Scientific Methodology
Why is psychology considered a science?
It uses the scientific method
What is the observer effect?
When people or animals behave differently because they know they are being watched
Correlation is about finding….
Relationships
What is an operational definition?
A definition that specifically names the operations that the experimenter must use to control or measure the variables in the experiment
the tendency to only notice things that agree with your view of the world
What is a hypothesis?
An educated guess/explanation in the form of a statement that can be tested in some way
What is it called when a researcher studies one individual?
Case study
Correlation does not equal
causation
What does random assignment control for?
Extraneous variables
Explain why we would use a double-blind study.
To eliminate as many potential biases as possible, in both the participants and the researchers
Which one is the correct hypothesis:
A) People who study for at least 1 hour a day will receive passing scores on their upcoming exam.
B) People usually do better on exams when they study.
A) People who study for at least 1 hour a day will receive passing scores on their upcoming exam.
When conducting a survey, it is important that you use a ________ _________ as to have a good representation of the group whom you are trying to study.
Representative sample
What kind of correlation: As people drink more coffee, their grades go down.
negative correlation
The name for the variable that is manipulated in an experiment is called the?
What about the name for the variable that is measured?
Independent variable, and dependent variable
What's a confounding variable?
What are the 5 steps of the scientific method?
What is observer bias? How can you avoid this?
When a researcher knows the outcome of the study, so he or she ‘sees what they expect to see’. Avoid by using a blind observer, who does not know the outcome or goal of the study
What kind of correlation: The fewer energy drinks a person consumes, the less energy the person has.
positive correlation
Explain the placebo effect
When improvement has to do with a person’s belief that it will work, or be effective, rather than a drug or treatment itself
How are descriptive methods different from experiments?
With descriptive methods, we generally observe behavior and we can only determine correlation. Experiments deliberately manipulate some variable, and they are the only way to determine causation.
If you are unable to find support for your hypothesis, is it incorrect? Why or why not?
Not necessarily; Your study may have been poorly designed, or there might have been other factors that interfered with your study
What are some of the pros and cons of naturalistic observation? How about laboratory observation?
With naturalistic observation, you get a more realistic view of normal life. But you have very little control over other variables that might affect your study! With laboratory observation, you have more control, but lab settings are not very realistic and don't generalize to the real world as well.
Your friend has just completed the statistics on his research study. He conducted a survey to find that r = -.79. First answer what type of research method this is, then answer what type of relationship he found, and whether it is weak or strong.
Your friend used a survey, which is a descriptive method. He found a strong, negative relationship between the variables he studied.
Suppose a researcher is conducting a study. For this study, half the participants have been manipulated in such a way that they are expected to be in a great mood after the experiment. When the researcher goes to speak to this half of the participants, she smiles and speaks in a bright, friendly tone. However, the other half of the participants have been manipulated in such a way that they are expected to be in an angry mood. When the researcher goes to speak to this half of the participants, her voice is a little more flat, and she does not smile. What type of effect is going on here?
Experimenter effect
If you want to study traumatic brain injury, you can perform an experiment, right?
No! It's unethical to manipulate whether a person has a traumatic brain injury or not. You must do a case study, survey, laboratory observation, or some other descriptive research to study traumatic brain injury.