Gleitman Chapter One - Research Methods

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  • Created on: 23-10-16 15:25
Define: Variable
Any characteristic whose values can change.
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Define: Testable Hypothesis
A prediction that has been formulated specifically enough so that it is clear what observations would confirm the prediction and what observations would challenge it.
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Define: Operational Definition
A definition that translates the variable we want to assess into a specific procedure or measurement.
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Define: Dependent Variable
The variable that is measured or recorded in an experiment.
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Define: Independent Variable
The variable that the experimenter manipulates as a basis for making predictions about the dependent variable.
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Define: Population
The entire group about which the investigator wants to draw conclusions.
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Define: Sample
The subset of the population that the investigator studies in order to learn about the population at large.
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Define: Random Sampling
A procedure in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being picked to participate in a study.
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Define: Case Study
An intensive study of one person.
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Define: External Validity
The degree to which a study's participants, stimuli, and procedures adequately reflect the world as it actually is.
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Define: Demand Characteristics
The cues in a study that might tell a research participant what behaviours are expected or desirable.
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Define: Double-Blind Study
The technique of assigning participants to experimental conditions while keeping both the participants and the researchers unaware of who is assigned to which group.
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Define: Descriptive Statistics
Mathematical procedures that allow a researcher to characterize a data pattern; these procedures include measures of central tendency and of variability.
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Define: Inferential Statistics
Mathematical procedures that allow a researcher to draw further claims from a data pattern, including claims about whether the pattern observed in the sample is likely to be observed in other samples.
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Define: Mean
A measure of central tendency computed by calculating the sum of all the observations, then dividing by the number of observations.
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Define: Median
A measure of central tendency taken by putting the data values in order and finding the value that divides the distribution in half.
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Define: Variability
The degree to which scores in a frequency distribution depart from the central value.
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Define: Standard Deviation
A measure of the variability of a data set, calculated as the square root of the variance.
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Define: Correlation Coefficient
A number that expresses both the size and the direction of a correlation, varying from + 1.00 (perfect positive correlation) to - 1.00 (perfect negative correlation).
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Define: Reliability
The degree of consistency with which a test measures a trait or attribute.
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Define: Validity
The extent to which a method or procedure measures what it is supposed to measure.
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Define: Effect Size
The magnitude of the difference between groups in a study, often computed by subtracting the mean of one group's scores from the mean of the other's scores.
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Define: Statistical Significance
A calculation central to inferential statistics that descries the likelihood that the results of a study happened by chance.
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Define: Quasi-Experiment
A comparison that relies on already-existing groups (for example; groups the experimenter didn't create)
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Define: Correlational Studies
Studies in which the investigator analyzes the relationships among variables that were in place before the study, without manipulating those variables.
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Define: Third-Variable Problem
The possibility that two correlated variables may be changing together only due to the operation of a third variable.
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Define: Experiment
A study of causal relationships in which the researcher manipulates an independent variable to examine its effect on a dependent variable.
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Define: Experimental Manipulation
The deliberate alteration of the independent variable in an experiment in order to learn about its effects on the dependent variable.
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Define: Experimental Group
The group within an experiment that experiences the researcher's manipulation of the independent variables.
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Define: Control Group
A group within an experiment that does not experience the experimental manipulation.
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Define: Random Assignment
In an experimental design, the random placement of participants in either the control groups or the experimental groups, ensuring that the groups are matched at the outset of the experiment.
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Define: Within-Subject Comparisons
Within a study, comparing the data about each participant in one situation to data about the same participant in another situation.
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Define: Between-Subject Comparisons
Within a study, comparing one group of individuals to a different group.
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Define: Internal Validity
The characteristics of a study that allows us to conclude that the manipulation of the independent variable caused the observed changes in the dependent variable.
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Define: Replication
A repetition of an experiment that yields the same results.
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Define: Meta-Analysis
A statistical technique for combining the results of many studies on a particular topic, even when the studies used different data collection methods.
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Define: Informed Consent
A research participant's agreement to take part in the study, based on full information about what the experiment will involve.
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Define: Debriefing
A step at the end of an experiment in which the researcher explains the study's purpose and design to each participant and undoes any manipulations to participants beliefs or state.
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Define: Empirical Claims
Claims that can be true or false depending on the facts.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

A prediction that has been formulated specifically enough so that it is clear what observations would confirm the prediction and what observations would challenge it.

Back

Define: Testable Hypothesis

Card 3

Front

A definition that translates the variable we want to assess into a specific procedure or measurement.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

The variable that is measured or recorded in an experiment.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

The variable that the experimenter manipulates as a basis for making predictions about the dependent variable.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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