RM - More problems with experiments Flashcards
What are demand characteristics?
A cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of a study or helps participants work out what the researcher expects to find.
What is the investigator effect?
Anything that an investigator does that affects a participant’s performance in a study other than what was intended, directly (through interaction with the participant) or indirectly (through bias in the study design).
What happens in a single blind design?
The participant is not aware of the research aims and/or of which condition of the experiment they are receiving. This prevents the participant from seeking cues about the aims and reacting to them.
What happens in a double blind design?
Both the participant and the person conducting the experiment are ‘blind’ to the aims and/or hypotheses. Therefore the person conducting the investigation is less likely to produce cues about about what they expect.
What is experimental realism?
If the researcher makes an experimental task sufficiently engaging the participant pays attention to the task and not the fact that they are being observed.
What is a participant variable?
Any characteristics of individual participants. (An extraneous variable).
How do you deal with demand characteristics and investigator effects?
By using:
- A single blind design
- A double blind design
- Experimental realism
What are situational variables?
Those features of a research situation that may influence participants’ behaviour and thus act as EVs of confounding variables. An example of a situational variable is order effects. They are only confounding if they vary systematically with the IV.