Research Methods 1
A testable prediction, often prompted by a theory, to enable us to accept, reject, or revise the theory.
Hypothesis
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.
Hindsight bias
Which of the following coefficient correlations express the strongest relationship between two variables? -.91, -.71, -.32, +.8, +.908
-.91
Any effect on behavior caused by expectations alone.
Placebo effect
When a researcher has to tell you enough information for you to participate in the study.
Informed consent
Billy shouts out, "The answer is 7!" The teacher replies, "The answer is actually 8." Billy, again shouts, "but I almost had the right answer!" what best describes Billy's feeling?
Overconfidence
A statement of the procedures used to define research variables.
Operational definition
What is the problem of having a skewed distribution?
The mean or average may not reflect a true average since really high or low numbers would skew the mean.
What is the difference between experimental and control group?
The experimental group is exposed to treatment while the control group is not.
All the ethical guidelines are established by the...
APA (American Psychological Association)
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
Case study
What is a limit of intuition and an example of when intuition has been wrong.
Not scientific. Answers may vary.
The test scores for AP Unit 1 were: 68, 79, 100, 56, 89, and 88. What is the mean of these scores? [NO CALCULATORS.]
80
What is the difference between correlation and causation? Give an example of when correlation is NOT the same as causation.
Correlation means when one variable changes, another does as well. Answers will vary.
When participants must be told the purpose of the study and provided with ways to contact the researchers about study results.
Debriefing
The four basic steps of the research process.
1. Theory
2. Hypothesis
3. Research and Observations
4. Confirm, Revise, or Reject hypothesis
What is random assignment vs. random sampling?
Random assignment: assigning participants to treatment or non treatment group
Random sampling: everyone in the population has an equal chance of being in the study.
The amount of students who wear sweatshirts increase as the temperature decreases. What type of correlation is this?
Negative
What are the methods researchers take to control for the placebo effect?
Use a control group that is given placebo and an experimental group the actual drug to demonstrate difference in results for the groups.
What are the three main ethics of research?
1. Do no harm 2. Informed consent 3. Debrief after experiment
Give two examples of potential drawbacks to using the survey method.
Wording effects, sampling bias
What makes a strong experimental study? List 3 things.
Validity, repeatable, no confounding variables, normal SD, strong independent and dependent variable, operationally defined, statistical significance
The scores for the Unit 1 AP Psychology exam were normally distributed. The mean is 100 and the standard deviation is 15. What percentage of students are within 1 standard deviation if the mean?
68%
What is the usefulness of the double-blind procedure?
It eliminates experimenter and participant bias by not revealing the true purpose of a study to participants.
The one conducting the experiment do not expect things to happen a certain way and behave accordingly.
The Board that approves the study before it can be conducted.
IRB (Institutional Review Board)