SCIENTIFIC THINKING
Psychology is scientific because it relies on this rather than just intuition.
What is evidence?
“How many hours do students sleep?” is what type of question?
What is descriptive?
Turning “stress” into a 1–7 rating scale is called this.
What is operationalization?
Reliability means a measure is this.
What is consistent?
The variable the researcher changes in an experiment.
What is the independent variable?
Surveys primarily measure this.
What is self-report?
Participants must be told risks, benefits, and that participation is voluntary in this document.
What is informed consent?
Scientific conclusions are usually described as having this, not certainty.
What is probability (or confidence)?
“Is sleep related to stress?” is what type of question?
What is relational (correlational)?
“Treatment vs control” is what type of data?
What is nominal?
If a scale gives the same result two weeks later (when nothing changed), that shows this type of reliability.
What is test–retest reliability?
A variable that differs between groups and could explain the results is called this.
What is a confound?
Recruiting whoever is easiest to reach is called this type of sampling.
What is convenience sampling?
Risk must not exceed what people experience in this to be considered minimal risk.
What is everyday life?
If two scientists disagree about a study, that usually means this process is still happening.
What is evidence accumulation (or revision)?
“Does sleep restriction increase stress?” suggests what kind of design?
What is experimental?
A 1–5 agreement scale is technically what level?
What is ordinal?
A bathroom scale that is always 10 pounds off is reliable but not this.
What is valid?
Within-subjects designs risk this problem if order is not controlled.
What is order effects?
If only people who feel strongly respond to your survey, this bias may occur.
What is nonresponse bias?
Deception requires this after the study.
What is debriefing?
A headline says “Coffee makes you happier!” What should you ask before believing it? (Name one.)
What is “How was it studied?” / “Was it experimental?” / “What was the sample?” (Similar reasonable answers accepted.)
A hypothesis must include a predicted direction and be this.
What is testable (or falsifiable)?
Measuring stress with both a survey and heart rate is called this.
What is converging operations (or triangulation)?
If a new depression scale strongly correlates with an existing depression scale, that supports this.
What is convergent validity?
Random assignment mainly protects which type of validity?
What is internal validity?
BRUSO reminds us survey items should be clear and free from this common problem: two ideas in one question.
What is double-barreled wording?
If students feel pressured to participate because of extra credit, this ethical issue may exist.
What is coercion (or power imbalance)?
Why can’t one single study “prove” something forever?
What is because findings can be revised with new evidence?
If your question is causal but your design is correlational, what is the main problem?
What is you cannot make causal conclusions?
Why is “We measured anxiety with a survey” incomplete?
What is it doesn’t explain how it was measured?
If a happiness scale strongly correlates with shoe size, what type of validity is weak?
What is discriminant validity?
Students choose whether to give up phones. Mood improves in the phone-free group. What is the biggest flaw?
What is self-selection (or confounding)?
Asking about dating frequency before life satisfaction could change answers due to this.
What is an order effect?
Interviewing minors in a detention center would likely require what level of IRB review?
What is full board review?