Key terms

Question 1

What is randomisation?

Answer 1

The use of chance in setting up an investigation. Can be used
when selecting participants, when assigning them to conditions in an experiment, to generate word/number lists, etc

Question 2

What is standardisation?

Answer 2

Ensuring that all procedures/materials/instructions used within an investigation are kept the same for all participants. This reduces any** investigator effects** or extraneous variables

Question 3

What is reliability?

Answer 3

The extent to which a task is replicable. Reliability specifically refers to consistency of measurements: the tests/observations in a study must be easily replicable so it can be repeated multiple times between different participants.

Question 4

What is inter-rater
reliability?

Answer 4

A measure of reliability where rating scores are compared between multiple people – e.g. if more than one person is
watching a behaviour, how consistent are their ratings or observed interpretations?

Question 5

What is test-retest
reliability?

Answer 5

A measure of reliability obtained by administering the same test twice over a period of time to a group of individuals. How** consistent** are the scores? If inconsistent, this may be an issue with the given task.

Question 6

What is validity?

Answer 6

The extent to which a study’s findings are accurate and if it is actually measuring what it claims to be measuring. Results may not be a true representation of human behaviour.

Question 7

What is internal validity?

Answer 7

The extent to which we are testing what we actually intended to within a study. Results may have been a result of demand characteristics, investigator effects or a confounding variable.

Question 8

What is demand
characteristics?

Answer 8

Any cue from the researcher or situation that participants may interpret as revealing the purpose of an investigation. This may lead to a participant changing their behaviour within the research situation, either to deliberately do what they think
they are being tested on, or deliberately not do it.

Question 9

What is investigator
effects?

Answer 9

Any impact of a researcher’s behaviour (including
unconsciously) on the** outcome of results.** They may expect a certain response from participants depending on what condition they are in and may act different towards them (e.g. being more encouraging/positive/talkative)

Question 10

What is extraneous
variables?

Answer 10

Any variable, other than the IV, which may impact the results (DV) if it is not controlled. Split into situational variables and participant variables.

Question 11

What is situational
variables?

Answer 11

Any features of the experimental situation that may affect the results of an experiment. Includes the temperature of a room, the time of day the experiment takes place at, how noisy it is, etc. These are usually fairly easy to control using standardisation.

Question 12

What are participant
variables?

Answer 12

Any individual differences between participants that may
affect the results of an experiment. Includes personality, age,
gender, intelligence, motivation, etc. some can be controlled
(e.g. gender, age, with an IQ test) but some are more
complicated (personality) to control and may become a
confounding variable

Question 13

What is confounding
variables?

Answer 13

Any extraneous variable that has not been controlled for and therefore has an impact on the results. Confounding variables vary systematically with the IV – in other words, it will have a different effect depending on what condition a participant is in.

Question 14

What is external
validity?

Answer 14

The extent to which a study’s findings can be generalised to other situations or contexts. This may be reduced if there is
sample bias in the study

Question 15

What is sample bias?

Answer 15

When certain groups are over- or under-represented in a
sample compared to their representation in a wider
population. For example, a study may only use participants of
one gender or one culture.

Question 16

What is ecological
validity?

Answer 16

The extent to which a study’s findings can be generalised to
real life. This is low in experiments where the stimuli lacks
mundane realism.

Question 17

What is mundane
realism?

Answer 17

Refers to whether the materials and procedures involved in an experiment are similar to events that occur in the real world. For example, recalling the faces of your people in your primary school class has more mundane realism than remembering a random list of words

Question 18

What is temporal
validity?

Answer 18

The extent to which a study’s findings stay true over time. Research may be historically biased; e.g. early social influence research was conducted in a time of much higher conformity

Question 19

What is face validity?

Answer 19

The extent to which a test appears to measure what it’s supposed to measure. Surface level; a matter of common sense. For example, we would expect a test on depression to include questions related to mood – a maths test would not be a valid measure of depression.

Question 20

What is criterion
validity?

Answer 20

Refers to how accurately a test measures the outcome it
was designed to measure. E.g. Early IQ tests had low criterion
validity; the F-scale may not actually be measuring
authoritarianism