studies how biological systems are implemented in social processes and behaviour
social neuroscience
different measures of the same construct are significantly associated with each other
convergent validity
measures of constructs such as attitudes that are unobtrusively assessed (eg. by reaction times) so that participants are unaware of what is being assessed
implicit measures
procedure that alters the nature of what is being measured
reactivity
researcher studies the target group from within
participant observation
a measure that yields the same result on multiple occasions or when used by different individuals
reliability
techniques for establishing whether findings exhibit a pattern of relationship that is reliable across studies
meta analysis
an experiment that is accessed via the internet; participants receive instructions via the web and provide responses via their keyboard or touch screen
internet experiment
generalisability of research findings to settings and populations other than those involved in the research
external validity
false but plausible explanation of the purpose of the experiment, limits operation of demand characteristics
cover story
participant is not aware of therefore cannot influence their behaviour
unobtrusive measures (also known as non-reactive measures)
assesses participants perceptions of the purpose of the experiment (Orne, 1962)
post-experimental enquiry
participants are likely to want to be seen in a positive light and may therefore adjust their responses
social desirability
the assumption that independent and dependent variables adequately capture the abstract variables are supposed to
construct validity
when an independent variable has two or more separable components
experimental confound
the inference that changes in the independent variable result in changes in the dependent variable
internal validity
the extent to which a measure precisely measures what it is supposed to measure
validity
a variable that mediates the relation between two other variables
mediating variable
a term used when the combination of two (or more) independent variables in a factorial experiment yields an effect that differs from the sum of the main effects
interaction effect
a term used to refer to the separate effects of each independent variable in a factorial experiment
main effect
an experiment in which two or more independent variables are manipulated within the same design
factorial experiment
a group of participants who are typically not exposed to the independent variable(s) used in experimental research
control group
a group of participants allocated to the 'experimental' condition of the experiment
experimental group
an experimental design in which participants are randomly allocated to one of two groups; one group is exposed to the independent variable, another, the control group, is not
post-test only control group design
a research design in which observations are made on a group after some event has occurred or some manipulation has been introduced
one-shot case study
the practice of explaining to participants the purpose of the experiment in which they have just participated and answering any questions they may have
debriefing
the variable that is expected to change as a function of change in the independent variable. Measured changes in the dependent variable are seen as 'dependent' on manipulated changes in the independent variable
dependent variable
a measure of the effectiveness of the independent variable
manipulation check
the way in which a theoretical construct is turned into a measurable dependent variable or a manipulable independent variable in a particular study
operationalisation
the variable that an experimenter manipulates in order to examine the effect on one or more dependent variables
independent variable
accomplice of the experimenter who is ostensibly another participant but who in face plays a prescribed role in the experiment
confederate
the 'package' within which an experiment is presented to participants
experimental scenario
the use of multiple methods and measures to research a given issue
triangulation
analysing talk and texts, with the goal of revealing how people make sense of their everyday worlds
discourse analysis
a sample that fills certain pre-specified quotas and thereby reflects certain attributes of the population (such as age and sex) that are though to be important to the issue being researched
quota sample
a sample in which each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected and in which the selection of every possible combination of the desired numbers of members is equally likely
simple random sample
the process of selecting a subset of members of a population with a view to describing the population from which they are taken
sampling
involves interviewing (or administering a questionnaire to) a sample of respondents who are selected so as to be representable of the population from which they are drawn. Measures existing levels of variable rather than manipulating them
survey research
the process of allocating participants to groups (or conditions) in such a way that each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to each group
random allocation (sometimes called random assignment)
an experiment in which participants are allocated to the different conditions of the experiment on a random basis
true randomised experiment
an experiment in which the participants are not randomly allocated to the different experiment conditions (typically because of factors beyond the control of the researchers)
quasi-experiment
a method in which the researcher deliberately introduces some change into a setting to examine the consequences of that change
experiment
a person who takes part in a psychological study
participant
a prediction derived from a theory concerning the relationship between variables
hypothesis
the term used to refer to the measurable representation of a construct
variable
an abstract theoretical concept (such as social influence)
construct
a set of abstract concepts (ie. constructs) together with propositions about how those constructs are related to each other
theory
Author
gcad
ID
215538
Card Set
Research Methods in Social Psychology Vocabulary
Description
Chapter 2 from Introducing Social Psychology 5E Hewstone et al.