[1.

] hindsight bias: the inclination, after an event has occurred, to see the event hasas having
been predictable, even if there had been little basis for predicting it.
1.[2.] Overconfidence: A tendency to overestimate how capable our abilities are.
2.[3.] Gamblers Fallacy: The belief that acts of random chance are related when they are not.
I.E. When flipping a coin and getting heads 9 times, most would expect it to land on
heads the tenth despite the actions being separate.
3.[4.] Conformation Bias: The tendency to show information more clearly when it supports
one’s views.
4.[5.] Critical Thinking: The ability to not take information at face value and to evaluate what
one believes.
5.[6.] Theory: a guess or estimate on the reason for an occurrence.
6.[7.] Hypothesis: A statement that describes the relationship between two or more variables
7.[8.] Replication: A study performed again, but with different circumstances or people
8.[9.] Null Hypothesis: The common accepted explanation.
9.[10.] Case Study: an in-depth examination of a single research participant
10.[11.] Sampling bias: when the sample participants are not representative of the general
population.
11.[12.] Population: the group that researchers want to study
12.[13.] Random sample: the opportunity for every person in the population to have an equal
chance of participating.
13.[14.] Naturalistic observation: unobtrusively observation conducted by researchers in a
natural social setting.
14.[15.] Survey: A method of information gathering that involves questioning large groups of
people in order to gain information about their beliefs, attitudes, or opinions
15.[16.] Longitudinal method: a method of information gathering that measures single or
groups of individuals over a long period time.
16.[17.] Cross-sectional method: A method of information gathering that compares
individuals at various age points
After the football game, we credit the coach if a “gutsy” play call wins the game, and
fault the coach if the “stupid” play call doesn’t. How does this illustrate the
hindsight bias?
When the coach wins the game, we associate the win with the dangerous play, despite the
play having done little to win the game. When the coach loses, we associate his lose with
the risky play, despite the fact it likely did little to change the outcome of the game.
Explain how clustering illusions (gambler’s fallacy), confirmation bias, and
sampling bias could all lead to invalid conclusions.
Gambler’s fallacy: When testing chance or probability, we may make associations that do
not truly exist, contaminating the results of the test.
Conformation bias: When we find results to be to our pleasing, we may choose to include
them while excluding those that do not line up with the theory we are trying to prove.
Sampling bias: When we find samples that give results that line up with the theory that
we are trying to prove, we may choose to use those over those that do not.
Why are descriptive research methods limited in their ability to explain behavior?
Behavior is almost never replicable in the exact same way, so many scientific research
methods lack the ability to accurately measure them, due to their inherent variability.
How can the phrasing of a survey question affect the responses given by those
surveyed? Make up an example to illustrate your answer.
Phrasing of a survey question could be used to provoke a response, depending on how the
survey question was phrased. I.E. how would you describe the crime rate in your poor
neighborhood would get you lower results due to the defensive nature of the people that
live there.
How might you draw a random sample of participants if you were surveying?
Your high school classmates?
High schoolers could likely be interviewed without further preparation, as long as you
limited the range to a single school, as variety is quite limited.
Restaurant owners?
When interviewing restaurant owners, one would need to limit the search to particular
type of restaurant, as well as profitability, as these factors would define the opinions of
those that you are interviewing.
Identify the sampling flaw in the following survey design. Once you have identified
the flaw indicate how you would correct it.
The principal at a school wants to survey students to see if they would like to
increase lunchtime in place of one academic course. He gives this survey to
freshman PE teachers to hand out to their classes.
Flaw?
The survey area is extremely small, and so would receive results that would not be equal
to the school majority.
Correction?
Expanding the search area of the survey would allow for more accurate test results.