exam 1 *

• research: designed to move away from opinions and test questions to determine reality
• basic research: pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
• flirting research: understand what predicts frequency and skill at flirting and its impact on life satisfaction and quality of relationships
• applied research: scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
• describing behavior: describes behavior observed (what)

  e.g. public opinion polls
• predicting behavior: aims to develop laws that enable scientists to predict behavior with some probability greater than chance or state that a regular and predictable relationships exist between variables
• explaining behavior: understanding why a behavior occurs
• pseudoscience: false science
• empiricism: the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation
• public verification: findings must be observed, replicated, and verified by other researchers
• theories: a set of propositions that attempts to explain the relationships among a set of concepts
• model: congruent with a theory and designed to support a theory
• research hypothesis: prediction of the outcome of a study
• deduction: reasoning from general to specific, top-down reasoning
• induction: reasoning from specific to general, bottom-up reasoning
• exploratory research: research conducted to gether more information about a problem or to make a tentative hypothesis more specific, the chance of missing "lurking variables" is high
• the study of strong inference

  when you put the findings of one theory with another theory
• operational definition: a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study
• scientific progress: "prove" is not used rather supported
• practical difficulties: no study is perfect and hence the results may be open to question. Therefore replication of the study is encouraged
• operational replication: attempt to reproduce the exact study
• conceptual replication: attempt to reproduce similar findings in a study designed to test similar phenomena
• the scientific filter:

  1. scientific training, concern for professional reputation, availability of funding --> filters out nonsense & generates initial research project
  2. self-judgement of viability --> filters out dead ends & leads to a research study often leading to several studies
  3. create & conduct the study --> if results are important, you write it up & submit
  4. peer review --> filters out biases, errors, & unimportant parts in published research
  5. use,application, replication --> filters out non-replication, uninteresting/ non-useful studies & results
• generalized knowledge: scientists do not know for sure what causes what but they have the privilege to say so
• descriptive research: research methods that involve observing behavior to describe that behavior objectively and systematically
• correlational research: the study of the naturally occurring relationships among variables
• examples of correlational research: student success, factors that influence marital success, recovery from divorce, response to the shift to emergency remote teaching due to covid
• experimental research: problems with face validity and applicability
• what does experimental research involve?

  dependent variables, independent variables, an effort to control all variables except variables germane to the research, random selection, random assignment
• examples of experimental research: the central traits study, the westgate west friendship studies, testing psychocybernetic theory
• what does the independent variable do in correlational research?

  varies naturally
• what does the independent variable do in experimental research?

  it is controlled by the researcher
• is random assignment used in correlational research?

  no
• is random assignment used in experimental research?

  yes
• is clear causality present in correlational research?

  often not
• is clear causality present in experimental research?

  yes
• is there an exploratory construct in correlational research?

  usually
• is there an exploratory construct in experimental research?

  rarely
• is theory testing present in both correlational and experimental research?

  often present
• does correlational research test many relationships?

  almost always