Scientific Methods Key Terms

Question 1

Independent Variable

Answer 1

Features of a situation that change and can be manipulated in an experiment to have effects on a dependent variable

Question 2

Dependent Variable

Answer 2

Variables that change as a result of changes in an independent variable

Question 3

Confounding

Answer 3

Where two or more independent variables overlap so that it is impossible to know which has caused the effect

Question 4

External validity

Answer 4

Similarity between circumstances surrounding an experiment and those encountered in everyday life

Question 5

Internal Validity

Answer 5

Psychological impact of the manipulations in the experiment

Question 6

Subject Effect

Answer 6

Effects that are not spontaneous

Question 7

Discourse

Answer 7

Entire communicative event or episode located in a situational and socio-historical context

Question 8

Discourse Analysis

Answer 8

A set of methods used to analyse text in order to understand its meaning and significance

Question 9

Response set

Answer 9

The tendency for some respondents to agree unthinkingly with statements or choose midrange or extreme responses

Question 10

Statistics

Answer 10

Formalised numerical procedures performed on data to investigate the magnitude and significance of effects

Question 11

T Test

Answer 11

Procedure to test the statistical significance of an effect in which the mean for one condition is greater than that on another

Question 12

Statistical Significance

Answer 12

An effect is statistically significant if statistics reveal that it is unlikely to occur by change more often than 1 in 20 times