Research Basics
A reasoned prediction or suggested explanation for observed phenomena.
What is a hypothesis?
Factors that change in an experiment
What are variables?
Research observations that are converted into numbers
What is quantitative data?
A “medicine” that has no active ingredients and works by suggestion.
What is a placebo?
Acquiring knowledge through observation.
What is empirical research?
The people or animals on whom a study is conducted.
What are subjects/participants?
The factor the experimenter manipulates or changes.
What is the independent variable?
Research observations recorded as verbal descriptions
What is qualitative data?
The group that receives the treatment or independent variable.
What is the experimental group?
A general framework for scientific study that explains observed data.
What is a theory?
A group that represents a larger group.
What is a research sample?
The factor that changes as a result of the independent variable; what is measured.
What is the dependent variable?
A method of research that involves asking subjects about their feelings or behavior
What is a survey?
Principles and standards of fairness and safety required in psychological research.
What are research ethics?
When the findings of research are directly used with people
What is applied psychology?
The larger group that the sample is supposed to represent.
What is a research population?
Factors besides the independent variable that may influence the outcome
What are confounding variables?
A research method where subjects are observed without knowing it. (
What is naturalistic observation?
The careful, systematic observation of one’s own conscious experience.
What is introspection?
The science that studies the mind, behavior, and underlying processes.
What is psychology?
The extent to which research results from a sample can be generalized to the larger population.
What is representativeness?
The group that does not get the treatment or independent variable.
What is the control group?
Research that takes place outside the laboratory.
What is a field study?
Research that collects detailed information about a person’s background, usually for treatment.
What is a case study?
The profession that applies psychology’s accumulated knowledge to practical problems.
What is psychology as a profession?