Questions and Answers
Which statement is a legitimate reason to trust the advice of authorities?
What is an alternative explanation for a study's results?
Confound
What do you call a person playing a specific role for the sake of a study?
Confederate
What is a group used to contrast one possible outcome with another?
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What does probabilistic mean in the context of behavioral research?
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Match each tool for finding scientific sources to its correct advantage and disadvantage:
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What type of article undergoes a rigorous peer review process?
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What includes results of a new research study?
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What includes summaries of research?
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What consists of a collection of chapters by different contributors on a common topic?
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Which of the following behaviors are examples of faulty thinking?
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What type of faulty thinking is Swati displaying when she concludes which city is farther north based on a movie setting?
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What should you conclude about the relationship between study time and exam scores when you experience an exception?
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What type of faulty thinking is Eliza displaying when she skips studies contradicting her belief about violent media and aggression?
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Which source is a reliable form of information if you were choosing an allergy medication?
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Riaan is designing a study in which he combines the findings of ____ and calculates the magnitude of all the combined results, otherwise known as ____, research like this can combine the statistical findings of individual studies to identify a ____.
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Authorities who have researched a certain area should not be questioned.
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Conclusions are meant to explain a certain proportion of, but not all, possible cases.
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Identify the following behaviors as examples of either scientific thinking or intuitive thinking.
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The tendency to accept ideas that feel natural is called what?
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The tendency to seek out information that supports your beliefs is known as what?
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What is the tendency to ignore the fact that you are vulnerable to biases?
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What is the tendency to think the first thing that pops into your head is correct?
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What is the tendency to ignore what is absent?
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Research involves systematically comparing conditions.
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Your college or university library may have subscriptions to scientific journals. Once you graduate or leave your institution, you may find that you no longer have access to some articles that are ____. Some solutions for this are to look for articles that are ____.
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Reading only certain parts of an article can be helpful.
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Meta analyses do not allow cherry picking of certain studies.
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Good stories are rarely accurate.
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Identify the sources as either reliable or unreliable.
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After realizing that his parents used an authoritarian parenting style, Jericho researches the advantages of the authoritarian style while ignoring studies that support the use of another style. This is an example of ____.
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Hilda cannot conclude that the earthquake caused depression and stress-related symptoms because she doesn't have a comparison group.
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Which of the following statements are ways to identify high quality scientific journals? (Select all that apply)
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Study Notes
Research Design Concepts
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Meta Analysis: A method that combines results from multiple empirical articles to calculate the effect size, which quantifies the overall impact of variables in research.
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Authorities and Biases: Authorities can be biased, presenting only one side of an argument; questioning their findings is essential. True beliefs: Experts can be wrong, while false beliefs include the idea that all authorities should be unquestioned or that they are immune to biases.
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Probabilistic Conclusions: Research conclusions aim to explain a part of the overall population and are not absolutes.
Scientific vs. Intuitive Thinking
- Scientific Thinking: Involves seeking disconfirming evidence and using comparison groups for data collection.
- Intuitive Thinking: Involves confirming existing beliefs and relying on reasonable-sounding information.
Cognitive Biases
- Confirmation Bias: The tendency to seek information that supports existing beliefs, disregarding opposing data.
- Bias Blind Spot: Ignoring one’s own susceptibility to biases.
- Availability Heuristic: Overestimating the prevalence of events based on recent memories or experiences.
- Present/Present Bias: Failing to consider absent scenarios, focusing only on noticeable occurrences.
Research Validity
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Advantages of Research Over Experience: Research systematically compares conditions, providing clarity on effectiveness and controlling for confounding variables. Personal experiences may lead to alternative explanations and are less systematic.
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Access to Scientific Resources: Graduate access to scientific journals may be limited post-graduation, with options including searching for open-access articles or checking researchers' websites.
Reading Empirical Articles
- Understanding Articles: Read abstracts for summaries, results for data presentation, introductions for theoretical background, discussions for the study's significance, and methods for procedural details.
Meta-Analyses and Reviews
- Meta Analyses: Summarize relationships between variables and must pass peer review; they should not cherry-pick studies.
- Review Articles: Offer summaries of existing literature and are distinct from empirical articles that present new studies.
Distinguishing Reliable Sources
- Reliable Sources: Include peer-reviewed journals and scientific books. Unreliable sources can include popular media lacking rigorous scientific backing.
Confounds in Research
- Example of Confounding Factors: In studies comparing educational strategies, variables like teacher experience and class size may influence outcomes independently of the teaching method itself.
Scientific Framework
- Importance of Comparison Groups: Vital for isolating effects in research and drawing accurate conclusions. Lacking such groups can lead to incorrect inferences.
Faulty Thinking
- Examples include:
- Being swayed by a good story.
- Noticing confirmations of beliefs (confirmation bias).
- Ignoring statistical evidence (availability heuristic).
Research on Decision Making and Behavior
- Research Results: Studying relationships (e.g., between study time and exam grades) shows predictive power of systematic observations.
Tools for Finding Reliable Sources
- Psychinfo: Focuses on psychology, while Google Scholar covers broader disciplinary fields but may lack specificity.
- Published Article Standards: Empirical articles undergo rigorous peer review and contribute to the body of scientific knowledge through new research findings.
Identifying and Analyzing Biases
- Recognize faulty thinking patterns such as overreliance on immediate thoughts or ignoring broader evidence to avoid biased conclusions in personal judgment or research interpretation.### Relationship Between Study Time and Exam Scores
- Achieving an A on an exam without study suggests a possible anomaly.
- Individual experiences may not accurately reflect broader trends regarding study time and performance.
- Research typically indicates a strong correlation between study time and grades across many cases.
Confirmation Bias in Research
- Eliza's belief that violent media causes aggression is reinforced by selective reading.
- She acknowledges one study supporting her view while ignoring multiple contrary studies, showcasing confirmation bias.
- Confirmation bias leads to favoring information that confirms existing beliefs rather than considering all evidence.
Reliable Information Sources for Allergy Medication
- The most dependable source for choosing allergy medication is a study by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- The FDA study evaluates the effectiveness and safety of various allergy treatments, providing evidence-based information.
Studying That Suits You
Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.
Description
Test your understanding of key concepts from Chapter 2 of Research Design. These flashcards focus on terms like empirical articles, meta-analysis, and effect size. Perfect for reviewing essential research methods and statistics.
