| A | B |
|---|
| theory | organized system of assumptions and principles that purpots to explain a specified set pf phenomena and their interrelationships |
| hypothesis | statement that attempts to predict of to account for a set of phenomena; scientifcally, specify the relationship among events or variables and are empirically tested |
| operational defention | precise defenition of a term in a hypothesis, which specifies the operatins for observing and measuring the process or phenomenon being defined |
| principle of falsifiablity | a scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough to expose the theory to the possiblity of disconfirmation (theory must predict what will not happen too) |
| descriptive methods | yield descriptions of behavior but not necessarily casual explanations |
| case study | detailed description of a particular individual being studied or treated |
| observational study | study in which the researcher carefully and systematically observes and records behavior without interfering with the behavior--may involve naturalistic or labratory 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 procedures for giving and scoring a test |
| norms | in test construction, established standards of performance |
| reliablity | in test construction, consistency of scores derived from a test from one time and place to another |
| validity | ability of a test to measure what it was designed to |
| surveys | Questionnaires/interviews that ask people directly about their experiences, attitudes, or opinions |
| reprsenatative sample | a group of subjects, selected from a population, which matches that population on important characteristics such as age and sex |
| volunteer bias | shortcomming of findings dervied from a sample of volunteers; not a representative sample |
| correlational study | Descriptive study that looks for a consistent relationship between two phenomena |
| correlation | measur of how strongly two variables are related to one another |
| variables | charecteristics of behavior that can be quantified |
| positive correlation | associaton between increases in both variables |
| negative correlation | assocation between decreases in both variables |
| coefficient of correlation | measure of correlation [ - 1.00 , 1.00] |
| experiment | controlled test of a hypothesis in which the researcher manipulates one variable to find the effect |
| independent variable | variable that is manipulated |
| dependent variable | variable that the experimenter predicts will be affected my manipulations of the indpendent variable |
| control condtion | in an experiment, a comparison condition in which subjects are not exposed to the same treatment as in the experimental condition |
| random assignment | procedure for assigning people to experimental and control groups in which each individual has the same probablity as any other of being in that group |
| placebo | inactive substance or fake treatment used as a control in an experiment or given by a medical practioner to a patient |
| single-blind study | experiment in which subjects do now know whether they are in a control or experimental group |
| experimeter effects | uninteded changes in subjects' behavior due to cues indavertantly given by the experimenter |
| double-blind study | experiment in which neither the subjects nor the individuals running the study know which subjects are in the control or experimental groups until after the results are tallied |
| field research | descriptive or experimental research conducted in a natural setting outside the laboratory |
| descriptive statistics | statistical procedures that organize and summarize a body of data |
| inferential statistics | statistical procedures that allow researchers to infer how statistically meaningful a study's results are |
| significance tests | statistical tests that show how likely it is tha a study's results occured merely by chance |
| cross-sectional study | study in which subjects of different ages are compared at a given time |
| longitudinal study | study in which subjects are followed and periodicaly reassessed over time |
| meta-analysis | procedure for combining and analyzing data from many studies; determines how much of the variance in scores can be explained by a variable |
