Research Methods DP #1 Flashcards
What is a variable?
Something that can change over time, a characteristic
Define Psychology
The scientific study of mental processes and behaviours
What are the five different types of variables?
Independent Variable, Dependent Variable, Extraneous Variable, Controlled Variable and Confounding Variable
Which variable influences the other?
The IV influences the DV
What is the Independent Variable?
The variable that is manipulated by the experimenter
What is the Dependent Variable?
The variable that is changed or manipulated.
What is an Extraneous Variable?
Any variable other than the IV that can influence the DV
What are the three types of Extraneous Variables?
Participant, Situational and Experimenter variables
What is a Confounding Variable?
Any variable other than the IV that has a systematic effect on the DV.
What are the three types of experimental design?
Repeated Measures, Independent Groups, Matched Participants
What occurs in the repeated measures design?
Participants are randomly allocated to E and C groups and then they swap
Name one strength and one weakness of repeated measures.
One strength: Requires a smaller sample as participants do both conditions
One weakness: Time consuming
What is an Order Effect?
When a participant either does better on a later trial due to practice or worse due to fatigue/boredom
Name one way Order Effect can be overcome
By counterbalancing which is when half of the participants to the E condition first and the other half the C condition and then they swap
What occurs in the Matched Participants design?
A pre-test is conducted on participants who are then paired up according to ability relevant to the research. Then the two participants are randomly allocated to the E and C groups
Name one strength and one weakness of Matched Participants.
One strength: More participants used, increasing external validity
One weakness: Not good for small samples
What occurs in the Independent Groups design?
Participants are randomly allocated to the E and C groups.
What is a placebo?
A fake treatment with no actual benefit
What is the placebo effect?
The placebo effect is when a participants improvement in wellbeing is due to a belief that they are receiving some experimental treatment
How can the placebo effect be minimised?
By using a single-blind procedure
What is the single blind procedure?
Where the participant is unaware of which group they have been allocated to in order to control the placebo effect
What is the experimenter effect?
It refers to an experimenter’s expectations having a systematic effect of the performance of participants.
How can the experimenter effect be minimised?
By using the double-blind procedure
What is the double blind procedure?
The double blind procedure is when neither the participant or experimenter is aware of which group is the E or C group?
