Experimental Method Flashcards
What does experimental research tend to look for?
To study the effects of an independent variable on the dependent variable
What is an independent variable?
An event that is manipulated by the experimenter
What is a dependent variable?
Measuring the effects of the IV
What are levels of IV?
Refers to how many ways in which we change the thing we’re wanting to change. Each level of the IV relates to a condition
What is an aim?
A general statement of what the researcher intends to investigate (purpose of study), typically starts with ‘to investigate…’
What is a hypothesis?
A testable statement that states the relationship between the variables to be investigated, can be directional or non-directional
What does operationalised mean?
When a variable is defined by the researcher and a way of measuring it is developed for the researcher
What must a hypothesis include?
- Be written in future tense (will)
- Be operationalised, we must state how the researcher intended to measure the DV
- State all levels of the IV
How will a hypothesis for a correlation study differ from an experiment?
As a correlation study has no IVs and DVs, we don’t need to include conditions. However we must state there will be a correlation between the co-variables
What is the difference between a non-directional and directional hypothesis?
If there’s previous research on the same aim, this would be used to inform the directional hypothesis
What is a null hypothesis?
States there’s no effects
