Chapter 9 Flashcards
Are there any rules for operationalizing conceptual variables?
No, it depends on the variable. cost, practicality, ethical concerns. and researcher’s creativity
How can we implement experimental control/
(1) Ensuring only the IV changes across conditions (2) Avoiding alternative explanations such as demand characteristics and experimenter expectancy effects
How can we optimize the operational definitions of the IV and DV?
(1) Avoiding ceiling and floor effects (2) Appropriately pairing IV and DV
Demand characteristics
Any feature of an experiment that might inform participants of the purpose of the study or how he/she is expected to behave; a threat to internal validity
Hawthorne Effect
A participant is aware that he or she is being observed, thus performance is affected
Evaluation Apprehension
The anxiety that comes from being evaluated influences performance
What are the ways to avoid demand characteristics?
Single blind study, distractor/filler items, using deception or unobtrusive measures to disguise the actual purpose of the study, asking participants what they thought the research was about
Single blind study
Keep the participant blind to the hypothesis of the study and the treatment group they are part of
Distractor/filler items
Items included in a questionnaire measure that have little to do with the actual research question
Experimenter expectancy effects or Experimenter bias
Researcher knows what condition participants are in and intentionally or unintentionally manipulates an experiment in order to find the expected effect and confirm the hypothesis
Experimenter expectancy in police line-ups
Police may influence the eyewitness in choosing a certain suspect
Clever Hans effect
A horse named Hans taps out the answers to math equations but the experimenter provided involuntary cues through small head or eye movements for the answers
What are the ways to avoid experimenter expectancy effects?
double blind study and computer study
Double blind study
Keep both the researcher and participant blind to the hypothesis of the study or to the participant’s particular group or condition; Usually require an experimenter that administers the independent variable and another experimenter that administers the dependent variable
Computer study
Have a computer run the study to minimize the interactions between researcher and participant
Interaction effects
Various social components of the researcher/participant interaction may affect the results
Biosocial effect
characteristics of the researcher(s) can affect the behavior of the participant
Psychosocial effect
attitude of the researcher can affect the behavior of the participant
Ceiling effect
Majority of the dependent variable values approach the upper limit; The measure is too easy and everybody does well so it fails to detect difference; Little variability in scores and hard to see the effect of IV
Floor effect
Majority of the dependent variable values approach the lower limit; The measure is too hard and everyone does poorly so it fails to detect difference; Little variability and hard to see the effect of the IV
Strong vs. weak IV
(1) Strong IV is likely to generate a large change in the DV (2) Weak IV is unlikely to generate a large change
High vs. Low sensitivity DV (measurement of DV or DV itself)
(1) Highly sensitive DV changes easily, enables us to detect small differences (2) Low sensitivity DV is resistant to change
What are the two types of operational definitions of the IV?
Straightforward manipulations and staged manipulations
Straightforward manipulation of IV
Operationalizations that involve manipulating the independent variable using instructions or other stimulus materials in a simple and obvious way