AP Psychology: Research Methods Flashcards

5844237779	Hypothesis	a testable prediction, often implied by a theory, that expresses a relationship between two variables	0
5844246743	Replication	repeating the essence of a research study usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic findings extend to other participants and circumstances	1
5844257013	Empirical Science	collecting data from an observation or experiment	2
5844260455	Independent Variable	the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied	3
5844265741	Dependent Variable	the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variables	4
5844271765	Population	includes anyone or anything that could possibly be selected to be in a sample	5
5844276469	Sampling	the process by which the participants are selected	6
5844279557	Representative Sample	a sample that is often large and diverse, in order to represent a larger population	7
5844284902	Random Selection	every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected	8
5844290549	Experimental Group	the group that gets the treatment operationalized in the independent variable	9
5844294727	Control Group	in an experiment, the group not exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable	10
5844302150	Random Assignment	assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between different groups	11
5844310487	Cross-sectional Studies	a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another	12
5844314220	Longitudinal Studies	research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period	13
5844319435	Confounding Variables	any difference between the experimental and control conditions, except the independent variable, that might affect the dependent variable	14
5844327723	Extraneous Variables	any variables that the researcher did not intentionally study in an experiment or test	15
5844331432	Operational Definition	a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study. (i.e. human intelligence & IQ)	16
5844339666	Experimenter Bias	the unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experiment and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their hypothesis	17
5844351163	"Generalizability" of a study	the extent to which findings (from a study) can be generalized (or extended) to the those in natural settings (i.e., outside the lab).	18
5844356382	Single-blind Procedure	when only the participants are unaware of which group they've been assigned to	19
5844363094	Double-blind Procedure	when neither the participants nor the researcher are able to affect the outcome of the research	20
5844369595	Placebo	a harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit of the patient than for any physiological effect	21
5844376886	Placebo Effect	experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent.	22
5848977750	Reliability	the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, in its alternate forms, or in a retest	23
5848987648	Validity	the extent to which a test or experiment measures or predicts what it's supposed to	24
5848994940	Descriptive Statistics	numerical date used to measure and describe characteristics of groups	25
5849001654	Frequency Distribution	a simplified organization or presentation of data (i.e. histogram, frequency polygon)	26
5849006537	Central Tendency	measures that attempt to mark the center of a distribution	27
5849013059	Mode	the score that appears most frequently	28
5849015708	Median	the middle of a list of scores organized by ascending or descending order	29
5849020043	Mean	average of all scores in a distribution	30
5849022384	Variability	measures that attempt to depict the diversity of the distribution	31
5849026290	Range	the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution	32
5849030572	Standard Deviation	a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score	33
5849035037	Normal Distribution	a theoretical bell-shaped curve for which the area under the curve lying between any two z scores has been predetermined	34
5849043677	Percentile Score	an indication of the distance of a particular score from zero	35
5849048108	Correlation Coefficient	(r) a statistical index of the relationship between two variables (from -1 to +1)	36
5849055286	Positive Correlation	the presence of one thing predicts the presence of the other	37
5849059947	Negative Correlation	the presence of one thing predicts the absence of the other	38
5849065919	Inferential Statistics	used to determine whether or not a finding can be applied to the larger population from which the sample was selected.	39
5849072314	Statistical Significance	(p) the probability of some result of a statistical test occurring by chance	40
5849083575	APA Ethical Standard 1	Subjects' participation in research should be voluntary and based on informed consent.	41
5849094210	APA Ethical Standard 2	Participants should not be exposed to harmful or dangerous research procedures.	42
5849100362	APA Ethical Standard 3	If an investigation requires some deception of participants, the researcher is required to explain/correct any misunderstandings asap.	43
5849111801	APA Ethical Standard 4	Subjects' right to privacy should never be violated. Their participation is confidential.	44
5849123169	APA Ethical Standard 5	Harmful or painful procedures imposed upon animals must be justified in terms of the knowledge to be gained from the study.	45
5849130822	APA Ethical Standard 6	Prior to conducting studies, approval should be obtained from host institutions and their research review committees.	46
5849142552	Experiment Advantages	identifies cause-effect relationship; distinguishes between placebo and real effects	47
5849142553	Experiment Disadvantages	results may not generalize to real-world situations; can be affected by confounding/extraneous variables; ethics; double blind	48
5849207693	Experiment	an investigation in which a hypothesis is scientifically tested	49
5849211996	Quasi-experiment	experiments employed when the researcher is interested in independent variables that cannot be randomly assigned	50
5849145933	Quasi-experiment ad.	more feasible type of experiment; external validity is increased; genuine reactions from participants	51
5849146011	Quasi-experiment dis.	results are limited from being representative of larger populations; lack of statistic significance; threat to internal validity	52
5849227219	Naturalistic Observation	observing people in their natural behavior without interacting with them at all	53
5849150570	Naturalistic Observation ad.	provides info. about natural behaviors	54
5849152310	Naturalistic Observation dis.	researcher has no control; observer bias	55
5849236113	Survey	asking people to answer questions	56
5849152311	Surveys advantages	a lot of info in results; easy/cheap; investigates relationship between two variables	57
5849154345	Surveys disadvantages	no cause-effect relationship; information can't be confirmed	58
5849248458	Case Studies	research method of obtaining a full detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants	59
5849154346	Case studies advantages	very specific info to a small group of people	60
5849158505	Case studies disadvantages	can be subjective; no cause-effect relationship	61
5849158506	Hawthorne Effect	merely selecting a group of people on whom to experiment has been determined to affect the performance of that group, regardless of what is done to those individuals	62
5849161275	False Consensus bias	bias whereby people tend to overestimate the extent to which their opinions, beliefs, values, and habits are normal and typical of those of others	63
5849161276	Gambler's Fallacy	the belief that the chances of something happening with a fixed probability become higher as the process is repeated	64