extraneous and confounding variables

Question 1

extraneous variables

Answer 1

other variables that are controlled so they don’t affect the dv- if these are controlled and standardised, validity will increase as we know the iv is affecting the dv.

Question 2

examples of extraneous variables (3)

Answer 2

• age
• gender
• intelligence

Question 3

how can we control extraneous variables? (5)

Answer 3

• good operationalisation
• randomised groups
• standardisation
• repeated measures
• matched pairs

Question 4

confounding variables

Answer 4

a variable that couldn’t be/ wasn’t controlled- this reduces validity as we may not be measuring what we set out to measure

Question 5

standardised procedure

Answer 5

ensuring the procedure is kept the same for all participants- right down to the tone of voice the instructions are spoken in