Experimental method Flashcards
What’s an experiment?
research method where a causal relationship can be drawn because the IV is deliberately manipulated to observe the causal effect on the DV.
What’s an aim
A general statement about what the researcher intends to study —> states the purpose if a study
What’s a hypothesis
a precise statement which clearly states the relationship between the variables that are being investigated.
What are the 4 types of hypothesis?
Directional (one tailed)
Non-directional (two tailed)
Experiment/ alternate
Null
What’s a directional hypothesis?
predicts the nature of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable .
e.g. adults will recall more words than children
What’s a non-directional hypothesis?
states an expected diffrence but not the direction of results e.g. there will be a difference between the number of words recalled by adults than by children.
What’s an experimental/ alternate hypothesis?
A hypothesis in the context of an experiment —> predicts a difference or an effect between two variables.
What’s a null hypothesis?
predicts there won’t be a difference or effect between two variables
e.g. there won’t be a difference between the number of words recalled by adults compared to children.
What is an experimental design?
the different ways in which the testing of ppts can be organised in relation to the experimental conditions.
What are the 3 experimental designs?
Independent groups
Matched pairs
Repeated measures
What is independent groups?
Participants are randomly allocated into two conditions. One group does the experiment with variable 1, the other group does the experiment with variable 2. Results are compared.
What’s repeated measures?
Participants are not divided into groups. Instead, all participants do the experiment with variable 1, then afterwards the same participants do the experiment with variable 2. Results are compared.
What’s matched pairs?
all ppts take part in both conditions
+/- IDG
-More ppts needed
-Least effective design for controlling extraneous or confounding variables.
+Reduces the chance of demand characteristics
+Random allocation
+/- MP
-More ppts needed
-Not possible to match all ppt characteristics
+Use identical twins
+Good attempt to control ppt variables
+/- RM
-Demand characteristics
-Ppts may guess the purpose of the experiment
+Fewer ppts needed
+Can reduce order effects through counterbalancing
What’s counterbalancing?
A technique used to counteract order effects: ABBA half ppts do condition A then B and the other half do B then A.
What’s the IV?
The variable that’s manipulated
What’s the DV?
Measured
What’s operationalisation?
How IV is manipulated and how DV is measured