control group--in experiments, the one that doesn't get the treatment
correlation--a type of research design that depicts a relationship between variables, but not necessarily one of cause-effect
data--information. can be numbers or words. plural form of datum. the "data show" not "shows"
experiment--a research design used to find "cause-effect" relationships. the "effect of...on..". lots of variations. top shelf in research.
experimental group--the one that get the treatment
further study is needed--we don't know
mean--the arithmetic average
median--the middle where half the scores fall above, half below. eliminates the influence of outliers
mode--the score that occurs most
no evidence--we don't know, haven't figured out how to attack the problem, or haven't cared enough to try
prove--not used in research about human performance. could result in a shunning
random--by chance
random sample--everybody had the same chance of being assigned to any group. sometimes confused with who you ran into by chance who would participate
research--a systematic way to find out things
research design--the game plan or method for finding out what you want to know. experiments, correlations, descriptive studies
significance--two meanings: significance of the study means why it is importance. statistical significance has a mathematical meaning (see below)
standard deviation--a measure of spread. the average deviation of a group of scores from the mean
statistical significance--an important finding that did not happen by chance. p<.05 means that there were less than 5 chances in 100 that the result would have happened randomly
statistics--mathematical tools based on the normal curve used to analyze data. must match statistics with research designs
the extent to which--a favorite phrase of researchers that means "how much". implies ranges and probabilities. avoids absolutes
