The fundamentals of psycology as a science

What is an independent variable?

The variable which is manipulated or changed by the experimenter

Dependant variable

The outcome measured by the experimenter

How are these variables used in an experiment vs a correlation?

In an experiment they are looking at difference between the conditions by changing the independent variable.

Correlations look at the relationship between the conditions and do not manipulate the independent variable.

What is an operational defenition?

The precise way we will measure a variable/ how we will measure the variable. Eg instead of memory recall we would measure it using the score obtained on a memory recall test.

What are extraneous variables and confounding variables?

Variables which might have an effect on the dependent variable which must be controlled.

Uncontrolled extraneous variables become confounding variables that effect the validity of results.

What is reliability?

The consistency of the results determines its reliability. This is tested by repeating research, which is called replication.