A broad idea that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations.
What is a theory?
100
What is this an example of?
The more you party, the lower your test grade.
What is a negative correlation?
100
A manipulated experimental factor; the variable that the experimenter changes to see what its effects are.
What is the independent variable?
200
The outcome; the factor that can change in an experiment in response to changes in the independent variable.
What is the dependent variable?
200
An educated guess that derives logically from a theory; a prediction that can be tested.
What is a hypothesis?
200
Research that determines the basic dimensions of a phenomenon, defining what is is, how often it occurs, and so on.
What is descriptive research?
300
What is this an example of?
The more you study, the higher your test grade.
What is a positive correlation?
300
Research that examines the relations between variables with the purpose of determining whether and how two variables change together.
What is correlational research?
300
Anything that can change.
What is a variable?
400
A carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables that are believed to influence other variables.
What is an experiment?
400
An in-depth look at a single individual.
What is a case study or case history?
400
The participants in an experiment who are as much like the experimental group as possible and who are treated in every way like the experimental group except for a manipulated factor, the independent variable.
What is the control group?
500
A phenomenon in which the participants' expectations, rather than an actual treatment, produce the outcome.
What is the placebo effect?
500
The circumstance in which a variable that has not been measured accounts for the relationship between two other variables.