Experiments Flashcards
experimental group
the group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested
control group
participants who do not receive the experimental treatment
objectivity
if something is objective it is not affected by the personal feelings and experiences of the researcher
subjectivity
Affected by personal feelings, prejudices and interpretations.
inter rater reliability
a measure of consistency used to evaluate the extent to which different judges agree in their assessment decisions
test retest reliability
the degree to which test scores remain unchanged when measuring a stable individual characteristic on different occasions.
construct validity
the extent to which the test assesses what it is suppsoed to
concurrent validity
the extent to which one measurement is backed up by a related measurement obtained at about the same point in time.
ecological validity
a measure of how test performance predicts behaviours in real-world settings.
mundane realism
the degree to which the materials and procedures involved in an experiment are similar to events that occur in the real worl
predictive validity
the ability of a test or other measurement to predict a future outcome
generalisability
the extent to which research findings can be applied to settings other than that in which they were originally tested
population validity
whether you can reasonably generalise the findings from your sample to a larger group of people (the population)
experimenter effects
the tendency on the part of the experimenter/researcher to influence the participants or to interpret the data/findings to arrive at the result they are seeking to obtain
demand characteristics
where participants form an interpretation of the experiment’s purpose and subconsciously change their behaviour to fit that interpretation
controlling extraneous variables
measuring extraneous variables and accounting for them statistically to remove their effects on other variables
co-founding variables
extraneous factor that interferes with the relationship between an experiment’s independent and dependent variables
counter balancing
a technique used to deal with order effects when using a repeated measures design
randomisation
the process of making groups of items random (in no predictable order)
order effects
differences in research participants’ responses that result from the order (e.g., first, second, third) in which the experimental materials are presented to them
credibility
the believability of information
experimenter bias
a type of cognitive bias that occurs when experimenters allow their expectations to affect their interpretation of observations
independent variable
variable that is manipulated
dependant variable
variable that is measured
hypothesis
predicition of what you think will happen in an experiment
operationalism of variables
defining how variables are tested
experiment
scientific procedure to test a hypothesis
lab experiment
carried out in a controlled environment researcher directly manipulates the iv
field experiments
carried out in a natural environment researcher manipulates the iv
natural experiments
iv is not directly manipulated because it already exists
extraneous variable
found before
confounding variable
found after or during research
participant variables
such as personal experiences, iq, gender, health. things we cants change
situational variables
lighting, time of day, temp, noise
exoerimenter affects
tone of voice and gestures
single blind procedure
participants unaware of the aim
double blind procedure
researcher and participants are unaware of the aim
independent measures
different participants used in each condition,
repeated measures
participants take part in every condition(less people needed)
matched pairs
participants are matched in terms of specific characterisics, one group are control and the other are experimental
