Ch. 2 - The Research Enterprise in Psychology - Glossary
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| 1783792859 | Anecdotal evidence | Personal stories about specific incidents and experiences. | 0 | |
| 1783792860 | Case study | An in-depth investigation of an individual subject. | 1 | |
| 1783792861 | Confounding of variables | A condition that exists whenever two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their independent effects. | 2 | |
| 1783792862 | Control group | Subjects in a study who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group. | 3 | |
| 1783792863 | Correlation | The extent to which two variables are related to each other. | 4 | |
| 1783792864 | Correlation coefficient | A numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables. | 5 | |
| 1783792865 | Data collection techniques | Procedures for making empirical observations and measurements. | 6 | |
| 1783792866 | Dependent variable | In an experiment, the variable that is thought to be affected by the manipulation of the independent variable. | 7 | |
| 1783792867 | Descriptive statistics | Statistics that are used to organize and summarize data. | 8 | |
| 1783792868 | Double-blind procedure | A research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups. | 9 | |
| 1783792869 | Experiment | A research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result. | 10 | |
| 1783792870 | Experimental group | The subjects in a study who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable. | 11 | |
| 1783792871 | Experimenter bias | A phenomenon that occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained. | 12 | |
| 1783792872 | Extraneous variables | Any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study. | 13 | |
| 1783792873 | Halo effect | A distortion that occurs on questionnaires when one's overall evaluation of a person, object, or institution spills over to influence more specific ratings. | 14 | |
| 1783792874 | Hypothesis | A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. | 15 | |
| 1783792875 | Independent variable | In an experiment, a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable. | 16 | |
| 1783792876 | Inferential statistics | Statistics that are used to interpret data and draw conclusions. | 17 | |
| 1783792877 | Journal | A periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly defined area of inquiry. | 18 | |
| 1783792878 | Mean | The arithmetic average of the scores in a distribution. | 19 | |
| 1783792879 | Median | The score that falls exactly in the center of a distribution of scores. | 20 | |
| 1783792880 | Meta-analysis | A research technique that combines the statistical results of many studies of the same question, yielding an estimate of the size and consistency of a variable's effects. | 21 | |
| 1783792881 | Mode | The score that occurs most frequently in a distribution. | 22 | |
| 1783792882 | Naturalistic observation | A descriptive research method in which the researcher engages in careful, usually prolonged, observation of behavior without intervening directly with the subjects. | 23 | |
| 1783792883 | Operational definition | A definition that describes the actions or operations that will be made to measure or control a variable. | 24 | |
| 1783792884 | Participants | The persons or animals whose behavior is systematically observed in a study. | 25 | |
| 1783792885 | Placebo effects | The fact that subjects' expectations can lead them to experience some change even though they receive an empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment. | 26 | |
| 1783792886 | Population | The larger collection of animals or people from which a sample is drawn and that researchers want to generalize about. | 27 | |
| 1783792887 | Random assignment | The constitution of groups in a study such that all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned to any group or condition. | 28 | |
| 1783792888 | Reactivity | Alteration of a subject's behavior as a result of the presence of an observer. | 29 | |
| 1783792889 | Replication | The repetition of a study to see whether the earlier results are duplicated. | 30 | |
| 1783792890 | Research methods | Differing approaches to the manipulation and control of variables in empirical studies. | 31 | |
| 1783792891 | Response set | A tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the questions. | 32 | |
| 1783792892 | Sample | The collection of subjects selected for observation in an empirical study. | 33 | |
| 1783792893 | Sampling bias | A problem that occurs when a sample is not representative of the population from which it is drawn. | 34 | |
| 1783792894 | Social desirability bias | A tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself. | 35 | |
| 1783792895 | Standard deviation | An index of the amount of variability in a set of data. | 36 | |
| 1783792896 | Statistical significance | The condition that exists when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very low. | 37 | |
| 1783792897 | Statistics | The use of mathematics to organize, summarize, and interpret numerical data. See also Descriptive statistics, Inferential statistics. | 38 | |
| 1783792898 | Subjects | The persons or animals whose behavior is systematically observed in a study. See Participants. | 39 | |
| 1783792899 | Survey | A descriptive research method in which researchers use questionnaires or interviews to gather information about specific aspects of subjects' behavior. | 40 | |
| 1783792900 | Theory | A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations. | 41 | |
| 1783792901 | Variability | The extent to which the scores in a data set tend to vary from each other and from the mean. | 42 | |
| 1783792902 | Variables | Any measurable conditions, events, characteristics, or behaviors that are controlled or observed in a study. | 43 |
