Lecture 5 Kaity Flashcards
What are the basic things you need to consider in an experiment?
-experimental vs control condition
-operational definition
-Independent vs. dependent variables
-single vs double blind experiment
- experimenter bias
what does longitudinal research use?
uses longitudinal research across time to test a causal chain
What is an issue with longitudinal research?
Because it uses correlations, it is still susceptible to confounds
how do we get around confounds?
we can manipulate the variable we’re interested in.
What are confounds?
3rd variables
what are 2 confounding variables for Violence and Video games?
Child’s temperament and lack of parental supervision
how many confounding variables can exist in correlational research?
potentially an infinite number of 3rd variables that could influence a relationship
In an experiment testing video games and violence, If the measure of violent behaviour is similar between 50 participants who play a violent video game and 50 participants play a non-violent video game what kind of effect is this?
A null effect
How do we use variables in experimentation?
we manipulate one variable and observe its effects on another variable.
What is the independent variable?
The variable you manipulate to see its effects on the outcome variable
What is the dependent variable?
The outcome variable- the variable that is measured or is of interest in the study (ex: violent behaviour)
What is the experimental group?
The group that recieves the intervention
What is the control group?
The group that does not receive the intervention
what process should you use to divide your sample into conditions?
Randomization
Why do we randomly assign participants to conditions?
That way every participant has an equal opportunity to be assigned to the control or experimental condition
In an experiment, what do you need to do after randomization and why?
You need to go through and make sure the randomization worked because it is still statistically possible to get similar people in each group.
What are the three steps to doing randomization effectively?
Start with a survey, do random assignment, check to see it worked
What is it called when you define your dependent variable? Why is it important?
It is called your operational definition. It is important because it dictates how you measure it and what conclusions you can draw from it. We must be CONSISTENT with our definition.
What is a quasi-experimental design?
When we perform an experiment on 2 naturally occurring groups. (Think back to shaved head vs luscious hair Simon likability experiment)
what is the problem with Quasi-experimental design?
they are useful but limit claims we can make about causality?
What is an example of a quasi-experimental design?
Giving students in totem warm milk after dinner and giving students at orchard coffee and seeing who sleeps better.
What does blind mean in science?
unaware
What is a single blind experiment?
when participants are unaware of the hypothesis or condition
What is the problem with single blind experiments?
Experimenters interpretation of behaviour could be influenced by experimenter beliefs