Extraneous Variables

Question 1

What is an extraneous variable?

Answer 1

An extraneous variable is an extra/unwanted variable which threatens the accuracy of the DV and so confuses the effects of the IV.

Question 2

True or False- psychologists will try and control extraneous variables during their investigations?

Answer 2

True- psychologists try and eliminate or limit the effects of extraneous variables in order to be sure that the IV has influenced the DV.

Question 3

How may a variable go uncontrolled?

Answer 3

The psychologist may overlook the variable or it may be impossible to control in the first place.

Question 4

What happens if a variable goes uncontrolled?

Answer 4

If a variable goes uncontrolled it can have a statistically significant impact on the findings and it becomes a confounding variable.

Question 5

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 5

Confounding variables make it impossible for a psychologist to establish whether the IV or this uncontrolled variable has influenced the DV- if research is impacted by confounding variables the validity of the research will be instantly questioned.

Question 6

What is a participant variable?

Answer 6

Refers to the personal characteristics of the participants involved in the study which can influence the DV other than the IV.

Question 7

Give examples of participant variables.

Answer 7

Gender, Intelligence, Education, Personality of participants.

Question 8

True or False- Participant variables are most likely to appear in a repeated measures design.

Answer 8

False- Independent measures design.

Question 9

What are situational variables?

Answer 9

Refer to any environmental factor, other than the exposure to the IV, that can affect the participants performance.

Question 10

Give examples of situational variables.

Answer 10

Lighting, temperature, noise, layout of the room.

Question 11

What is participant reactivity?

Answer 11

Evaluation Apprehension= participant becomes worried that the researcher will find out about them and so their anxiety affects their performance and in turn the results of the study.
Social desirability= participants want to be seen in a positive and socially desirable light and so they change their behaviour.

Question 12

What is experimenter bias?

Answer 12

Experimenter bias is when the researcher has a set expectation for the outcome of the study and so this becomes a form of bias. E.g. they may begin to view participants behavior differently (emphasize certain behaviors and ignore others).

Question 13

What is experimenter effect?

Answer 13

Experimenter effect is when the researchers behavior or characteristics of the researchers (age, gender, status) affect the behavior of the participants. E.g. ofsted inspectors in school.

Question 14

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 14

Demand characteristics is where the participants attempt to guess the aim of the study and so behave in a way that they believe the researcher wants them to behave.

Question 15

Which experimental design is more likely to display demand characteristics?

Answer 15

Repeated Measures Design

Question 16

What are order effects?

Answer 16

Refer to the way in which the position of a question or task in a study affects the overall outcome.

Question 17

True or False- Order effects are more common in a repeated measures design?

Answer 17

True

Question 18

Name and describe two order effects?

Answer 18

-Practice effect= performance in second condition is better than first due to practicing the task in the first condition.
-Fatigue effect= performance on first condition is better than second due to fatigue or boredom.

Question 19

How would you control participant variables?

Answer 19

-Randomly allocate your participants to balance out any participant variables
-Use a repeated measures or matched pairs design
-Use a larger sample so that your sample is more representative and to balance out participant variables

Question 20

How would you control situational variables?

Answer 20

Standardise your procedures to be sure that every condition is as fair and identical as possible (expect for exposure to the IV).

Question 21

How would you control demand characteristics?

Answer 21

-Deceive participants on the nature of the study (ethics)
-Standardise instructions given to participants so that one person doesn’t have more info than another
-Where possible, use an independent measures or matched pairs design

Question 22

How would you control experimenter bias/effect?

Answer 22

-Use a blind procedure
-Use of peer review
-Standardise instructions given to participants

Question 23

How would you control order effects?

Answer 23

-Use an independent measures or matched pairs design
-Counterbalancing= where half of your sample completes conditions in one order whilst the other half completes the conditions in the reverse order.