Evaluating experiments

Social desirability effect

A tendency for research participants to provide answers that they think will make them look good to the researchers.

Demand characteristics

Any aspects of a study that communicate to the participants how the experimenter wants them to behave.

Publication bias

The tendency for journals to publish positive findings but not negative or ambiguous ones

Practice effect

Any change in performance that results from mere repetition of a task.

Fatigue effect

Deterioration in participant performance with repeated testing

Ecological validity

The extent to which a study can be generalised to other situations and environments. The level of realism can influence this as well as how artificial the task or environment.

Population validity

The extent to which a study can be generalised to other populations. A more representative sample make chances of population validity higher.

Mundane realism

Degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations (realistic)

Face validity

Measures whether a test looks like it tests what it is supposed to test.

Concurrent validity

The extent to which two measures of the same trait or ability agree

Temporal validity

The extent to which the results can be generalized across time

Demand Characteristics

Participants form an interpretation of the experiment's purpose and subconsciously change their behaviour to fit that interpretation.

Order Effects

Differences in research participants' responses that result from the order (e.g., first, second, third) in which the experimental materials are presented to them.

Investigator Effects

Any cue from the investigator that might influence the behaviour of participants.

Control

The extent to which a variable is held constant or regulated by the researcher.