PSY301 Midterm 1

Study Guide Exam I

For each of the following, you should be familiar with the relevant vocabulary, and able to explain the concepts to someone who isn't currently taking the class.

Chapter 1.

What is the empirical method? use evidence from observable experience as the basis of a conclusion

What do scientists mean by theory, and how can it be different from a hypothesis? theory is an explanatory framework. theory→research questions→hypothesis→data. Good theories are based on observable evidence (empirical), testable, falsifiable, and parsimonious (simple/simple parts). a theory explains a natural phenomenon that is validated through observation and experimentation. A hypothesis is an educated guess based on certain data that acts as a foundation for further investigation.

How is it different from the everyday definition of theory? Can you sketch out and explain the parts of the theory-data cycle (not Ted's more elaborate ones, just the main one from the text

Why are skepticism, precision, and openness important to scientists? 

skepticism: scientists do not accept ideas on faith or authority. They treat conclusions, both old and new, with caution.

precision: scientists use theories to guide their hypotheses. They state their hypotheses precisely using operational definitions.

openness: scientists fully disclose their procedures and results to allow replication. Peer review gives science a built-in system of checks and balances. Scientific publication allows for journalists to share findings with the public.

What is meant by falsifiability? a feature of a scientific theory, in which it is possible to collect data that will indicate the theory is wrong

parsimony? the degree to which a theory provides the simplest explanation of some phenomenon. In the context of investigating a claim, the simplest explanation of a pattern of data is the best explanation that requires making a few exceptions or qualifications. 

What constitutes data to a scientist? data is a set of observations representing the values of some variable, collected from one or more research studies. you can have qualitative,  quantitative, or categorical data. 

Chapter 2.

Why is systematic research usually preferable to simple experience? systematic research: Employs rigorous methods to ensure that findings are not influenced by personal biases, emotions, or preconceptions. It relies on standardized procedures and controls to maintain neutrality. Simple experience: Heavily influenced by subjective perceptions, which can distort observations or lead to inaccurate conclusions.

What is meant by comparison groups, confounds? A comparison group is a group in an experiment whose levels of the independent variable differ from those of the treatment group in some intended and meaningful way. A confound is a general term for a potential alternative explanation for a research find; a threat to internal validity

Give an example of the availability heuristic: availability heuristic is a bias in intuition, in which people incorrectly estimate the frequency of something, relying predominantly on instances that easily come to find rather than using all possible evidence in evaluating a conclusion (ex: you see a headline that a woman dies in Australian shark attack, so then you change your vacation plans, how many words start with r vs. words that have r as their third letter)

Why is cherry picking a problem? it leads to biases, like confirmation bias which allows us to only look and know our own views and opinions. Fraud, deception, and paying attention to the stuff that supports your argument. 

What is confirmatory hypothesis testing, or 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

What is the problem with "common sense" stories? common sense statements are problematic in terms of being a credible source of information because there are no guarantees regarding their original source

What is the difference between an empirical article, and a review article? While empirical journal articles use predetermined headings such as Results, and Discussion, authors of chapters and review articles usually create headings that make sense for their particular topic. Therefore, a way to get an overview of a chapter or review article is by reading each heading. In a review article or chapter, the argument often presents an entire theory (whereas an empirical journal article usually tests only one part of a theory) 

What is a meta-analysis? a way of mathematically averaging the effect to see what conclusion that whole body of evidence supports. takes multiple papers and adds all of the data up to get a better estimate. 

What is meant by effect size? the magnitude, or strength, of a relationship between two or more variables (ex: strength of a correlation.. 0.15, .54, .08 etc., or being more at risk then another group )

What is the typical anatomy of an empirical article, and what goes into each section? 

Abstract: concise summary

Introduction: research question and the hypothesis

Method: how the hypothesis was tested, participants

Results: main findings

Discussion: why does it matter

References: sources 

Chapter 3.

Be able to distinguish and give examples of the three types of claim...frequency, association, causal. 

frequency claims: involve one variable, express rate, or degree (ex: half of Americans struggle to stay happy)

association claims: involves two or more variables, asserts that the value of one variable varies systematically with the value of another variable (ex: heavy cell phone use tied to poor sperm quality)

causal claims: involves two or more variables, argue that one variable is responsible for changing another variable (ex: vaccines cause autism)

Why are covariance, temporal precedence, and internal validity important? 

Covariance: A goes with B

Temporal precedence: A comes before B

Internal Validity: A is the only thing that could have caused B

• Covariance is important because it shows that changes in one variable are associated with changes in another.

• Temporal precedence ensures that the cause occurs before the effect, helping establish the direction of the relationship.

• Internal validity is crucial for ruling out alternative explanations and confirming that the observed effect is due to the independent variable.

covariance: the degree to which two variables go together, also one of three criteria for establishing a causal claim, which state, in a study's results, the propped 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

Know what a positive, negative, curvilinear, or zero association look like, be able to sketch one on a scatter plot:

How does each validity Construct, Internal, Statistical, External relate to each kind of claim? 

Know what is relevant for each kind of validity. 

construct validity: identify the claim, and examine the validity, a construct is just a word for a theoretical variable (ex: conceptual variable: ‘happiness’ →operational definition: self-report scale )

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; also called the third-variable criterion

external validity: generalizability, how ell the participants and conditions in the study represent the larger populations and contexts of interest

statistical validity: how accurate and appropriate the statistical conclusions are, are findings statistically appropriate, accurate, and reasonable? 

Be able to pose questions about the validity of a study when given a description of it… ✓

Be able to define, recognize, and give an example of : 

margin of error: a statistic, based in part on sample size, indicating the probable true value of a percentage estimate in the population

strength or size of an association, or difference: 

statistical significance: a researcher’s assessment of whether a result from a sample could have come from a population in which there is no association or no difference. When the sample’s result is extreme, it would rarely be found in such a population and is said to be statistically significant.

What is a false positive (Type I error)? What is a false negative (Type II error)? Give an example of each. 

false positive (type I error): a “false positive” result in the statistical inference process, in which researchers conclude that there is an effect in a population when there really is none (ex: you think the tomatoes are bad and throw them out, when they are not bad)

false negative (type II error): a “miss” in the statistical inference process, in which researchers conclude that their study has not detected an effect in a population when there really is one

Research Ethics:

Know the components of the Belmont Report and how they function in research.  Be able to give examples of each of the principles and how they play out. 

Respect for Persons 

• informed consent

• no coercion ( not using threats or force to achieve compliance)

• right to privacy and confidentiality

• protection of vulnerable populations (children, prisoners, people with disabilities)

• autonomy

  • participants have the right to consent or withdraw 

  • not capable people must be protected

Beneficence 

• protect participants from harm and benefit society

• cost-benefit analysis for participants and for society

Justice 

• treat groups of people fairly

• sample should represent the population that will benefit

What is an Institutional Review Board? a committee that evaluates, approves, and monitors research involving human participants, makes sure that research involving human participants is conducted ethically

What do we mean by informed consent? written explanation of the study for potential participants, and consent form includes info about the experiment produces, potential risks, and potential benefits

Why is it important? respect for persons and a desire to respect the autonomy of the individual deciding whether to volunteer to participate in research. it is also important for participants to know the risks so they have the ability to opt-out

Is deception ever used? yes. deception is lying to people for the study which violates respect for persons but we gain some knowledge

What is a debriefing? fully explain everything after the study 

What does it mean to balance risks and benefits? balancing risks and benefits means carefully evaluating the potential negative consequences (risks) and positive outcomes (benefits) of a decision, action, or situation. The goal is to make an informed choice that maximizes the benefits while minimizing the risks. 

Who are considered to be vulnerable populations? children, prisoners, elders, and people with disabilities. 

What kinds of harms do social scientists need to consider? physical harm, psychological stress, and loss of privacy and confidentiality

What other ethical considerations might we have aside from the protection of human subjects?  

• What are the possible effects of the experiment in the future? 

• Is the research we conduct environmentally safe, ex: minimizing the amount of chemicals we are wasting? 

• Where do researchers get their funding from, the funding could be from somewhere that is not biased. 

• Conflict of interest

• Misrepresenting data

• deception in graphs, and fraud

• Pressure to publish finding

•  Paywalls

• ownership/intellectual property

  • Remedies could include open-access journals.