Chapter 2: The Research Enterprise in Psychology Flashcards

463616930	Anecdotal Evidence	Personal stories about specific incidents and experiences	0
463616931	Case Study	An in-depth investigation of an individual subject	1
463616932	Confounding Variables	A condition that exists whenever two variables are linked in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their independent effects	2
463616933	Control Group	Subjects in a study who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group	3
463616934	Correlation	The extent to which two variables are related to each other	4
463616935	Correlation Coefficient	A numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables	5
463616936	Data Collection Techniques	Procedures for making empirical observations and measurements	6
463616937	Dependent Variable	In an experiment, the variable that is thought to be affected by the manipulation of the independent variable	7
463616938	Descriptive Statistics	Statistics that are used to organize and summarize data	8
463616939	Double-Blind Procedure	A research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups	9
463616940	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
463616941	Experimental Group	The subjects in a study who receive some kind of special treatment in regard to the independent variable	11
463616942	Experimenter Bias	A phenomenon that occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained	12
463616943	Extraneous Variables	Any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variables in a specific study	13
463616944	Hypothesis	A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables	14
463616945	Independent Variable	In an experiment, a condition or even that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable	15
463616946	Inferential Statistics	Statistics that are used to interpret data and draw conclusions	16
463616947	Internet-Mediated Research	Studies in which data collection occurs over the web	17
463616948	Journal	A periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly-defined area of inquiry	18
463616949	Mean	The arithmetic average of the scores in a distribution	19
463616950	Median	The score that falls exactly in the center of a distribution of scores	20
463616951	Mode	The score that occurs most frequently in a distribution	21
463616952	Naturalistic Observation	A descriptive research in which the researcher engages in careful, usually prolonged, observation of behavior without intervening directly with the subjects	22
463616953	Operational Definition	A definition that describes the actions or operations that will be made to measure or control a variable	23
463616954	Participants	The persons or animals whose behavior is systematicaly observed in a study	24
463616955	Placebo Effects	The fact that subjects' expectations can lead them to experience some change even though they receive an empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment	25
463616956	Population	The larger collection of animals or people from which a sample is drawn that researchers want to generalize about	26
463616957	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	27
463616958	Reactivity	Alteration of a subject's behavior as a result of the presence of an observer	28
463616959	Replication	The repitition of a study to see whether earlier results are duplicated	29
463616960	Research Methods	Differing approaches to the manipulation and control of variables in empirical studies	30
463616961	Response Set	A tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the questions	31
463616962	Sample	The collection of subjects selected for observation in an empirical study	32
463616963	Sampling Bias	A problem that occurs when a sample is not representative of the population from which it is drawn	33
463616964	Social Desirability Bias	A tendency to give socially approved answers about oneself	34
463616965	Standard Deviation	An index of the amount of variability in a set of data	35
463616966	Statistical significance	The condition that exists when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very low	36
463616967	Statistics	The use of mathematics to organize, summarize, and interpret numerical data	37
463616968	Survey	A descriptive research method in which researchers use questionnaires or interviews to gather information about specific aspects of a subject's behavior	38
463616969	Theory	A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations	39
463616970	Variability	The extent to which the scores in a data set tend to vary from each other and from the mean	40
463616971	Variables	Any measureable conditions, events, characteristics, or behaviors that are controlled or observed in a study	41
463616972	Neal Miller	Asserted the benefits of animal research outweigh the harm done	42
463616973	Robert Rosenthal	Studied experimenter bias, a researcher's unintended influence on the behavior of subjects	43
463616974	Stanley Schachter	Studied the effect of anxiety on affiliation	44