Intro to Psych Chp 1
Terms
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- Psychology
- The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
- Scientific Method
- an orderly, systematic procedures that researchers follow as they identify a research problem, design a study to investigate the prob, collect and analyze data, draw conclusions, and communicate their findings.
- Theory
- A general principle or set of principles proposed to explain how a number of separate facts are related
- Replication
- The process of repeating a study to verify research findings.
- Hypothesis
- A testable prediction about the conditions under which a particular behavior or mental process may occur.
- basic research
- research conducted to seek new knowledge and to explore and advance general scientific understanding.
- applied research
- research conducted specifically to solve practical problems and impore the quality of life.
- descriptive research methods
- research methods that yield descriptions of behavior
- naturalistic observation
- a research method used by researchers to observe and record behavior in its natural setting, without attempting to influence or control it.
- laboratory observation
- a research method in which behavior is studied in a lab setting.
- case study
- res. method in which one person or a small group of person are studied in great depth.
- survey
- res. method in which researchers use interviews, and/or questionares to gather info about the attitudes, beliefs, experiences, or behaviors of a group of ppl.
- population
- the entire group of interest to researchers, to which they wish to apply their findings.
- sample
- a part of the pop. that is studied to reach conclusions about the entire pop.
- representative sample
- a sample that mirros the pop of interest, includes important subgroups in the same porportions as they are found in the pop.
- experimental method
- the only research method that can be used to identify cause/effect relationships between two or more conditions or variables