PSYC340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Observer-Expectancy Effect, Descriptive Statistics, Naturalistic Observation
9 Jun 2018
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CHAPTER #2
anecdotal evidence: consists of personal stories about specific incidents and experiences, tends to
be unrepresentative, inaccurate, and unreliable (ex. one study found that psychology majors’
choices of future courses to enrol in were influenced more my a couple of students’ brief anecdotes
than by extensive statistics on many other students’ ratings of the courses from the previous term)
case study: in-depth investigation of single participant, typically involcing data from many sources
(ex. detailed case histories are worked up for youngsters referred to counselling because of
excessive aggressive behaviour)
confounding of variables: occurs when two variables are linked together in a way that makes it
difficult to sort out their specific effects, when an extraneous variable is confounded with an
independent variable, a researcher cannot tell which is having what effect on the dependent variable
control group: Consists of similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment given to the
experimental group
correlation: exists when two variables are related to each other
correlation coefficient: numerical index of degree of relationship between two variables
correlational research: include naturalistic observation, case studies, and surveys, in which the
researcher cannot manipulate the variables under study, which means that these methods cannot be
used to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships between variables, : permit investigators to only
describe patterns of behaviour and discover links/associations between variables, which can be
extremely valuable in efforts to understand behaviour
data collection techniques: procedures for making empirical observations and measurements (such
as direct observation, questionnaire, interview, psychological test, physiological recording,
examination of archival records)
dependent variable: the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent
variable (X), usually a measurement of some aspect of the participants behaviour, it is thought to
depend on manipulations of the independent variable
independent variable: a condition or event that an experimenter varies/manipulates in order to see
its impact on another variable (Y), hypothesized to have some effect on the dependent variable, it is
free to be varied by the experiementer
extraneous variables: any secondary/nuisance variables other than the independent variable that
seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study (Ex. A participants’ personality
or risk-taking propensity), these variables might make the researcher redo the experiment in a way
that would make this variable less of an issue
descriptive statistics: used to organize and summarize data, provide an overview of numerical
data, key descriptive statistics include measures of central tendency and variability, and the
coefficient of correlation
double-blind procedure: a research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters know
which subjects are in the experimental or control groups, it avoids experimenter bias
ethical guidelines: respect for dignity of persons, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, and
responsibility to society
experiment: a research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully
controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result,
allows researchers to detect cause-and-effect relationships, a fairly complicated technique that must
take into account the number of factors that could affect the clarity of the results, the purpose is to
find out whether changes in one variable (X or the independent variable) causes changes in another
variable (Y or the dependent variable
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experimental group: Consists of the subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the
independent variable
experimental research: a powerful research method that permits conclusions about cause-and-
effect relationships between variables
experimenter bias: occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a
study influence the results obtained, essentially researchers sometimes seeing what they want to see
and may lead researchers to unintentionally influence the behaviour of their subjects (ex. when
experimenters make apparently honest mistakes when recording subjects’ responses, the mistakes
tend to be heavily slanted in favour of supporting the hypothesis)
fear and sexual attraction: dutton and aron They predicted that increased arousal would heighten
the sexual attraction of their research participants to members of the opposite sex to whom they
were just introduced, They measured sexual attraction in Study 1 in two ways: first evaluating the
amount of sexual imagery in participants’ responses to a projective measure, the Thematic
Apperception Test, and second, by assessing the number of participants in various conditions who
called the experimental confederate (male or female they just met after crossing the bridge) after the
experiment had ended, Dutton and Aron used an experiment, using males crossing either a high
(high-anxiety or high-arousal) or low (anxiety/arousal) brdge across the Capilano River in North
Vancouver, They collected sexual imagery and recorded the number of calls to the confederate after
the participants crossed one of the bridges, Participants crossing the high bridge were assumed and
found to have higher levels of arousal than did those crossing the low bridge
hypothesis: a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables
inferential statistics: used to interpret data and draw conclusions by evaluating the possibility that
their results might be due to the fluctuations of chance
internet-mediated research: studies in which data collection is done using the internet, The
internet offers very enticing advantages in the data collection process, such as offering samples that
are much larger and much more diverse than the samples typically used in lab research, Once an
online survey or experiment is set up, data can be collected effortlessly 24hr a day, 7 days a week,
Research assistants don't need to spend endless hours running subjects in a lab and participants’
responses can be saved automatically into data files for statistical analyses, Internet-mediated
research can reduce costs and save time on studies (studies that might require 6weeks to a year of
data collection in the lab can sometimes be completed in a few weeks instead, One major concern is
the potential for sampling bias and although the population of Web users grows daily, not everyone
has access to the internet
journal: a periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly defined
area of inquiry (ex. Scholars in most fields (economics, chem, education, or psyc) publish the bulk
of their work in these journals)
mean: the arithmetic average of the scores, obtained by adding up and dividing the scores by the
total number them
median: the score that falls exactly in the centre of a distribution of scores
mode: the most frequent score
meta-analysis: the combination of the statistical results of many studies of the same question,
yielding an estimate of the size and consistency of a variable’s effects, a meta-analysis involves the
researcher analyzing the results of research studies that have already been conducted and analyzed
and combining the results of these research studies and then evaluating them using a set of
sophisticated statistical analytic techniques, results of a meta-analysis provide researchers with
details regarding the consistency and predictability of an experimental effect examined in many
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