| A | B |
|---|
| Theory | An organized system of assumptions and principles that purports to explain a specified set of phenomena and their interrelationships |
| Hypothesis | a statement that attempts to describe or explain a given behavior or set of events |
| Operational definition | a precise definition of a term in a hypothesis, which specifies the operations for observing and measuring the process or phenomena being defined |
| Principle of falsifiability | the principle that a scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough to expose the theory to the possibility of disconfirmation |
| descriptive methods | methods that yield descriptions of behavior but not necessarily casual explanations |
| case study | a detailed description of a particular individual being studied or treated |
| observational study | a study in which the researcher carefully and systematically observes and records behavior; it may involve either naturalistic or laboratory observation |
| psychological tests | procedures used to measure and evaluate personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes, interests, abilities, and values |
| standardize | in test construction; to develop uniform procedure for giving and scoring a test |
| norms | in test construction; established standards of performance |
| reliability | in test construction; the consistency, from one time and place to another, of scores derived from a test |
| validity | the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure |
| surveys | questionnares and interviews that ask people directly about their experiences, attitudes or opinions |
| representative sample | a sample that mtaches the population in question on important characteristics, such as age and sex |
| volunteer bias | a shortcoming of findings derived from a sample of volunteers rather than a representative sample |
| correlational study | a descriptive study that looks for a consistent relationship between two phenomena |
| correlation | a measure of how strongly two variables are related to one another |
| variables | characteristics of behavior or experience that can be measured or described by numeric scale; are manipulated and assessed in scientific studies |
| positive correlation | an association between increases in one variable and incrases in another |
| negative correlation | an association between increases in one variable and decreases in another |
| coefficient of correlation | a measure of correlation that ranges from -1.00 to +1.00 |
| experiment | a controlled test of a hypothesis in which the researcher manipulates one variable to discover its effect on another |
| independent variable | the variable that an experimenter manipulates |
| dependent variable | the variable that an experimenter predicts will be affected by manipulations of the independent variable |
| control condition | a comparison condition in which subjects are not exposed to the same treatment as in the experimental condition |
| random assignment | a procedure in which each individual has the same probablility as another of being assigned to either a control or experimental group |
| placebo | an inactive substance or fake treatment used as a control in an experiment or given by a medical practitioner to a patient |
| single-blind study | an experiment in which subjects do not know whether they are in an experimental or a control group |
| double-blind study | an experiment in which neither the subjects or the experimenters know which are in the control and which are in the experimental groups unitl results are studied |
| experimenter effects | unintended changes in subjects behavior due to cues inadvertently given by the experimenter |
| descriptive statistics | statistics that organize and summarize research data |
| arithmetic mean | an average that is calculated by adding up a set of quantities and dividing the sum by the total number of quantities in the set |
| range | a measure of the spread of scores, calculated by subtracting the lowest score from the highest score |
| variance | a measure of the dispersion of scores around the mean |
| inferential statistics | statistical tests that allow researchers to assess how likely it is that their results occurred merely by chance |
| statistically significant | a term used to refer to a result that is extremely unlikely to have occurred by chance |
| cross-sectional study | a study in which subjects of different ages are compared at a given time |
| longitudinal study | a study in which subjects are followed and periodically reassessed over a period of time |
| meta-analysis | a procedure for combining and analyzing data from many studies; it determines how much of the variance in scores across all studies can be explained by a particular variable |
| social constructionism | the view that there are no universal truths about human nature because people construct reality differently, depending on their culture, the historical moment, and the power of arrangements within their society |
