Basic Research Terms
independent variable
What is the variable that is manipulated in an experimental study; the variable that is presumed to come first in a correlational study and has an effect on the DV
This refers to aspects of the testing situation that needs to be controlled
Physical Variables.
Define cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.
Cross-sectional: is a research method where data are collected at the same time from people in different age categories.
Longitudinal: the study of changes in individual or group behavior over an extended period of time by repeatedly monitoring the same subjects.
What is the defining characteristic of a true experiment?
Random assignment
Dependent variable
What is variable that is influenced the independent variable; occurs after the IV. OR the outcome measure in a study. The variable that is being measured.
Complete removal of the extraneous variable
Elimination
**Daily Double**
Name and Define two types of reliability.
Interrater reliability is the degree to which observers agree in their measurement
of the behavior.Test-retest reliability means the degree to which a person's scores are consistent across two or more administrations of a measurement procedure.Interitem reliability measures the degree to which different parts of an instrument (questionnaire or test) that are designed to measure the same variable achieve consistent results.
Name three types of research strategies
Descriptive, correlational, and experimental
Eye color, gender, ethnicity, are examples of this scale of measurement
Nominal
How do we reduce both demand characteristics and experimenter bias?
Double-blind study
Define internal validity
Internal validity is the degree to which changes in the dependent variable across treatment conditions were due to the independent variable.
________ refers to how consistent a measure assesses its key construct/concept.
Reliability
Describe the balancing technique
Balancing controls extraneous physical variables by equally distributing their effects across treatment conditions.
What are three (3) threats to validity
Maturation, history, selection, instrumentation, confounding/extraneous.
Define a true experiment and a quasi-experiment.
True: is one in which the researcher manipulates the Independent Variable (or variables) to observe its effect on some behavior or cognitive process (the dependent variable) while using random assignment of participants to groups in order to control external factors from influencing the results.
Quasi: A research design in which subjects are assigned to “treatment” (that is, they receive the intervention being studied) and “comparison” groups through a process that is not random.
Define and describe the Rosenthal Effect
The phenomenon in which experimenters treat subjects differently based on their expectations and their resulting actions influence subject performance.
A research study is conducted to determine if Zoloft decreases depressive symptoms. The study places participants in two groups, one group receives a placebo and the other group receives 75 mg of Zoloft. What are the independent and dependent variables?
Dependent- amount of depressive symptoms. Independent- medication (Zoloft and placebo)