Debriefing
To inform the participants of the contents of the experiment
Deception
To not debrief the participants of the contents of the experiment
Ecological
A focus of organism-environment rather then the characteristic modes of behavior
Expectancy
The internal state resulting from experience with predictable relationships between stimuli or between responses and stimuli.
Extraneous Variables
Any variable that is not being tested that may affect the results
Independent Variable
The variable that is going to be changed
Informed consent
The process of debriefing the subject and getting their consent on their participation
Random Sampling
Every member of the target population has an equal chance of being in any group
Stratified sampling
More theory driven The sample has to reflect essential characteristics for your experiment The characteristics are then studied by the distribution of these characteristics The participants are then recruited in a way that keeps the proportion of the characteristics the same
Convenience Sampling (aka opportunity sample)
Participants are recruited based on how easily available they are Technique of choice when resources or time is limited
Self Selected sampling
Recruiting volunteers EG: Advertising the experiment to get more recruits Easy way to get participants
Purposive sample
Main characteristics are defined in advance EG: Research on HS teachers would define the sample in advance by only choosing HS Teachers
Snowball sample
When participants invite other people to join the experiment Good for recruiting populations such as druggies or gang members
Independent measures design
Random allocation of participants into groups and the comparison between those groups The participants are randomly assigned to the experimental and controlled groups The only thing that is different in these groups is the IV
Matched pairs design
Similar to independent measures No random allocation, but matching allocation to form groups
Repeated measures design
Goal is to compare conditions instead of the group Same group of participants are exposed to different conditions The results of the conditions is what’s being measured Can be affected by order effects What IV comes first and how that will affect the groups reaction after the first condition Counterbalancing is used to combat order effects The order of the conditions are reversed
Placebo
A substance/medical treatment that resembles treatment but actually has no act on the disease or mental issue
Screw you effect
An attempt by a participant to discern the researchers hypothesis in order to screw up the results
Single Blind
A type of clinical trial in which only the researcher doing the study knows which treatment or intervention the participant is receiving until the trial is over
Double Blind
A type of clinical trial in which neither the participants nor the researcher knows which treatment or intervention participants are receiving until the clinical trial is over.
Social Desirability
research participants' tendency to bias their responses in surveys and experiments in order to appear in a more favorable light
Field experiment
Experiments done under a natural setting Less control over variables
True experiment
IV is manipulated and DV is measured under really controlled conditions Participants are randomly assigned to the conditions
Quasi experiment
No IV is manipulated Participants aren;’t randomly selected to conditions The only thing that separates the participants are their traits EG: Banker, teacher
Natural Experiments
An experiment that is the result of a naturally occurring event There is no control over the IV as it naturally occurs in real life EG: A test to see the amount of heart-attacks before and after a smoking ban was set