RM - Control of variables Flashcards
What are studies in psychology a trade-off between?
Control and realism.
Define confounding variable
A variable under study that is not the IV but which varies systematically with the IV. Changes in the DV may be due to the confounding variable rather than the IV, and therefore the outcome is meaningless. To ‘confound’ means to cause confusion.
Define control
Refers to the extent to which any variable is held constant or regulated by a researcher.
What is external validity?
The degree to which a research finding can be generalised: to other settings (ecological validity); to other groups of people (population validity); over time (historical validity).
What are extraneous variables?
Do not vary systematically with the IV and therefore do not act as an alternative IV but may have an effect on the DV. They are nuisance variables that muddy the waters and make it more difficult to detect a significant event.
What is internal validity?
The degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors such as confounding or extraneous variables.
What happens inside the study.
What is mundane realism?
Refers to how a study mirrors the real world. The research environment is realistic to the degree to which experiences encountered in the research environment will occur in the real world.
What is validity?
Refers to whether an observed effect is a genuine one.
What is validity separated into?
Internal and external validity.
What is internal validity about?
Control and realism.
What is external validity about?
Being able to generalise from research participants to other people and situations.
What 3 things does internal validity concern?
Whether the IV produced the change in the DV (or did something else affect the DV, such as a confounding variable?).
Whether the researcher tested what they intended to test.
Whether the study possessed (or lacked) mundane realism.
What is external validity affected by and why?
Internal validity as you can’t generalise the results of a study that was low in internal validity because the results have no real meaning for the behaviour in question.
What does external validity concern?
The place where the research was conducted (ecological validity). It may not be appropriate to generalise from the research setting to other settings, most importantly to everyday life.
The people who are studied (population validity). If a research study involved just students or all men or only Americans, etc. then it may not be appropriate to generalise the findings to all people.
The historical period (historical validity). If a study was conducted in the 1950’s it may not be appropriate to generalise the findings to people today because many other factors affect behaviour now.
What does testing in the scientific cycle involve?
- Writing a hypothesis.
- Designing a study to test the hypothesis.
- Collecting data.
- Analysing results.
- Questioning the validity of the results.
- Drawing conclusions.
