experiments

Question 1

what is the experimental method?

Answer 1

a research method using random allocation of participants ad manipulation of variables to determine cause and effect

Question 2

what is the difference between independant and dependant variables?

Answer 2

IV = the thing that is changed through the experiment
DV = the thing that is measured

Question 3

what does standardised mean?

Answer 3

kept the same

Question 4

what is operationalisation?

Answer 4

clearly defining variables into measurable factors

Question 5

what are extraneous variables?

Answer 5

variables other than the IV that could effect the DV

Question 6

what are confounding variables?

Answer 6

uncontrolled extraneous variables that negatively affect results

Question 7

what are the 3 main types of extraneous variables?

Answer 7

-participant variables (age, intelligence etc)
-situational variables (temperature, noise etc)
-experimenter variables (gender, ethnicity etc)

Question 8

what are demand characteristics?

Answer 8

features of a piece of research that allow the participants to work out its aim and/or hypothesis, which may cause a change in behaviour

Question 9

what are the 4 ways demand characteristics could effect a participant?

Answer 9

-trying to please the researcher
-screw you effect
-unnatural behaviour due to nervousness / fear of evaluation
-unnatural behaviour due to social desirability bias

Question 10

what is the ‘screw you effect’?

Answer 10

when demand characteristics allow a participant to guess the study aim, so they deliberately try to annoy the researcher and give wrong answers

Question 11

how do you reduce demand characteristics?

Answer 11

single-blind procedure; participant doesn’t know what study group they’re in

Question 12

what are investigator effects?

Answer 12

ways in which the investigator unconsciously influences the results of research through either
-physical characteristics (ethnicity, attractiveness)
-personal characteristics (accent, tone of voice)
-unconscious bias of the investigator

Question 13

how do you reduce investigator effects?

Answer 13

double-blind trial
neither the participant nor the researcher know who is in what group

Question 14

what are lab experiments?

Answer 14

performed in a controlled environment, using standardised procedures, with participants randomly allocated to groups

Question 15

what are the advantages of lab experiments?

Answer 15

-high degree of control (operalisation and standardisation)
-replication is easier
-cause and effect can be established
-isolation of variables

Question 16

what are the weaknesses of lab experiments?

Answer 16

-experimenter bias
-problems operationalising the IV and DV
-low ecological/external validity
-demand characteristics

Question 17

what are field experiments?

Answer 17

occur in ‘real world’ settings, participants often don’t know they’re in a study, IV is manipulated and any other variables are attempted to be controlled

Question 18

what are natural experiments?

Answer 18

the IV varies naturally

Question 19

what are quasi experiments?

Answer 19

the researcher can’t freely manipulate the IV or randomly allocate the pariticipants to different conditions

Question 20

what are the advantages of natural/field/quasi experiments?

Answer 20

-high ecological validity
-no demand characteristics

Question 21

what are the weaknesses of natural/field/quasi experiments?

Answer 21

-less control
-replication is impossible
-ethics (lack of informed consent)
-sample bias (not randomly allocated participants, so may not be comparable to each other)