PSYC 225 - Terms from Chapter 1

population - the entire collection of things you're interested in (aka,
             "the general case")
sample - the subset of things you're interested in that you actually do
         measurements on
random sampling
census

population parameter - a number like the mean derived from the entire population
sample statistic - a number like the mean derived from a sample
sampling error - the difference between a sample statistic and the correct value
                 of the population parameter (created by random error)

data - the numbers (or other measurements) you've collected

experiment - a study in which subjects are randomly assigned to groups (the key
             words here are "random assignment")
quasi-experiment - a study in which subjects are not randomly assigned to groups
correlational study
observational study

variable
independent variable - 1) the variable under investigation
                       2) the variable manipulated by the researcher
                       3) the thing that makes your groups different
dependent variable -  1) the variable determined by the behavior of the subjects
                      2) what you've measured about your subjects
                      3) the stuff you've recorded in your data notebook
confounding variable - anything that makes the groups different but that the
                       researcher is not interested in

measurement
categorical measurement - classification; grouping; naming
numerical measurement - measurements that give a number with true numerical
                        properties (that answers the question how many or
                        how much)
ranking

the effect of marijuana smoking on short-term memory (a PSYC 497 project)
     1) What is the population?
     2) Was there random assignment to groups?
     3) What was the IV (or quasi-IV)?
     4) What was the DV?
     5) Are there any confounding variables?
     6) Was there an effect (of the IV on the DV)?

the sense of being stared at (SOBSA)