Research methods

Scientific experiments involve testing…

cause and effect relationships

To test cause and effect relationships psychologist use the …

scientific process

5 steps of the scientific process

1. Aim

2. Hypothesis

3. Method

4. Results

5. Conclusion

Aim:

a statement which gives the reason or purpose for carrying out an experiment

Hypothesis

a prediction about what you expect to happen in an experiment

Independent variable

what we change in an experiment

Dependent variable

What we measure in an experiment

Level of Independent variable :

the number of different versions of the IV there are in an experiment.

Operationalising variable means…

defining how the variable is going to be measured

Results

changes observed during the experiment

Conclusions

interpretation of the results

If hypothesis testing leads to results that don’t support the hypothesis, researchers need to…

adjust their hypothesis.

Scientist use _______ to test hypothesis

the scientific method

Empircal evidence

information that’s collected through direct observation

Falsifiable

when a hypothesis can be proven false

Replicability

repeating a study to re- test the hypothesis

Control group

The level of IV that is not being manipulated by the researcher . This is used to compare with the experimental group.

extraneous variable

a variable other than the IV which affects the DV

objectivity

when a researchers personal bias does not affect the results of the study

A theory is…

A comprehensive explanation that has already been backed up by the scientific method.

In order to test predictions using our theory, our theory must be…

Falsifiable.

For a hypothesis to become a theory, it must…

have multiple experiments to back the results