Ch 2

Question 1

Pitfalls of using personal experience to study behaviour

Answer 1

-Experience has no comparison group
-Cannot compare what would occur with and without the variable of interest
-Experience is confounded (other alternative explanations that cannot be ruled out)

Question 2

Pitfalls of using intuition to study behaviour

Answer 2

• Intuition is biased
  Eg. being swayed by a good story, persuaded by what easily comes to mind, focusing on evidence we like best, failing to think about what we cannot see

Question 3

Rationalism

Answer 3

The idea that knowledge can be obtained through reasoning

Question 4

Empiricism

Answer 4

The idea that knowledge can be obtained through experience and observation

Question 5

Techniques to avoid biases

Answer 5

• Single blind tests: patients do not know which study group they are in
• Double blind tests: neither patients or researchers know which study group the patients are in

Question 6

Goals of psychological research

Answer 6

1. Measurement and description
2. Understanding and description
3. Application and control

Question 7

Operational definition

Answer 7

Describes a variable in terms of specific procedures used to produce or measure it

Question 8

Theory

Answer 8

Set of statements that describes general principles about how variables relate to one another

Question 9

Hypothesis

Answer 9

Prediction about the outcomes of research based on theory

Question 10

Law of parsimony (Occam’s Razor)

Answer 10

The fewer assumptions made by a hypothesis/theory, the less opportunities there are for it to be falsifiable

Question 11

What makes a good theory

Answer 11

• Predictions are supported by research
• Conforms to law of parsimony
• Measurable
• Falsifiable (can be tested)
• Establish causality (relationship b/w cause and effect)

Question 12

Descriptive Research

Answer 12

• Any means to capture, report, record, or describe a group
• Based on a single measured variable
• Includes naturalistic observation, surveys, case studies, and participant observation

Question 13

Naturalistic Observation

Answer 13

• Observe behaviour without manipulation
• Most likely representative of real word behaviour
• No control over behaviour
• Hard to predict causes of behaviour
• High external validity

Question 14

Participant Observation

Answer 14

• Researcher interacts with population of interest
• Insights from participant’s perspective
• May be subject to biases
• May not be repeatable

Question 15

Case Study

Answer 15

• A report of a single person, group, or situation
• Very detailed
• NOT an experiment and NOT proof/evidence
• May be difficult to draw causal relationships

Question 16

Survey

Answer 16

• Questions that extract information from a group of people
• Easy to administer and can gather lots of information
• Susceptible to biases from researchers and participants

Question 17

Descriptive Statistics

Answer 17

Organizing and summarizing data in a useful way
Pros: can describe variables of interest
Cons: do not learn about relationships or causality and cannot manipulate measured variables

Question 18

Inferential Statistics

Answer 18

Interpreting data and drawing conclusions

Question 19

Measures of central tendency

Answer 19

Mode: most frequent value
Mean: average(center of dataset); can be skewed by outliers
Median: middle data point

Question 20

Measures of variability

Answer 20

Range: subtract lowest from highest data value
Standard deviation: spread of data around the mean; sqrt of variance
Variance: average of squared deviation scores; (standard deviation)^2

Question 21

Correlational Research

Answer 21

• At least two measured variables
• Looks at the relationship between two or more measured variables
  Correlation does not equal causation

Question 22

Correlation Coefficient (r)

Answer 22

• Describes the relationship between two variables (ranges from -1.0 to 1.0)
• Sign indicates the direction (positive or negative) and absolute value indicates the strength
  Positive correlation: an increase in one variable relates to an increase in another variable
  Negative correlation: an increase in one variable relates to a decrease in another variable
  Zero correlation: the variables are not correlated with one another
  Pros: used to make predictions about variables
  Cons: can’t manipulate measured variables, shows association NOT cause, relationships may be due to confounding variables

Question 23

Experimental Research

Answer 23

-At least one manipulated variable
-Manipulating a variable under controlled conditions so that resulting changes in another variable can be observed
-Goal is to detect cause-and-effect relationships
-Testing theories through controlled experiments (hypothesis driven)
Pros: conclusions about cause-and-effect can be drawn
Cons: artificial nature of experiments and ethical/ practical issues

Question 24

Variables

Answer 24

Independent variable: the variable that is manipulated
Dependant variable:the variable that is affected by manipulation
Extraneous variable/confounding variable: uncontrolled events that can affect the dependant variable

Question 25

Population

Answer 25

The entire set of individuals about whom we wish to draw a conclusion

Question 26

Sample

Answer 26

A subset of individuals drawn from a population

Question 27

Representative sample

Answer 27

A sample that represents an important characteristic of the population

Question 28

Random sampling

Answer 28

A method of sampling in which every member of the population has an equal probability of being chosen to participate

Question 29

Experimental group

Answer 29

Subjects who receive some special treatment in regards to the independent variable

Question 30

Control group

Answer 30

Subjects that do not receive a special treatment ( comparison group )

Question 31

Placebo and placebo effect

Answer 31

Placebo: treatment that has no therapeutic effect but emulates the other aspects of a treatment (sugar pills vs saline injection) Placebo effect: effect of a placebo treatment that arises from a patient's expectations but not the independent variable itself

Question 32

What happens when more than one dependant variable is used?

Answer 32

Obtains a more complete picture of the effect of the independent variable

Question 33

What happens when more than one independant variable is manipulated?

Answer 33

Allows for the study of interactions between variables

Question 34

Between subjects design

Answer 34

Each group in the experiment is composed of a different set of participants ( group one gets treatment one and group two gets treatment two)

Question 35

Within subjects design

Answer 35

Each participant/group of participants is exposed to all the conditions of an independent variable ( same group receives treatment one and two)

Question 36

5% rule in statistics

Answer 36

If the probability of an event is less than 5 % then it is considered a rare event

Question 37

Internal validity

Answer 37

Degree to which results can be attributed to the independent variable and not other explanations (confounds)

Question 38

External validity

Answer 38

Degree to which results can be generalized to other people, across settings, and across time

Question 39

Construct validity

Answer 39

Degree of how well the variables in the study are measured/manipulated (how well the test/measure accurately assesses what it’s supposed to)

Question 40

Statistical validity

Answer 40

Degree to which the data supports the conclusions

Question 41

Three core ethical principles

Answer 41

1. The principle of respect for persons - individuals are free to make their own decisions - informed consent: provides info about research and potential risks and benefits 2. The principle of beneficence - researchers must take precautions to protect participants from harm and ensure well- being - consider potential risks and benefits 3. The principle of justice -there must be a balance between those who participate in the research and those who benefit from it (researchers need to ensure that participants are representative of the group that will benefit)

Question 42

Deception

Answer 42

When a researcher gives false info to subjects or intentionally misleads them about a key aspect of the research

Question 43

Debriefing

Answer 43

Provides participants with a full explanation of the hypothesis being tested, procedures to deceive participants and the reasons why it was necessary to deceive them (happens after the experiment is conducted)

Question 44

Animal research

Answer 44

The three r's Replacement: avoiding or replacing the use of animals in areas where they otherwise would have been used Reduction: minimizing the number of animals used per experiment/study Refinement: minimizing the pain, suffering, distress, or lasting harm that may be experienced by research animals (improving their welfare)