Back to AI Flashcard MakerPsychology /AP® Psychology Research Methods Part 3
AP® Psychology Research Methods Part 3
This deck covers key concepts in research methods for AP® Psychology, including strengths and weaknesses of different methods, scales of measurement, and types of data analysis.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this research method? experiments
Strengths: • determine cause and effect relationship between variables • control over confounding variables; Weaknesses: • it can be difficult to generalize from the lab to the real world expensive • time-consuming
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this research method? experiments
Strengths: • determine cause and effect relationship between variables • control over confounding variables; Weaknesses: • it can be difficult to gene...
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this research method? correlational research
Strengths: • easy to administer surveys or tests • inexpensive • minimal time needed • substantial real-world generalizability Weaknesses: • no contro...
Define: statistics
analysis of numerical data regarding representative samples
__________ data includes numerical measurements and __________ data includes descriptive words.
Quantitative; qualitative
What are the four scales of measurement?
1. nominal 2. ordinal 3. interval 4. ratio
Define: nominal scale
numbers have no meaning except as labels; Example: Girls are designated as 1 and boys are designated as 2.
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this research method? experiments | Strengths: • determine cause and effect relationship between variables • control over confounding variables; Weaknesses: • it can be difficult to generalize from the lab to the real world expensive • time-consuming |
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this research method? correlational research | Strengths: • easy to administer surveys or tests • inexpensive • minimal time needed • substantial real-world generalizability Weaknesses: • no control over confounding variables • skewed or biased results • establishes a relationship, not causation |
Define: statistics | analysis of numerical data regarding representative samples |
__________ data includes numerical measurements and __________ data includes descriptive words. | Quantitative; qualitative |
What are the four scales of measurement? | 1. nominal 2. ordinal 3. interval 4. ratio |
Define: nominal scale | numbers have no meaning except as labels; Example: Girls are designated as 1 and boys are designated as 2. |
Define: ordinal scale | numbers are used as ranks; Example: The highest score is designated as 1, second highest as 2, third highest as 3, and so on. |
Define: interval scale | numbers that have a meaningful difference between them; Example: Temperature: The difference between 10°F and 20°F is the same as between 30°F and 40°F. |
Define: ratio scale | numbers that have a meaningful ratio between them on a scale with a real zero point; Example: Weight and height: If you weigh zero pounds, you have no weight. 100 pounds is twice as heavy as 50 pounds. |
Would temperature be measured on an interval scale or a ratio scale? | interval; If the temperature is 0°F, there is not 'no temperature.' There is not a meaningful ratio between values. 100°F is not twice as hot as 50°F. |
What are descriptive statistics? | numbers that summarize a set of research data from a sample |
Define: frequency distribution | an orderly arrangement of scores indicating the frequency of each score |
What is the difference between a histogram and a frequency polygon? | A histogram is a bar graph and a frequency polygon is a line graph or a bell curve. |
Define and list the three types of: central tendency | Measures of central tendency describe the most typical scores for a set of research data. 1. mode 2. median 3. mean |
Define in terms of central tendency: mode | most frequently occurring score in the data set |
Define in terms of central tendency: median | the middle score when the data is ordered by size |
Define in terms of central tendency: mean | arithmetic average of the scores in the data set |
If two scores appear most frequently, the distribution is __________, and if there are three or more appearing most frequently, it is __________. | bimodal; multimodal |
Which measure of central tendency is the most representative? The least representative? | mean is usually most representative, unless there are extreme outliers that pull the mean in a particular direction; median is less sensitive to outliers, but is a weak statistic; mode is the least representative |
Define: normal distribution | bell-shaped, symmetric curve that represents data about many human characteristics throughout the population |