Study Guide for Exam 1

General Points:

• Bring scantron sheet #4521 and a number 2 pencil to the exam.

• Make sure you have obtained all the class notes, since all material on the exam will come from lectures.

• Questions will be true/false, multiple choice, and short-answer/essay.

• I like to ask questions that connect material from the different sections we've covered. Don't just study to memorize definitions, make sure you see how all the information we've covered is related. We'll be building on this information through the semester, so plan on remembering it after the exam is over.

• The exam will cover material from the first day through lecture on Tuesday 2/26.

Study Tips:

• Make notes from the lectures. Study to know all the details related to each concept covered.

• Study with a friend: make up exam questions to quiz each other.

• Cover information with your hand and see if you can write it out (and understand what you are writing!)

• Apply it to your own life; make up your own examples

• Refer back to and memorize the examples that particularly helped you understand a concept.

• Put things in your own words

• To do well on exams you have to overlearn the material: really know it!!

Exam Tips:

• Make sure you answer each question (even if you have to guess on one).

• On true/false questions make sure that you read each one carefully. Don't overlook one word that would change the truthfulness of the statement.

• On the multiple choice questions, make sure you read through each answer thoroughly, and understand exactly what the question is asking. Eliminate answers you know are wrong.

• Don't dwell on questions that confuse you. Come back to them at the end.

• Read all possible choices for each multiple choice question, even if you think you found the correct answer right away.

• Answer all parts of each essay question.

• Answer what the question asks, not just what you know about the topic.

• Make a quick outline on the side to organize your thoughts for an essay question.

Overall concepts covered on the exam: (These are to guide your studying. You should make sure you thoroughly understand all the material covered on each of these topics).

• Ways that psychologists/scientists get research ideas (observations, literature review, serendipity, etc)

• Theories

• General process of science and knowledge (that diagram going from observations to supporting or falsifying a theory)

• Empirical Questions

• Operational Definitions

• Hypotheses

• Types of research designs

  • Basic vs Applied

  • Laboratory vs Field

  • Descriptive, Relational, & Experimental

• Orienting Attitudes of the Scientist (enthusiasm, open-mindedness, good sense, etc)

• Types of Variables in an experiment

  • dependent variables

  • independent variables

    1) manipulated

    • situational

    • task

    • instructional

    2) subject

  • extraneous (confounds & what it means to covary)

• Systematic vs Random Error

• Reliability & ways to assess reliability in a measure (test-retest, parallel-forms, etc)

• Accuracy in a measure

• Validity in a measure (and types of validity)

• Scales of Measurement (NOIR & qualitative vs quantitative)

• Between- and Within-subject designs (and pros and cons of each)

• Random Selection & Random Assignment & matching

• Basic Experimental Designs

• Terms Factor vs level

• Single-factor two group designs (4 types), and problem with 2 group designs

• single-factor multilevel designs

• nonparametric vs parametric designs

• Control Group Designs (placebo & yolked)

• Population vs sample & goal of statistics

• Descriptive statistics vs Inferential statistics

• central tendency and variability (and ways to compute them)

• hypothesis testing (research vs null hypothesis)

(You will not be tested over "Choosing and Using Participants" as stated in the syllabus. That information will come in the next section.)