Research Types Flashcards
What is experimental design?
The process of deciding how to implement scientific research.
Process to implement scientific research
- Begin with broad questions
- Narrow down, focus in
- Operationalize
- Observe
- Analyze data
- Reach conclusions
- Generalize back to questions
What is a true experiment?
- attempts to isolate cause and effect, and to eliminate alternative explanations of observed relationships between variables.
- an independent variable is manipulated and all other salient
variables are controlled, including the random allocation of participants to
conditions. - measures any change in the dependent variable.
What is an independent variable?
Variable whose effect has to be
measured in an experiment.
What is a dependent variable?
Whose changes depend on the
manipulation of the independent variable.
What is a confounding variable?
a type of extraneous variable that not only affects the dependent variable, but is also related to the independent
variable.
What are extraneous variables?
any variable that you’re not investigating that can potentially affect the dependent variable of your research study.
What is a quasi-experiment?
Experiments where participants are not randomly allocated by the experimenter into conditions (creating non-equivalent groups)
of the manipulated independent variable or where the researcher does not control the independent variable.
What are natural experiments?
the study of a naturally occurring situation as it unfolds in the
real world.
Types of experimental designs
- Independent sample design
- Repeated measure design
- Matched pair design
- Single participant design / small n design
What is the independent samples design?
two experimental group is generated. One group performs main ‘experiment’ while the other one is assigned ‘control’ experiment.
What is the placebo group?
This is similar to control grouping that they
experience exactly the same condition as experimental group except for the level of independent variable that is thought to
affect the dependent variable.
What are participant variable/ non-equivalent groups?
refers to condition when difference in results between experiment and control group can be attributed
to different ability of participants in two groups.
How do you overcome participant variability?
- Random allocation of participants to conditions.
- Pre-test participants (baseline)
What is repeated measures design?
- In this kind of design all participants are supposed to perform both ‘main’ and ‘control’ experiments.
- Also known as within- subject design: as this type of design measures differences within each participant.
- If the participants are same for both the conditions, and all other variables are controlled, any differences within participants should be the effect of the manipulated independent variable.