Basics of experiments

Question 1

what is an aim?

Answer 1

statement of what the researcher intends to find out/ investigate in a study

Question 2

what is a hypothesis?

Answer 2

a clear precise prediction about the difference or relationship between the variables

Question 3

what is a directional hypothesis?

Answer 3

predicts the specific expected direction of the difference e.g more, less, etc

Question 4

what is a non directional hypothesis?

Answer 4

predicts that there’ll be a difference but not what the difference will be

Question 5

what is the independent variable?

Answer 5

the variable manipulated to cause an effect on the other variables

Question 6

what is the dependent variable?

Answer 6

the variable affected by the IV and measured by the experimenter

Question 7

what is a variable?

Answer 7

factor/characteristic/thing which can cause effect or change

Question 8

what is the extraneous variable?

Answer 8

Extra variables controlled by the experimenter which may have an effect on the DV

Question 9

define operationalisation

Answer 9

defining variables in a specific way so that it can be tested, specifying how the IV is changed in all conditions and how the DV is measured in a quantifiable way
- makes experiments replicable