An extensive summary of all key terms and their descriptions/explanations of chapters 2-8 and 10-15 of the book. Written for the course Social and cross-cultural psychology / Sociale en cross-culturele psychologie from the RUG.
Introduction
Theory:
A set of abstract concepts (i.e., constructs) together with propositions about how those constructs are
related to one another.
Construct:
An abstract theoretical concept (such as social influence).
Variable:
The term used to refer to the measurable representation of a construct.
Research strategies
Hypothesis:
A prediction derived from a theory concerning the relationship between variables.
Participants:
People who take part in a psychological study.
Experiment:
A method in which the researcher deliberately introduces some change into a setting to examine the
consequences of that change.
Quasi-experiment:
An experiment in which participants are not randomly allocated to the different experimental
conditions (typically because of factors beyond the control of the researcher).
True randomized experiment:
An experiment in which participants are allocated to the different conditions of the experiment on a
random basis.
Random allocation (or “random assignment”):
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.
Field experiment:
A true randomized experiment conducted in a natural setting.
Survey research:
A research strategy that involves interviewing (or administering a questionnaire to) a sample of
respondents who are selected so as to be representative of the population from which they are drawn.
Sampling:
The process of selecting a subset of members of a population with a view to describing the population
from which they are taken.
Simple random 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 number of members is equally likely.
Quota sample:
A sample that fills certain prespecified quotas and thereby reflects certain attributes of the population
(such as age and sex) that are thought to be important to the issue being researched.
,Discourse analysis:
A family of methods for analyzing talk and texts, with the goal of revealing how people make sense of
their everyday worlds.
Triangulation:
The use of multiple methods and measures to research a given issue.
A closer look at experimentation in social psychology
Experimental scenario:
The ‘package’ within which an experiment is presented to participants.
Confederate:
An accomplice or assistant of the experimenter who is ostensibly another participant but who in fact
plays a prescribed role in the experiment.
Independent variable:
The variable that an experimenter manipulates or modifies in order to examine the effect on one or
more dependent variables.
Operationalization:
The way in which a theoretical construct is turned into a measurable dependent variable or a
manipulable independent variable in a particular study.
Manipulation check:
A measure of the effectiveness of the independent variable.
Dependent variable:
The variable that is expected to change as a function of changes in the independent variable.
Measured changes in the dependent variable are seen as ‘dependent on’ manipulated changes in the
independent variable.
Debriefing:
The practice of explaining to participants the purpose of the experiment in which they have just
participated, and answering any questions the participants may have.
One-shot case study:
A research design in which observations are made on a group after some event has occurred or some
manipulation has been introduced.
Repeated-measures design (or “within-subjects design”):
A research design in which participants complete outcome measures more than once.
Experimental group:
A group of participants allocated to the ‘experimental’ condition of the experiment.
Control group:
A group of participants who are typically not exposed to the independent variable(s) used in
experimental research.
Post-test only control group design:
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.
Reactivity:
A measurement procedure is reactive if it alters the nature of what is being measured.
Factorial experiment:
An experiment in which two or more independent variables are manipulated within the same design.
Main effect:
A term used to refer to the separate effects of each independent variable in a factorial experiment.
Interaction effect:
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.
, Mediating variable:
A variable that mediates the relation between two other variables.
Validity:
A measure is valid to the extent that it measures precisely what it is supposed to measure.
Internal validity:
Refers to the validity of the inference that changes in the independent variable result in changes in the
dependent variable.
Experimental confound:
When an independent variable incorporates two or more potentially separable components it is a
confounded variable. When an independent variable is confounded, the researcher’s ability to draw
causal inferences is seriously compromised.
Construct validity:
The validity of the assumption that independent and dependent variables adequately capture the
abstract variables (constructs) they are supposed to represent.
Social desirability:
Refers to the fact that research participants are likely to want to be seen in a positive light and may
therefore adjust their responses or behavior in order to avoid being negatively evaluated.
Demand characteristics:
Cues that are perceived as telling participants how they are expected to behave or respond in a
research setting; that is, cues that ‘demand’ a certain sort of response.
Experimenter expectancy effect:
An effect produced unintentionally by the experimenter that increases the likelihood that participants
will confirm the experimenter’s hypothesis.
Post-experimental enquiry:
Is the practice of investigating participants’ experience of a study after they have taken part, including
their perceptions of the purpose of the study.
Unobtrusive measures (“non-reactive measures”):
Measures that the participant is not aware of, and which therefore cannot influence his or her
behavior.
Cover story:
A false but supposedly plausible explanation of the purpose of an experiment; the intention is to limit
the operation of demand characteristics.
External validity:
Refers to the generalizability of research findings to settings and populations other than those
involved in the research.
Replication:
The process of repeating a study as closely as possible (direct replication) or testing the same
hypothesis using different methods (conceptual replication).
Pre-registration:
The process whereby a researcher openly reports the plans for a study, including hypotheses,
methods and analyses, before the study has been conducted.
Meta-analysis:
A set of techniques for statistically integrating the results of independent studies of a given
phenomenon, with a view to establishing whether the findings exhibit a pattern of relationships that is
reliable across studies.
Data collection methods
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