Variables
The variable that is manipulated by researchers, either hands-on, or by grouping.
What is the independent variable?
Participants are divided into two or more groups, some of which are exposed to variables that are manipulated by the researchers.
What is an experiment?
Also known as the "I knew it all along" phenomenon.
What is hindsight bias?
The average number in a set of data.
What is the mean?
Occurs when a "dummy" treatment actually works because the participant believes that it will.
What is the placebo effect?
What is the dependent variable?
Careful and detailed observation of one or more special cases that often involves in-person interviews.
What is a case study?
Occurs when the sample is not representative of the population being studied.
What is a sampling bias?
Type of research that involves numerical data.
What is quantitative research?
When a set of data is distorted by one or more extreme outliers.
What is a skewed distribution?
This is a variable that is often overlooked, and one that may skew results.
What is a confounding variable?
Type of study that follows the same participants over a period of time.
What is a longitudinal study?
This is when we pay more attention to findings that we already agree with.
What is confirmation bias?
The number that appears most often in a set of data.
What is the mode?
This is when people perceive a relationship between two variables that are not actually connected.
What is an illusory correlation?
A way to define a variable so that it can be easily measured and replicated.
What is an operational definition?
Type of study that takes a "snapshot" of a population at a particular point in time.
What is a cross-sectional study?
If we report our own results, they may be unintentionally misleading.
What is the self-report bias?
The difference between the largest number and the smallest number in a data set.
What is the range?
This refers to the bell-shaped pattern that accompanies data where the majority of results are clustered around the mean.
What is the normal curve?
This is a number between -1 and +1 that represents the strength of a relationship between two variables.
What is the correlation coefficient?
This research method involves collecting and comparing data to determine if there is a relationship between variables.
What is a correlational study?
When someone wants to appear more agreeable or likeable, so they respond in a distorted or untrue way.
What is the social desirability bias?
This is a somewhat complicated equation that shows us how much the average result strays from the overall average. In other words, how close or separated the results are.
What is the standard deviation?
The tendency for extreme results to diminish over time with repeated trials.
What is regression towards the mean?