Measures of Central Tendency
The mathematical average of a score distribution
What is the mean?
Correlational studies determine if these exist
What are relationships (between variables)?
Studying subjects in their regular environment; no intervention from researchers; no experimental control
What is a naturalistic observastion?
It must be testable and falsifiable
What is a hypothesis?
The entire group of people who are the researcher's focus, from which a sample is drawn
What is the population?
The most frequently occurring value in a distribution
What is the mode?
Type of correlation such that as one variable increases, the other variable increases
What is a positive correlation?
Method that allows for collection of large amount of data, effective for studying behavior that is difficult to observe
What is a survey?
Variable that is manipulated by the experimenter
What is the independent variable?
The median of the following distribution: 5, 10, 10, 15, 20
What is 10?
The middle score in a frequency distribution
What is the median?
Type of correlation such that as one variable increases, the other variable decreases
What is a negative correlation?
Method that statistically combines results from multiple studies
What is meta-analysis?
Precise explanation of independent and dependent variables, which allow the experiment to be replicated
What are operational definitions?
The mode of the following distribution: 5, 10, 10, 15, 20
What is 10?
Measure of central tendency subject to distortion by an outlier (extreme value)
What is the mean?
The graph of a correlation
What is a scatterplot (or scattergram)?
Best method for studying rare or complex phenomena, but results may not be generalizable
What is the case study?
Type of variable to be avoided because it can distort results by having unintended effect dependent variable
What is a confounding variable?
The mean of the following distribution: 5, 10, 10, 15, 20
What is 12?
A distribution in which two separate values occur the most often
What is a bimodal distribution?
The two possible values of a perfect correlation coefficient
What is 1 and -1?
Non-experimental method with highest potential for sampling bias
What is the survey?
Experiments must include this procedure for placing subjects in either the experimental or control group
What is random assignment?
Non-random sample selected because of ready availability
What is a convenience sample?