Psychology--Stats & Critical Thinking

Mean

• The arithmetic average of a distribution of numbers; the most commonly used measure of central tendency.

• The score that falls in the middle of an ordered distribution of scores; half of the scores will fall above this point, and half of the scores will fall below it.

• The most frequently occurring score in a data set; a measure of central tendency.

• Branch of mathematics that is concerned with the collection and interpretation of data from samples.

Median

• The score that falls in the middle of an ordered distribution of scores; half of the scores will fall above this point, and half of the scores will fall below it.

• The most frequently occurring score in a data set; a measure of central tendency.

• The arithmetic average of a distribution of numbers; the most commonly used measure of central tendency.

• Branch of mathematics that is concerned with the collection and interpretation of data from samples.

Mode

• The most frequently occurring score in a data set; a measure of central tendency.

• The arithmetic average of a distribution of numbers; the most commonly used measure of central tendency.

• The score that falls in the middle of an ordered distribution of scores; half of the scores will fall above this point, and half of the scores will fall below it.

• A table or graph that shows how often different numbers, or scores, appear in a particular set of scores.

What is one disadvantage of a survey?

• Provides information about behavior that can’t be observed directly
• Yields a lot of information
• Provides a good way to generate hypotheses
• Can provide information about many people since it’s cheap and easy to do

What is one advantage of a case study?

• Sometimes relies only on self-report data, which can be misleading
• Doesn’t allow conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships
• Provides a good way to generate hypotheses
• Can be subjective and thus may yield biased results

True or False: The most important feature of naturalistic observation is that researchers do not disturb the participants or their environment?

• Both
• No...Just No!
• True
• False

Suppose a researcher wants to study the effect of drug A on subjects’ alertness. He divides 100 subjects into two groups of 50, an experimental group and a control group. He dissolves drug A in saline solution and injects it into all the subjects in the experimental group. He then gives all the control group subjects an injection of only saline solution.
What is the independent variable? 

• drug A
• saline solution 
• the subjects
• the needles

What is the Placebo Effect?

• the effect on a subject receiving a fake drug or treatment
• occurs when researchers’ preferences or expectations influence the outcome of their research
• the tendency of some research subjects to describe themselves in socially approved ways
• Jared

True or False: The correlation method examines relationships among variables and assists researchers in making predictions.

• Maybe
• True
• Both
• False

The  experimental method manipulates a variable. 

• True
• False
• Neither
• Both