chapter 2: research methods

Question 1

what is (system 1) intuitive thinking?

Answer 1

• quick, reflexive, almost automatic
• gut feelings
• relies on heuristics
• necessary for survival

Question 2

what are heuristics?

Answer 2

mental shortcuts which reduce thinking and simplify reality

Question 3

what is (system 2) analytical thinking?

Answer 3

• slow & reflective
• requires cognitive effort

Question 4

what is validity?

Answer 4

ensuring our conclusion is actually reflecting what we want to know

Question 5

what are the two types of validity?

Answer 5

internal and external

Question 6

what is internal validity?

Answer 6

can you form a causation question?

Question 7

what is external validity?

Answer 7

do your findings generalize outside of lab settings?

Question 8

what is reliability?

Answer 8

consistency of research results over time

Question 9

what is replicability?

Answer 9

when others can follow your design and get the same pattern/results

Question 10

what is reproducibility?

Answer 10

when you perform the same experiment and get the same results

Question 11

what is naturalistic observation

Answer 11

watching behavior in the real world
ex: jane goodall
- high EV
- low IV

Question 12

what are the problem effects w/ naturalistic observation?

Answer 12

hawthrone and observer effect

Question 13

what is the hawthrone effect?

Answer 13

when mere observation changes your behavior

Question 14

what is the observer effect?

Answer 14

• without other observers, it’s difficult to know what’s being reported
• can multiple reporters reach the same conclusion?

Question 15

what is a case study?

Answer 15

studying one group/person for an extended period of time
- ex: phineas gage (iron rod in head -> studies the frontal lobe)

Question 16

pros and cons of case studies?

Answer 16

• pros: rare occurrences & existence proofs
• cons: low IV & EV
  can’t establish causation

Question 17

what is a correlational design?

Answer 17

measuring two or more variables to see if they are related

Question 18

pros and cons of correlational design?

Answer 18

• pros: can be good for generalizability & useful for things you cannot manipulate experimentally (like personality)
• cons: low IV

Question 19

what is experimental design?

Answer 19

manipulating one variable to see how it affects the other

Question 20

what does experimental design start to do?

Answer 20

demonstrate causality
- you should also test out if Y leads to X to rule out reverse causation

Question 21

what is placebo effect?

Answer 21

observed effects could be due to participants expectations of improvement
- solution: blind study

Question 22

what is experimental expectancy effect?

Answer 22

researchers expectations can influence participant behavior
- solution: double blind study & random assignment

Question 23

what is demand characteristics?

Answer 23

participant tries to guess hypothesis & change behavior
- solution: cover stories & filler items

Question 24

what are descriptive statistics?

Answer 24

• communicating a pattern in your data; numerical summaries of data sets, ‘characteristics’ & ‘facts’ of data

Question 25

what are inferential statistics?

Answer 25

- drawing conclusions from results and using those results to make a prediction (hypothesis)

Question 26

measure of central tendency

Answer 26

- mean, mode, and median

Question 27

measure of variability

Answer 27

- range - variance - standard deviation (distance of each point from mean) - IQR narrow - small variability broad - large variability

Question 28

measures of frequency of distribution

Answer 28

- how data is spread visually - histogram, box plot, pie chart, etc

Question 29

what is inferential statistics?

Answer 29

drawing conclusions from results & making a prediction

Question 30

effect size?

Answer 30

how big x's effect is on y

Question 31

what is an operational definition

Answer 31

specific explanation of how a variable is measured or defined in a study

Question 32

what is a confounding variable

Answer 32

factor other than the IV that could affect the results