Chapter Three - Measuring And Manipulating Variables

Question 1

Correlation

Answer 1

An association between two events, meaning that they tend to occur together more often than one might expect by chance

Question 2

Variables

Answer 2

In psychological research these are any thing that can vary and be measured, controlled or manipulated

Question 3

Direction of effect

Answer 3

Describes which of two variables in the initial cause and which is the resulting effect

Question 4

Experiment

Answer 4

A research method that looks at the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable.

Question 5

Independent variable

Answer 5

A variable that is manipulated by the experimenter to see what effect this has on another variable

Question 6

Experimental condition

Answer 6

A condition in an experiment where participants are exposed to a specific variation in the independent variable

Question 7

Control condition

Answer 7

The ‘baseline’ condition, against which experimental conditions can be compared

Question 8

Dependent variable

Answer 8

A variable that is expected to change as a result of the manipulation of the independent variable

Question 9

Confounding variable

Answer 9

A variable that is not controlled by the researcher but that can affect the results

Question 10

Within-participants design

Answer 10

Also referred to as a repeated measures design. This is a term used to describe the design of an experiment where participants complete all conditions

Question 11

Between-participants design

Answer 11

Also referred to as an independent groups design. This is a term used to describe the design of an experiment where participants take part in only one condition

Question 12

Random allocation

Answer 12

A feature between-participants are randomly assigned to different conditions. Random allocation is another feature of a well-designed study

Question 13

Counterbalancing

Answer 13

An aspect of experimental design that includes all possible orders in which participants complete tasks or conditions, or in which experimenters present stimuli- this is to control for order effects.

Question 14

Order effects

Answer 14

A term used to describe the influence that performing one task may have on performing one task, and therefore a consideration for any experiment with a within-participants design

Question 15

Ecological variability

Answer 15

The extent to which a study reflects naturally occurring or everyday situations

Question 16

Content analysis

Answer 16

Involves analysing the content of written material or audio-visual material material, and coding this in terms of pre-selected features