component 2 Flashcards
what is an aim
a goal a psychologist wants to achieve in a study
what is the independent variable
the thing we change or manipulate in a study
what is the dependent variable
the thing we are measuring in the experiment
what is operationalisation
how variables are measured e.g seconds, grams, hours etc
what is a hypothesis
a prediction the psychologist makes before doing an experiment about what will happen
what is a null hypothesisu
a hypothesis that is made after there is no previous valid research. there is NO significant DIFFERENCE\EFFECT or RELATIONSHIP between the variables. it suggests that any difference occurs by CHANCE and not because of the manipulation
what is an independent measures design?
an experiment where the two groups of participants do 1 condition each
what is a repeated measures design?
an experiment where participants do both conditions: control and experimental
what is a matched pairs design?
a form of independent groups design but the people in both groups are deliberately similar to each other
what are order effects
effects of participant repeating the same condition e.g boredom or being better due to practice
what is counter balancing
where there are 2 groups: half does condition 1 first then condition 2, the other half does condition 2 first then condition 1 - this prevents order effects
what is a participant variable?
a characteristic or aspect of a person that effects the study even though it is not the focus of the experiment
what is a sampling frame
a list that includes every individual from your entire pop. of interest and should exclude others not part of the target pop.
what is opportunity sampling
a researcher selects anyone who wants to take part in the study at their convenience
what is systematic sampling
a technique that uses a predetermined system to select participants from a target group
