PSYC 150 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Naturalistic Observation, Dependent And Independent Variables, The Control Group
Document Summary
Psychology: the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. Theory: a general principle or set of principles that explains how a number of separate facts are related to another. Basic research: research conducted for the purpose of advancing knowledge rather than for its practical application. Applied research: research conducted for the purpose of solving practical problems. Descriptive research method: research methods that yield descriptions of behaviour rather than casual explanations. Naturalistic observation: a research method in which researchers observe and record behaviour without trying to influence or control it. Case study: an in-depth study of one or a few participants consisting of information gathered through observations, interviews, and perhaps psychological testing. Survey: a method whereby researchers use interviews and/or questionnaires to gather information about the attitudes, beliefs, experiences, or behaviours of a group of people. Population: the entire group of interest to researchers to which they wish to generalize their findings; the group from which a sample is selected.
