PSYC 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Demand Characteristics, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Confounding

• School: Capilano University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 101
• Professor: Alberta

Document Summary

The degree to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure is know as validity. When psychologists question how well the results of a study apply to other samples or perhaps other situations, they are inquiring about the generalizability. In a single-blind study, the participants don"t know the purpose of the study or condition to which they are assigned. The difference in a double-blind study is that the researcher also does not know which condition the participants are in. Dr. rose gives a standardized personality test to a group of psychology majors in january and again in march. Each individuals scores remains nearly the same over the two-month period. From this, dr. rose can infer that the test is reliable. Claiming that something is true because (cid:1688)it should be obvious(cid:1689) is really just the appeal to authority. Appeals to authority do not qualify as good evidence because authority does not mean that there is sound, scientific evidence.