Review
Unit #2: Research Methods
Psychology is an empirical discipline. Psychologists develop knowledge by doing research. Research provides guidance for
psychologists who develop theories to explain behavior and who apply theories to solve problems in behavior.
 Differentiate types of research.
 Describe how research design drives the reasonable conclusions that can be drawn.
 Identify independent, dependent, confounding, and control variables in experimental designs.
 Distinguish between random assignment of participants to conditions in experiments and random selection of participants,
primarily in correlational studies and surveys.
 Predict the validity of behavioral explanations based on the quality of research design.
 Distinguish the purposes of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.
 Apply basic descriptive statistical concepts, including interpreting and constructing graphs and calculating simple descriptive
statistics.
 Discuss the value of reliance on operational definitions and measurement in behavioral research.
 Identify how ethical issues inform and constrain research practices.
 Describe how ethical and legal guidelines protect research participants and promote sound ethical practice.
Terms: be able to define these terms, they will be key for the matching section but some may pop up on multiple choice,
true/false or fill in the blank questions.
APA: _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Basic v. Applied Psychology: __________________________________________________________________________
Bell Curve/Normal Curve: ____________________________________________________________________________
Case Study: _______________________________________________________________________________________
Causation: ________________________________________________________________________________________
Central Tendency: __________________________________________________________________________________
Confidentiality: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Consensus: _______________________________________________________________________________________
Control: ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Correlation: ________________________________________________________________________________________
Dependent Variable: ________________________________________________________________________________
Descriptive Statistics: ________________________________________________________________________________
Double-Blind Experiment: ____________________________________________________________________________
Ethics:____________________________________________________________________________________________
False Consensus: __________________________________________________________________________________
Hindsight Bias: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Independent Variable: _______________________________________________________________________________
Inferential Statistics: _________________________________________________________________________________
Informed Consent: __________________________________________________________________________________
Intuition: __________________________________________________________________________________________
Jane Goodall: ______________________________________________________________________________________
Little Albert: _______________________________________________________________________________________
Mean/Median/Mode/Range: ___________________________________________________________________________
Naturalistic Observation: _____________________________________________________________________________
Null Hypothesis: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Pearson Correlation Coefficient: _______________________________________________________________________
Placebo Effect: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Population: ________________________________________________________________________________________
p-value: ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Random Distribution/Assignment: ______________________________________________________________________
Random Sample: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Reliable: __________________________________________________________________________________________
Scientific Method: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Single-Blind Experiment: _____________________________________________________________________________
Skepticism: ________________________________________________________________________________________
Standard Deviation: _________________________________________________________________________________
Stanley Milgram: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Statistically Significant: _______________________________________________________________________________
Survey Method: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Type I Error: _______________________________________________________________________________________
Type II Error: ______________________________________________________________________________________
Valid: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Main Ideas: the following concepts will appear in the fill-in-the-blank or short answer sections of the test. These topics
are broader and can be found in the “Binder” or textbook.

Methods of Psychological Study
 What are the positives and negatives of the various methods of research/experimentation?
 Why would a psychologist select one method of study over another?

Scientific Method
 Steps
 Reasons why it is used

Conducting & Analyzing Experiments/Statistics
 Variables, control groups, single & double blind experiments, placebos, & correlations v. causation

Why are “Ethics” important to Psychologists?
 Define the term ethics
 Identify some of the more important research & experimental standards psychologists must follow?
 What are some classical experiments that led to the development of said ethics?

History & Approaches of Psychology
 All material covered in the first unit is “fair game” for this quest too, even if you weren’t tested on it last time.