| case study | An in-depth look at a single individual. p. 52
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| control group | A comparison group that is treated in every way like the experimental group except for the manipulated factor. p. 56
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| correlational research | Research with the goal of describing the strength of the relationship between two or more events or characteristics. p. 53
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| dependent variable | The factor that can change in an experiment in response to changes in the independent variable. p. 56
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| descriptive statistics | Mathematical procedures that are used to describe and summarize samples of data in a meaningful way. p. 59
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| double-blind experiment | An experiment that is conducted so that neither the experimenter nor the participants are aware of which participants are in the experimental group and which are in the placebo control group until after the results are calculated. p. 68
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| ethnic gloss | Involves using an ethnic label, such as "African American" or "Latino," in a superficial way that portrays the ethnic group as more homogeneous than it really is. p. 67
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| experiment | A carefully regulated procedure in which one or more factors believed to influence the behavior being studied are manipulated and all other factors are held constant. p. 56
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| experimental group | A group in a research study whose experience is manipulated. p. 56
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| experimenter bias | The influence of the experimenter's own expectations on the outcome of the research. p. 57
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| hypothesis | An idea that is a testable prediction, often arrived at logically from a theory. p. 43
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| independent variable | The manipulated, influential, experimental factor in an experiment. p. 56
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| inferential statistics | Mathematical methods that are used to draw conclusions about data. p. 61
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| mean | A statistical measure of central tendency that is calculated by adding all the scores and then dividing by the number of scores. p. 59
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| median | A statistical measure of central tendency that falls exactly in the middle of a distribution of scores after they have been arranged (or ranked) from highest to lowest. p. 60
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| mode | A statistical measure of central tendency, the score that occurs most often. p. 60
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| naturalistic observation | Observations of behavior in real-world settings with no effort made to manipulate or control the situation. p. 50
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| operational definition | A circumstance or behavior defined in such a way that it can be objectively observed and measured. p. 000
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| placebo | An innocuous, inert substance or condition that may be given to participants instead of a presumed active agent, such as a drug, to determine if it produces effects similar to those of the active agent. p. 58
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| placebo effect | The influence of participants' expectations, rather than the experimental treatment, on experimental outcome. p. 58
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| population | The entire group that the investigator wants to learn about. p. 45
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| random assignment | Assignment of participants to experimental and control groups by chance. p. 56
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| random sample | A sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected. p. 45
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| range | A statistical measure of variability that is the distance between the highest and lowest scores. p. 60
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| research participant bias | The influence of research participants' expectations on their behavior within an experiment. p. 57
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| sample | The subset of the population that the investigator has chosen for study. p. 45
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| standard deviation | A statistical measure of variability that involves how much the scores vary on the average around the mean of the sample. p. 61
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| standardized test | An oral or written assessment for which an individual receives a score indicating how the individual reponded relative to others. p. 51
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| theory | A broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempt to explain and predict observations. p. 42
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