Introduction to Experimental Research Flashcards

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1
Q

Independent variable

A

the variable being controlled/ manipulated by the researcher

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2
Q

Extraneous variables

A

variables that are not of interest to the researcher so they must be held constant as to not influence results

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3
Q

Dependent variable

A

behaviours being measured

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4
Q

All manipulated independent variables must have a minimum of ___ levels

A

two

Ex; two dosage levels of caffeine in order to make a comparison between the effects of caffeine and reaction time

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5
Q

Independent variables that are manipulated in a study tend to fall into three somewhat overlapping categories:

A
  1. Situational
  2. Task
  3. Instructional
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6
Q

Situational variables

A

Features in the environment that participants might encounter

Ex; in a helping behaviour study, the researcher interested in studying the effect of the number of bystanders on the chances of help being offered might create a situation in which subjects encounter a person in need of help

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7
Q

Task variables

A

Problems to solve

Ex; research on the psychology of reasoning often involves giving people different kinds of logic problems

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8
Q

Instructional variables

A

Manipulated by telling different groups to perform a particular task in different ways

Ex; students in a memory task who are all shown the same list of words might be given different instructions about how to memorize the list

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9
Q

Confound

A

Any uncontrolled extraneous variable that co-varies with the independent variable

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10
Q

Two major problems that can occur with poorly chosen dependent variables:

A
  1. Ceiling effect

2. Floor effect

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11
Q

Ceiling effect

A

When the average scores for the groups in the study are so high that no difference can be determined between conditions

This can happen when your dependent measure is so easy that everyone gets a high score

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12
Q

Floor effect

A

Happens when all the scores are extremely low

This usually happens because the task is too difficult for everyone

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13
Q

Subject variables

A

Already existing characteristics of the individuals participating in the study (age, gender, SES)

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14
Q

To judge whether change occurred one procedure is to evaluate people prior to the experience with a _______ then follow with a _____

A

pretest, posttest

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15
Q

Regression to the mean

A

Refers to the fact that if the first score from a subject is an extreme score, then the second or third score from the same person will be closer to whatever the mean is for the larger set of scores

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16
Q

Attrition

A

Participants don’t always complete the experiment they begin

17
Q

Why is attrition a problem?

A

If particular types of people are more likely to drop out than others, then the group finishing the study is made up of different types of people than the group that started

18
Q

The X is what Woodworth called the _________ ________

A

independent variable

19
Q

The independent variable is sometimes called the __________ variable

A

manipulated

20
Q

Statistical conclusion validity

A

the extent to which the researcher uses statistics properly to draw an appropriate conclusion

21
Q

If the dependent measures are not reliable, there will be a great deal of error validity. What type of error would occur?

A

Type II error

22
Q

Construct validity

A

Whether a test truly measures some construct and thus refers to the adequacy of operational definitions

23
Q

External validity

A

Degree to which research findings generalize beyond the laboratory (to other populations, to other environments, and to other times)

24
Q

Ecological validity

A

Subtype of external validity. Degree to which research findings can be generalized to real life settings

25
Q

Internal validity

A

Degree to which an experiment is methodologically sound and confound-free

26
Q

3 threats to internal validity

A
  1. History and maturation
  2. Regression to the mean
  3. Testing and instrumentation