Experimental Terminology List- Terms And Definitions

Question 0

What is validity in psychology?

Answer 0

Is to the extent which a test measures what it’s supposed to measure, and how well it can do this

Question 1

What is the definition for Reliability in Psychology?

Answer 1

Is how consistent a study is; that when you repeat a study you get the same results as you did before

Question 2

What is ecological validity in psychology?

Answer 2

How true to life the study is, for example a test conducted in a lab has very low ecological validity normally due to the huge amount of controls that are put in place for it

Question 3

List two strengths and two weaknesses for Lab Experiments

Answer 3

✅There are normally a lot of controls which are good for any extraneous variables
✅Strict procedures allow them to be replicated so researchers can be more confident about their findings (good reliability)
⛔️The Artificial situation could make participants’ behaviour unrepresentative (bad ecological validity)
⛔️Participants could respond to demand characteristics and alter their normal behaviours

Question 4

List two strengths and two weaknesses for Field Experiments

Answer 4

✅As participants are in normal situations, their behaviour is much more likely to be more representative (good ecological validity)
✅Participants could be unaware that they are actually being study, which can therefore lead to very few demand characteristics
⛔️Control over extraneous variables is much more difficult than in a laboratory, so field experiments are less reliable and difficult to repeat
⛔️Particpants are likely to be unaware that they are in the study, which can lead to ethical issues

Question 5

List two strengths and two weaknesses for Quasi Experiments

Answer 5

✅They can be used to study real world issues
✅If participants are in their normal situation, their behaviour is more likely to be representative
⛔️They are only possible when occurring differences arise
⛔️Control over extraneous variables is often very difficult

Question 6

What are demand characteristics in Psychology?

Answer 6

They are features in a study that can affect and influences participants behaviour to act differently than they normally would in the experiment, therefore not being particularly reliable

Question 7

List two strengths and weakness’ that come up in Independant measures design

Answer 7

✅Different participants are used in each level of the Independent variable so there are therefore no order effects
✅Participants see the experimental task only once, which reduces the likeliness of any demand characteristics
⛔️Individual differences could distort results if Participants in one level of the i dependant variable differ from those in another
⛔️More participants are needed than with repeated measures (which can make the experiment less ethical and also can waste time as well)

Question 8

List two strengths and weaknesses from repeated measures design

Answer 8

✅Individual Differences unlikely to distort the effect on the independent variable, as participants do on both levels
✅Counterbalancing reduces order effects
⛔️Order effects and extraneous variables could distort the results
⛔️Particpants see the experimental task more than once, increasing the likeliness of demand characteristics

Question 9

What is an i dependant variable in psychology?

Answer 9

The independent variable is the the thing in an experiment that we can choose to change for each group/condition

Question 10

What is a dependant variable in psychology?

Answer 10

The dependant variable is the thing in the study that we can’t change and is normally dependant on the independent variable

Question 11

Give an example of a one tailed hypothesis

Answer 11

A one tailed hypothesis is a statement that predicts the direction of a relationship between variables, for example in an experiment that a change will cause an increase or decrease in the DV.
For example in the cognitive study for eye witness testimony:
Testimonies from eyewitnesses that have discussed the event with others will be less accurate than those who have not discuses the events with others.

Question 12

What is an example of a two tailed hypothesis

Answer 12

A two tailed hypothesis is a statement that predicts how one variable will be related to another
With the cognitive eye witness testimony study: there will be a difference in eyewitnesses between those who has discusses events and eyewitnesses who have not.

Question 13

Give an example of a null hypothesis?

Answer 13

A null hypothesis is basically when a study will have no correlation or difference in the results
For example with the cognitive study on eyewitness testimony:
There will be no difference in accuracy of eyewitness between those who have previously discussed events and those who have not.

Question 14

List strengths and weaknesses of opportunity sampling

Answer 14

Opportunity sampling is where Participants are chosen because of convenience, for example; university students because they are around at the selected time
✅a strength of this is that it’s easier than other methods, just because participants are there at the time and easier to get hold of
⛔️participants won’t really be representative, as people are likely to be limited, and therefore similar

Question 15

List strengths and weaknesses of Random sampling

Answer 15

This is where all the members of the general population are given numbers and randomly selected in a non-biases way, for example just taking them out of a hat
✅should be representative, as all types of people in the population are equally as likely to be chosen
⛔️it’s a difficult process as everyone in the population has to be as equally likely to be chosen, and is hard to achieve

Question 16

List strengths and weaknesses of self selected sampling.

Answer 16

This is where participants are invited to take part in a study, normally through the use of media or magazine articles.
✅participants are relatively easy to get to as they tend to come to you and are more committed. E.g. More likely to turn up for repeat testing
⛔️non representative as the kinds of people who respond to the articles are more likely to be similar e.g. Be better Educated or have free time

Question 17

What is generalisability in psychology?

Answer 17

Generalisability in psychology is where the results of a study or participants can be generalised to those in real life, as in if the participants of the study are common or realistic enough to be compared to people outside of the study

Question 18

What is matched pairs design? What are the strengths and weaknesses of it?

Answer 18

Matched pairs design is an experimental design in which participants are arranged into pairs. Each pair is similar in ways important to the study and the members of each pair perform in the two different conditions of the IV.
✅participants see the experimental task only once, reducing likelihood of demand characteristics
✅There are no order effects
⛔️the similarity between pairs is limited by the matching process, which might be flawed
⛔️matching participants is not always possible and is also very time consuming

Question 19

What is counterbalancing in psychology?

Answer 19

COUNTERBALANCING is used to overcome order effects in repeated measures design. This done by a subgroup of participants perform the each possible levels of the IV.
This can be described as ABBA, as half the participants do A then B, while the other half do B then A.

Question 20

What are order effects in a study?

Answer 20

Order effects in repeated measures design cam produce changes in performance between conditions that are not due to the IV , so they can obscure the effect of the DV. This is normally avoided through COUNTERBALANCING.

Question 21

What are the ethics that are in and applied to all studies?

Answer 21

• right to withdraw-where participants can choose to leave the study if for example they feel uncomfortable or stressed
• consent-normally when using children in developmental studies, parents have to give the consent for their children to be used in the study. Also participants have to give their consent for themselves to be used in the study, an issue normally found in covert observations.
• harm and stress- participants can sometimes be stressed or physically/mentally harmed by experiments, so this is meant to be avoided at all costs in experiments.
• privacy and confidentiality-participants have a right to keep information and results about them in the study, and not to be released or published for the general public.

Question 22

What is experimenter bias in psychology?

Answer 22

Experimenter bias is where the experimenter is much more subjective towards his results and study due to the results that he actually wants, so not really paying attention to any outliers or extraneous results due to extraneous variables

Question 23

What are extraneous variables?

Answer 23

These are variables that are unpredictable that can affect the study that normally occur in field experiments, for example in the social field experimenter about bystander reactions, there could have been plenty of extraneous variables about those who were on the train carriage, how old they were, what they worked as, their emotional state etc.

Question 24

What are participants variables in psychology?

Answer 24

Participant variables are individual differences, which can vary from age to gender or intelligence, that can affect the DV.