Lecture 5 Kaity

Question 1

What are the basic things you need to consider in an experiment?

Answer 1

-experimental vs control condition
-operational definition
-Independent vs. dependent variables
-single vs double blind experiment
- experimenter bias

Question 2

what does longitudinal research use?

Answer 2

uses longitudinal research across time to test a causal chain

Question 3

What is an issue with longitudinal research?

Answer 3

Because it uses correlations, it is still susceptible to confounds

Question 4

how do we get around confounds?

Answer 4

we can manipulate the variable we’re interested in.

Question 5

What are confounds?

Answer 5

3rd variables

Question 6

what are 2 confounding variables for Violence and Video games?

Answer 6

Child’s temperament and lack of parental supervision

Question 7

how many confounding variables can exist in correlational research?

Answer 7

potentially an infinite number of 3rd variables that could influence a relationship

Question 8

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?

Answer 8

A null effect

Question 9

How do we use variables in experimentation?

Answer 9

we manipulate one variable and observe its effects on another variable.

Question 10

What is the independent variable?

Answer 10

The variable you manipulate to see its effects on the outcome variable

Question 11

What is the dependent variable?

Answer 11

The outcome variable- the variable that is measured or is of interest in the study (ex: violent behaviour)

Question 12

What is the experimental group?

Answer 12

The group that recieves the intervention

Question 13

What is the control group?

Answer 13

The group that does not receive the intervention

Question 14

what process should you use to divide your sample into conditions?

Answer 14

Randomization

Question 15

Why do we randomly assign participants to conditions?

Answer 15

That way every participant has an equal opportunity to be assigned to the control or experimental condition

Question 16

In an experiment, what do you need to do after randomization and why?

Answer 16

You need to go through and make sure the randomization worked because it is still statistically possible to get similar people in each group.

Question 17

What are the three steps to doing randomization effectively?

Answer 17

Start with a survey, do random assignment, check to see it worked

Question 18

What is it called when you define your dependent variable? Why is it important?

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

What is a quasi-experimental design?

Answer 19

When we perform an experiment on 2 naturally occurring groups. (Think back to shaved head vs luscious hair Simon likability experiment)

Question 20

what is the problem with Quasi-experimental design?

Answer 20

they are useful but limit claims we can make about causality?

Question 21

What is an example of a quasi-experimental design?

Answer 21

Giving students in totem warm milk after dinner and giving students at orchard coffee and seeing who sleeps better.

Question 22

What does blind mean in science?

Answer 22

unaware

Question 23

What is a single blind experiment?

Answer 23

when participants are unaware of the hypothesis or condition

Question 24

What is the problem with single blind experiments?

Answer 24

Experimenters interpretation of behaviour could be influenced by experimenter beliefs

Question 25

what is a double blind experiment?

Answer 25

when both the researcher (experimenter) and participants are unaware of the condition/hypothesis of the study.

Question 26

What happened in the study of Rosenthal and Fode? (Fast mouse slow mouse)

Answer 26

both mice were actually genetically the same but data collected reflected experimenter’s expectations.

Question 27

What is a sample?

Answer 27

a subset of the population

Question 28

what is an example of a bias subset?

Answer 28

Most studies are done on undergraduate students (typically more liberal, more educated and less diverse)

Question 29

What are people looking for in a sample?

Answer 29

participants who are representative of the population

Question 30

What do random samples allow?

Answer 30

more confidence in generalizing the effects from the sample to the population as a whole

Question 31

What did Sir Francis Galton do?

Answer 31

-measured intelligence using reaction time (e.g how quickly someone could classify a sound)
-Did the first set of studies into intelligence (developed psychometrics, created correlation coefficient math)
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Question 32

What factor do we look at when thinking about vallidity?

Answer 32

does our instrument actually measure what we want it to measure?

Question 33

What factor do we look at when thinking about ecological validity?

Answer 33

Interested in behaviour as it occurs in its natural element

Question 34

What factor do we think about when considering reliability?

Answer 34

Does our test return consistent results (i.e Big 5 personality test vs Myers Briggs Personality test)

Question 35

What was the problem with the Tuskegee syphilis study?

Answer 35

did not tell the patients that they had syphilis and did not offer to cure them when cure was discovered despite offering ‘free medical care’. Syphilis spread throughout community.

Question 36

what year was the national research act?

Answer 36

1974

Question 37

What year was the Tuskegee study stopped?

Answer 37

1972

Question 38

What are the 6 rules of ethics concerned with experimentation?

Answer 38

• no harm should come to participants
  -respect for human dignity and safety
  -Participants must give informed consent
  -must be free to withdraw consent at any point without penalty
  -Data collection is confidential (where possible)
  -Participants should be fully debriefed after study

Question 39

What is informed consent?

Answer 39

participants give consent only after being informed on what the study is about and the associated risks

Question 40

Is deception sometimes necessary and allowed in experiments?

Answer 40

Yes but it must be well motivated

Question 41

How does the scientific community gain understanding of the phenomena around us

Answer 41

through empiricism

Question 42

what is the scientific method?

Answer 42

A set of procedures that use empirical data

Question 43

What do correlations tell us?

Answer 43

They tell us about the direction and strength of 2 variables

Question 44

Think: Can you explain the learning outcomes? (Read the back and see how well you can explain them)

Answer 44

What are the basic parts of an experiment?
- Experimental vs. Control condition
- Operational definition
- Independent vs. dependent variables
-Compare and contrast single- and double-blind experiments
-What is experimenter bias?

What role does randomization play in sampling and in experimental conditions Define and identify validity and reliability in research.