Identifying Scientific Variables

Question 1

Factor

Answer 1

differentiates between a set of groups being compared in an experiment, independent variables of an experiment

Question 2

Condition

Answer 2

How the group is treated in an experiment

Question 3

Levels

Answer 3

different values of the independent variable that are selected to create the treatment condition

Question 4

reliability

Answer 4

consistent measurements

Question 5

validity

Answer 5

accurate measurements

Question 6

situational variables

Answer 6

describes characteristic of a situation or environment

Question 7

response variables

Answer 7

responses or behavior of subjects/participants , type of variable measured after manipulating the situational variable

Question 8

participant variables

Answer 8

differences between individuals (e.g. gender, height, genetic composition)

Question 9

Mediating variables

Answer 9

help explain how and why a relationship exists between 2 other variabled

Question 10

Qualitative variable

Answer 10

non-numeric categories (e.g. behavior changes, drug use, health condition)

Question 11

Quantitative variables

Answer 11

described in numbers (e.g. age, salary , caloric intake)

Question 12

Discretev variable

Answer 12

measured in categories , whole number.

Question 13

Continuous variable

Answer 13

measured on a continuum, whoel unit or fraction (decimal places ), obtained by measuring.

Question 14

Nominal scale

Answer 14

qualitative differences in levels of a variable, used for categorization

Question 15

Ordinal scale

Answer 15

measurements that convey order or rank (e.g. “on a scale of 1-5 how satisfied are you”)

Question 16

Interval scale

Answer 16

measurements that convey order or rank but intervals between adjacent values are constant

Question 17

Ratio scale

Answer 17

measurements that convey order or rank but intervals between adjacent values are constant, with a zero

Question 18

Control variables

Answer 18

potential independent variables that are held constant during an experiment

Question 19

Cofounding variables

Answer 19

potential independent variables that are not held constant during the experiment

Question 20

validity of measurement

Answer 20

Demonstrate that the measurement procedure is measuring
what it claims to be measuring

Question 21

face validity

Answer 21

measurement appears to measure what you claim what you claim to measure: based on subjective judgement

Question 22

predictive validity

Answer 22

scores from a new measure accurately predict future behaviour

Question 23

concurrent validity

Answer 23

scored obtained using a new measure correlated with a previousli established measure of the same construct: usually a gold standard, strong correlation between new and old measurement.

Question 24

convergent validity

Answer 24

two measurements produce strongly related scored and converge on the same construct : no emphasis on timing or gold standard

Question 25

divergent validity

Answer 25

same method used to mesure two different constructs to discriminate between the constructs : measurement does not correlate with two constructs

Question 26

test-retest reliability

Answer 26

determine correlation between scores from measurements taken at two time points

Question 27

inter-rater reliability

Answer 27

Determine correlation between scores from two independent scorers