Deciding research question-

Independant Variable

what you change/manipulate

The cause

Dependant variable

what is being measured/ what you measure

The effect

Operationalising variables

Adding more details to the IV and DV, being more specific and makes the variable measurable. This helps replication in the future.

Extraneous Variables

These are variables that might affect the DV if they arent controlled for affect all participants equally

extra to your research

Confounding Variables

These are variables that might affect your DV as they vary systemically with the IV, so they might not affect all participants in the same way

only affects some people and is specific to certain individuals, depends on the IV

Examples of Extraneous Variables:

• time of day they’re asked

• temperature

• week

• year

• noise

What are the aims in psychological research?

The aims of a study are an overview of what the researcher wants to achieve/investigate

What is a hypothesis

A testable prediction that is tested in the experiment

What are the 3 components that must always be present in a hypothesis

Relationship: there will be… [prediction]

Dependant Variable (operationalised): (thing being measured)

2 levels of IV

3 types of hypothesis‘s?

Directional

Non-Directional

Null Hypothesis

Directional Hypothesis

State the type of relationship (the way the experiment will go)

There will be an increase/decrease

Non-directional Hypothesis

State there will be a relationship but not in which way

There will be a difference

Null Hypothesis

Doesn’t predict a change or a difference

There will be no significant Difference