Research Methods
This research method involves watching people in their natural environment without manipulating anything.
What is naturalistic observation?
This is the variable that a researcher deliberately changes or manipulates.
What is the independent variable?
This type of relationship occurs when two variables move in the same direction.
What is a positive correlation?
This statistic is calculated by adding all the scores together and dividing by the number of scores.
What is the mean?
Before participating in a study, participants are told about the procedures and possible risks and agree to participate.
What is informed consent?
A person only looks for information that supports what they already believe.
What is confirmation bias?
A psychologist spends three years conducting an intensive investigation of one individual with a rare psychological disorder
What is a case study?
In an experiment, researchers give one group 8 hours of sleep and another group 4 hours of sleep. They then measure reaction time. Reaction time is this variable.
What is the dependent variable?
This type of relationship occurs when one variable increases while the other decreases
What is a negative correlation?
In the data set 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, this number represents the mode.
What is 3?
Researchers make sure participants' private information is not revealed without permission.
What is confidentiality?
After seeing the outcome of an election, someone says, "I knew that candidate was going to win the entire time!"
What is hindsight bias?
Researchers send 5,000 people a questionnaire asking about their sleep habits, exercise, and stress levels.
What is a survey?
Researchers define "stress" as a participant's score on a 20-question stress questionnaire and their heart rate.
What is an operational definition?
A study finds that the more hours students spend studying, the higher their exam scores tend to be. What type of correlation is this?
What is a positive correlation?
A researcher has scores of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30. What is the range?
What is 20?
After a study involving deception, researchers explain the true purpose of the experiment and what actually happened.
What is debriefing?
A CEO is extremely confident that her company's sales will increase next year, but her predictions are consistently inaccurate.
What is overconfidence?
A psychologist wants to know whether two variables are related but does not manipulate either variable. She records students' hours of sleep and their GPA.
What is correlational research?
A researcher is testing whether background music affects test performance. However, the music group happens to have twice as many students who studied for the test beforehand.
What is a confounding variable?
A researcher finds a correlation of -0.92 between stress and sleep. Is this relationship weak or strong, and is it positive or negative?
What is a strong negative correlation?
Two classes both have a mean score of 80. Class A's scores are tightly clustered around 80, while Class B's scores range from 40 to 100. This statistic would be larger for Class B.
What is standard deviation?
This committee reviews research involving human participants to make sure ethical standards are being followed.
What is the Institutional Review Board (IRB)?
A survey asks one group, "Do you support giving students more freedom?" Another group is asked, "Do you support allowing students to avoid required classes?" The groups respond very differently.
What is the wording effect?
A researcher wants to determine whether a new therapy actually causes a decrease in anxiety. Which research method should be used, and why?
What is an experiment, because experiments can establish cause-and-effect relationships?
A researcher randomly places participants into a treatment group or a control group. The main purpose is to minimize this problem by making the groups as similar as possible before the experiment begins.
What are preexisting differences between groups / confounding variables?
Researchers want to make conclusions about all teenagers in the United States. They randomly select teenagers from across the country so that each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
What is a random sample?
Researchers find that students who receive a new study intervention score significantly higher than students who do not. "Statistically significant" means the difference is unlikely to be explained by this.
What is chance?
In a study, several people pretend to be ordinary participants, but they are secretly working with the researchers. These people are called this.
What are confederates?
A student is convinced that a particular study strategy is the best way to prepare for an exam. When looking at research about study strategies, she pays close attention to studies that support her strategy but ignores research that suggests another strategy may work better.
What is confirmation bias?