, including their own theories, widely accepted ideas, and “ancient wisdom”

comparison group

a group in an experiment whose levels on the independent variable differ from those of the treatment group in some intended and meaningful way

confound

a general term for a potential alternative explanation for something; a threat to internal validity

confederate

an actor who is directed by the researcher to play a specific role in a research study

probabilistic

describing the empirical method, stating that science is intended to explain a certain proportion (but not necessarily all) of the possible cases

availability heuristic

a bias in intuition, in which people incorrectly estimate the frequency of something, relying predominantly on instances that easily come to mind rather than using all possible evidence in evaluating a conclusion

present/present bias

a bias in intuition, in which people incorrectly estimate the relationship between an event and its outcome, focusing on times the event and outcome are present while failing to consider evidence that is absent and harder to notice

confirmation bias

the tendency to consider only the evidence that supports a hypothesis, including asking only the questions that will lead to the expected answer

bias blind spot

the tendency for people to think that compared to others, they themselves are less likely to engage in biased reasoning

empirical journal article

a scholarly article that reports for the first time the results of a research study

review journal article

an article summarizing all the studies that have been published in one research area

effect size

the magnitude, or strength, of a relationship between or more variables

paywalled

term referring to a peer-reviewed academic journal that the general public must pay to access; only people who are members of subscribing institutions can access the content

open access

term referring to a peer reviewed academic journal that anyone, even the general public, can read without paying for access

disninformation

a news story, photo, or video deliberately created to be false or misleading

meta-analysis

a way of mathematically averaging the effect sizes of all the studies that have tested the same variables to see what conclusion that whole body of evidence supports

variable

an attribute that varies, having at least two levels or values

level

one of the possible variations or values of a variable

constant

an attribute that could potentially vary but that only has one level of the study in question

measured variable

a variable in a study whose levels (values) are observed and recorded

manipulated variable

a variable of interest, stated in an abstract level, usually defined as part of a formal statement of psychological theory

construct

a variable of interested, stated at an abstract level, usually defined as part of a formal statement of a psychological theory

conceptual variable

a variable of interest stated at an abstract or conversational level

operational definition

the specific way in which a concept of interest is measured or manipulated as a variable in a study

operational variable

the specific way in which a concept of interested is measured or manipulated as a variable in a study

operationalize

to turn a conceptual definition of a variable into a specific measured variable or manipulated variable in order to conduct a research study

claim

the argument a journalist, researcher, or scientist is trying to make

frequency claim

a claim that describes a particular rate or degree of a single variable

association claim

a claim about two variables, in which the value (level) of one variable is said to vary systematically with the value of another variable

correlate

to occur or vary together (covary) systematically with the value of another variable

correlational study

a study that includes two or more variables, in which all of the variables are measured; can support an association claim

positive association

an association in which high levels of one variable go with high levels of the other variable, and low levels of one variable go with high levels of the other variable

scatterplot

a graphical representation of an association, in which each dot represents one participant in the study measured on two variable

negative association

an association in which high levels of one variable go with low levels of the other variable and vice versa

zero association

a lack of systematic association between two variables

causal claim

a claim arguing that a specific change in one variable is responsible for influencing the value of another variable

validity

the appropriateness of a conclusion or decision

construct validity

an indication of how well a variable was measured or manipulated in a study

generalizability

the extent to which subjects in a study represent the populations they are intended to represent; how well the settings in a study represent other settings or contexts

external validity

an indication of how well the results of a study generalize to or represent individuals or contexts besides those in the study itself

statistical validity

the extent to which statistical conclusions derived from a study are accurate and reasonable

point estimate

a single estimate of some population value (such as a percentage, correlation, or a difference) based on data from a sample

confidence interval (CI)

a given range indicated by a lower and upper value that is designed to capture the population value for some point estimate (ex: percentage, difference, or correlation); a high proportion of CIs will capture the true population value

margin of error of the estimate

in the context of a percentage estimate, an inferential statistic providing a range of values that has a high probability of containing the true population value

covariance

the degree to which to variables go together

also one of the three criteria for establishing a causal claim, which states that, in a study’s results, the proposed causal variable must vary systematically with changes in the proposed outcome variable

temporal precedence

one of three criteria for establishing a causal claim, stating that the proposed causal variable comes first in time, before the proposed outcome variable

internal validity

one of three criteria for establishing a causal claim; a study’s ability to rule out alternative explanations for a causal relationship between two variables

experiment

a study in which at least one variable is manipulated and another is measured

independent variable

in an experiment, a variable that is manipulated

in a multiple-regression analysis, a predictor variable used to explain variance in the criterion variable

dependent variable

in an experiment, the variable that is measured

in a multiple-regression analysis, the single-outcome, or criterion variable the researchers are most interested in understanding or predicting

random assignment

the use of a random method (ex: flipping a coin) to assign participants into different experimental groups

conceptual definition

a researcher’s definition of a variable at the conceptual level

self-report measure

a method of measuring a variable in which people answer questions about themselves in a questionnaire or interview

observational measure

a method of measuring a variable by recording observable behaviors or physical traces of behaviors

physiological measure

a method of measuring a variable by recording biological data

categorical variable or nominal scale

a variable whose levels are categories (ex: male and female)

quantitative variable

a variable whose values can be recorded as meaningful numbers

ordinal scale

a quantitative measurement scale whose levels represent a ranked order and in which distances between levels are not equal

interval scale

a quantitative measurement scale in which the numerals have equal intervals and the value of zero truly means “none” of the variable is being measured

reliability

the consistency of the results of a measure

validity

the appropriateness of a conclusion or decision

test-retest reliability

the consistency in results every time a measure is used

interrrater reliability

the degree to which two or more coders or observers give consistent ratings to a set of targets

internal reliability

in a measure that contains several items, the consistency in a pattern of measures, no matter how a question is phrased

correlation coefficient r

a single number, ranging from -1 to 1, that indicates the strength and direction of an association between two variables

slope direction

the upward, downward, or neutral slope of the cluster of data points in a scatterplot

strength

a description of an association indicating how closely the data points in a scatterplot cluster along a line of best fit drawn through them

average inter-item correlation

a measure of internal reliability for a set of items; it is the mean of all possible correlations computed between each item and others

Cronbach’s alpha

a correlation-based statistic that measures a scale’s internal reliability

face validity

the extent to which a measure is subjectively considered a plausible operationalization of the conceptual variable in question

criterion validity

an empirical form of measurement validity that established the extent to which a measure is associated with a behavioral outcome with which it should be associated

known-groups paradigm

a method for establishing criterion validity in which a researcher tests two or more groups who are known to differ on the variable of interest, to ensure that they score differently on a measure of that variable

convergent validity

an empirical test of the extent to which a self-report measure correlated with other measures of a theoretically similar construct

discriminant validity

an empirical test of the extent to which a self-report measure does not correlate strongly with measures of theoretically dissimilar constructs

content validity

the extent to which a measure captures all parts of a defined construct

survey

a method of posing questions to people on the telephone, personal interviews, or via the Internet

poll

a method of posing questions to people on the telephone in personal interviews, written questionnaires, or via the Internet

open-ended question

a survey question format that allows respondents to answer any way that they like

forced choice question

a survey question format in which respondents give their opinion by picking the best of two or more options

Likert scale

a survey question format using a rating scale containing multiple response options anchored by specific terms such as strongly agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree, and strong disagree

a scale that does not follow this format exactly is called a Likert-type scale

semantic differential format

a survey question using a response scale whose numbers are anchored with contrasting adjectives

leading question

a type of question in a survey or poll that is problematic because its wording encourages one response more than others, therefore weakening its construct validity