Lesson 2 (threats to internal validity) Flashcards
Objective research
Free from bias and interpretation
Not affected by feeling or opinion
Based on fact
Results are reliable and valid
Internal validity
What goes on inside a study
Did the research measure what it set out to measure?
Research findings are valid if the research method used to gather data measures that its set out to measure.
Threats to internal validity
Confounding variables
Researcher bias
Participant and situational variables
Demand charactaristics
Social desirability bias
Mundane realism
Whats a confounding variable
A variable that is not the IV, that may cause changed to the DV.
Therefore, results are confounding (meaningless)
Whats an extraneous variable
A variable that is not being investigated that can effect the outcome of the research
If left uncontrolled, can become a confounding variable can can lead to inaccurate conclusions about the relationship between the IV and the DV
What is researcher bias
Happens when the researched inteltionally or unintentionally influences the results due to their own expected outcome
What is a participant variable
When a participants individual traits effects the way they respond to an experiment
eg. age, gender, socioeconomic status, caffiene intake
Whats a situational variable
Facors in the environment that unconciouslly effect the results of the study.
eg. noise, temperature, lighting
What are demand characteristics
Occur when participants attempt to make sense of the research and act accordingly to support the aim or the research
Whats Mundane Realism.
The degree to which the research is similar to to events that occuur in the real world. If the research procedure is more reflective of the real world, the study has better ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY.
3 ways to increase internal validity
Control extraneous variables
operationalise variables
standardised procedures
Operationalising
The researcher clearly defines how the IV will be manipulated and how the DV will be measured before conducting the research.
Standardised procedures
A set of procedures that are the same for all participants to tell them how to perform the task
