research chapter 4 – Flashcards
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variable
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any event situation, behavior, or individual characteristic that varies.
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temperature, gender, time, height, color, race, etc.
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examples of variables
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situational, response, and participant
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different types of variables
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situational variable
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describe characteristics of a situation or environment
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respondent variable
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responses of behaviors of individuals such as reaction time
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participant variable
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characteristics of individuals such as gender, intelligence, etc.
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operational definition
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definition of the variable in terms of the operations or techniques the researcher uses to measure or manipulate it
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so they can be studied empirically
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purpose of operational definition
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positive linear relationship
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increases in values of one variable accompanied by increases in values of the second variable
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negative linear relationship
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increases in the values of one variable accompanied by the decreases in the values of the other variable
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curvilinear relationship
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increases in the values of one variable accompanied by both increases and decreases in the values of the other variale
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no relationship
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no relationship between variables; simply a flat line
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monotonic
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linear
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nonmonotonic
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direction of relationship changes at least once
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experimental strategy
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involves direct manipulation and control of variables
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non experimental strategy
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relationships are studied by making observations or measure of the variables of interest; behavior is observed as it comes naturally
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direction & cause and effect and third variable problem-bariables that may be causing an observed relationship
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2 problems using non exprimental approach
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confounding variable
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third variable
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because one variable is manipulated and the other is then measured. makes sure that every feature of environment is held constant except manipulated variable.
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how does the experimental method eliminate the third variable problem?
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randomization
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ensures that the extraneous variable is jsut as likely to affect one experimental group as it is to affect the other group
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purpose of randomizaton
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to eliminate the influence of individual characteristics
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eliminates consistent effects of extraneous variables
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random assignment is a critical element of the experimental method because it...
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experimental control
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when the researcher makes sure all extraneous variables are constant
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independent variables
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variable that is considered to be the cause (horizontal)
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dependent variables
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variable that is the effect (vertical)
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necessary; sufficient
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_____refers to the cause being present for the effect to occur, while _____ refers to the cause always producing the effect.
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necessary but not sufficient; sufficient but not necessary; necessary and sufficient
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a behavioral scientist will usually accept which condition for a variable to be labeled a cause?
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laboratory experiment
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artificial atmosphere to study many problems
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field experiment
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independent varible is manipulated in a natural setting.
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investigated in natural setting
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advantages of field experiment
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researcher loses the ability to directly control many aspects of situation
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disadvantages of field experiment
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ex post facto
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research in which we choose subjects based on a pre existing condition
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ex post facto
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comparing attitudes towards marriage of students whose parents are divorced to students whose parents are not divorced is an example of ____design?
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construct validity internal validity external validity
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3 different kinds of validity
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construct validity
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refers to the adequacy of the operational definition of variables
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internal validity
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refers to the ability to draw conclusions about causal relationships from out data.
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when one variable caused changes in the other
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example of internal validity
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external validity
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extent to which the results can be generalized to other populations and settings
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field experiments
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example of external validity
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correlation coefficient
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shows the strength of the relationship between two variables
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mediating variable
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the type of variable to describe psychological processes that mediate teh effects of a situational variable on a particular response
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temporal precedence, covariation between two variables, and eliminating alternative explanation
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in determining causality, one must find....
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the control group
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group in an experiment that stays constant
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when the cause is present, the effect occurs. when the cause is not present the effect does not occur.
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what is covariation between two variables?
