Psychology Unit 2 Vocabulary

The act of noticing and describing events or processes in a careful, orderly way.

A cause and effect relationship in which one variable controls the changes in another variable.

A statement of the procedures used to define research variables.

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions

Statistics that summarize the data collected in a study

Changes in participants' behavior caused by the unintended influence of a researcher's actions.

The subjects are unaware of whether or not they are in the control or experimental group

A tendency for research participants to behave in a certain way because they know they are being observed

Comparing the effectiveness of a treatment against a known ineffective treatment.

Neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups.

The group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested

Repeating the essence of a research study

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

A series of steps followed to solve problems in a methodological way.

The measurable effect, outcome, or response in which the research is interested.

Method of selecting from a population in which each person has an equal probability of being selected

In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the variable being tested

Extraneous factor that interferes with the action of the independent variable on the dependent variable

An investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

A large, like-group from which researchers select a sample to make generalizations

A descriptive technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group

A proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.

The principles of right and wrong that guide an individual in making decisions

An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

A measure of the relationship between two variables