1/22
Looks like no tags are added yet.
Name | Mastery | Learn | Test | Matching | Spaced |
---|
No study sessions yet.
Experimental Method
The only way to establish that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables is to conduct a scientific experiment.
Strength of Experimental Method
Allows researcher to control the situation. Permits researcher to identify cause and effect.
Limitation of Experimental Method
Experimental research can create artificial situations that do not always represent real-life situations.
Variable
Anything that can vary or change and help to test the hypothesis.
Independent Variable “Treatment” (X)
The factor that the experimenter controls and manipulates. Are selected because an experimenter believes they will CAUSE changes in behavior.
Dependent Variable “Outcome/Measured” (Y)
The variable that is being measured or tested in an experiment.
Confounding Variables “Lurking Variables”
A third, outside variable in a study which is unaccounted for, but may impact the results of the study.
Operational Definitions (of terms)
A definition of the variable in terms of precisely how it is to be measured.
Population
Includes all of the individuals in the group to which the study applies.
Confederate
Individuals who seem to be participants but in reality are part of the research team, trick real participants into thinking they are fellow participants.
Representative Sample
A group that closely matches the characteristics of its population as a whole.
Convenience Sample
Involves using respondents who are “convenient” to the researcher. There is no pattern whatsoever in acquiring these respondents - they may be recruited merely asking people who are present in the street, in a public building, or in a workplace.
Random Sample
Everyone in the population has an equal chance of being included; eliminates bias.
Control Group “Comparison Group”
No treatment or some kind of treatment with no effect, used to control for the possibility that other factors might be causing the effect that is being examined.
Experimental Group
Group that is exposed to the independent variable, receives the experimental manipulation.
Random Assignment
Random process that ensure all members have an equal chance of being placed in either control or experimental group(s).
Quasi Experiment
Designed a lot like a true experiment except that the participants are not randomly assigned to experimental groups (not controlled).
Placebo Condition “Expectation”
Allows researchers to separate the actual effect of an independent variable from the expectations of the participants.
Single-Blind Studies
A research design in which the participants don’t know which treatment group - experimental or control - they are in.
Double-Blind Studies
Neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group until the study concludes.
Researcher Bias
Error resulting from the experiment’s unconscious expectations of results.
Reliability “Consistency”
Whether or not an experiment can be repeated.
Validity “Accuracy”
The experiment is testing what it is supposed to test.