LECTURE 4

Question 1

The dimension that the researcher intentionally
manipulates
➔ It is “independent” in a sense that its values are created by
the experimenter and are not affected by anything else that
happens in the experiment
➔ List of potential IVs are endless (e.g., physical environment,
aspects of a given task, psychological states, intervention)

Answer 1

Independent variable

Question 2

▪️ Refers to the situation wherein an extraneous variable changes systematically across different conditions of an experimen

▪️ It sabotages an experiment since we might not be able to
tell whether the changes in DV is caused by our IV or by the
confounding

▪️ One of the most important activities in research

Answer 2

Confounding

Question 3

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY
▪️ ____ - test results should not highly
correlate with scores on tests measuring other constructs

Answer 3

Discriminant validity

Question 4

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY
▪️ ___ - test results should highly correlate
with scores on tests measuring the same or similar construct

Answer 4

Convergent validity

Question 5

▪️ It deals with the transition from theory to research application

Answer 5

Construct validity

Question 6

CRITERION VALIDITY
___ reflects whether scores on a
measuring device correlate with scores obtained from
another method of measuring the same concept

Answer 6

Concurrent validity

Question 7

CRITERION VALIDITY
▪️ ____ - refers to the ability of the instrument to predict future behavior or performance based on the score obtained from it

Answer 7

Predictive validity

Question 8

▪️ Represents how the content of our measure fairly reflect the
content of the quality we are measuring

▪️ Consensus on the content validity can be obtained through
various experts who will rate each item of the instrument

▪️ might be reduced if the language of the instrument is difficult to understand for people who will take it.

Answer 8

Content validity

Question 9

▪️ A measured operational definition has ___ if it
appears to measure what it intends to measure

▪️ is considered the least stringent type of validity

Answer 9

Face validity

Question 10

▪️___ in experiments refers to the principle of actually studying the variables that we intend to study
▪️ An operational definition can be reliable, yet invalid

▪️ ____ - providing evidence of validity of an experimental procedure

Answer 10

Validity
Manipulation check

Question 11

▪️ The extent to which different parts of a questionnaire, test, or other instruments attain consistent results; measures the internal consistency

▪️ It is most often used if the multiple-item instrument
measures a single construct variable.

Answer 11

Interitem reliability

Question 12

▪️ Refers to the reliability obtained through comparison of scores of people who have been measured twice with the same instrument given that there is a reasonable interval

▪️ Reliable measures should produce very similar scores each
time the person is measured

Answer 12

Test-retest reliability

Question 13

▪️ If there is little agreement, it is more likely that the
measuring procedure is not reliable

Answer 13

Interrater reliability

Question 14

▪️ Refers to the agreement between measurements of the same responses from different observers

▪️ Typically, this method is used in content analysis

Answer 14

Interrater reliability

Question 15

▪️ An experimental operational definition is considered reliable if each time we create the conditions, we get similar consequences.

Answer 15

Reliability

Question 16

defines a variable in terms of
observable operations, procedures, and measurements in the context of an experiment

Answer 16

Operational definition

Question 17

▪️ Occurs when a selection threat combines with another threat

▪️ If subjects were not randomly assigned to treatment conditions, any one of other threats may have affected some experimental groups but not others.

Answer 17

Selection interaction

Question 18

▪️ Refers to the occurrence of subjects dropping out of the experiment

▪️ It should be always considered whenever
the attrition rate of a particular treatment is high compared to others - something about the treatment could be making them

Answer 18

Subject mortality

Question 19

▪️ Occurs whenever the researcher does not assign subjects randomly to the different conditions of an experiment

▪️ Random assignment is done to prevent systematic differences between subjects of one treatment condition to the subjects of another treatment.
▪️ Example: Subjects in the “Tutoring Group” are not randomly assigned;
instead, they are selected by their experimenter based on their perceived
need for tutoring.

Answer 19

Selection

Question 20

Example:
▪️ Subjects who had the highest performance in the math exam obtained lower scores after the pretest.

▪️ Students who had extremely low motivation scores presented a slight increase in motivation after the pretest.

Answer 20

Statistical regression

Question 21

▪️ Also known as the regression toward the mean

▪️ Statistically, extreme scores tend to have less test-retest reliability than do moderate scores

▪️ Scores at both low and high extremes typically get closer to
the mean even without treatment at all.

Answer 21

Statistical regression

Question 22

▪️ Occurs when some features of the measuring instrument itself changes during the experiment

Example:
▪️ Photocopy of questionnaires were clearer in posttest than the pre-test.
▪️ Weighing scale malfunctioned due to repeated use.

Answer 22

Instrumentation

Question 23

▪️ Refers to the effects on the DV produced by a previous administration of the same test or other measuring
instrument

▪️ Example: Subjects performed better on the post- training memory test not because the spelling mnemonics technique (IV) employed, but simply because they became more familiar with the test (format, or the specific items).

Answer 23

Testing

Question 24

▪️ Refers to any internal (physical or psychological) changes in
subjects that might have affected the scores on the DV

▪️ Experimental studies with the within-subjects design are prone to this classic threat (e.g., boredom and fatigue)

▪️ Studies that take months or even years to finish are also
prone to maturation (e.g., learning)

Answer 24

Maturation

Question 25

▪️ Refers to the history of the experiment, it involves outside events that happened before the experimentation which could have caused the experimental effects.

▪️ Example: Subjects were sleep deprived before experimentation due to their scheduled midterm examination the next day.

Answer 25

History

Question 26

▪️ Proposed by the psychologist ____, these are the eight kinds of extraneous variables that can threaten the internal validity of an experiment

Answer 26

Donald Campbell

Question 27

▪️ All quasi-experimental studies contain one or more classic
threats, and it is the reason why they are not considered as _____ - they are potentially confounded

Answer 27

True experiments