Validity

Question 1

Key term - Control

Answer 1

Refers to the extent to which any variable is held constant or regulated by a researcher.

Question 2

Key term - External validity

Answer 2

The degree to which a research finding can be generalized to other settings.

Question 3

Key term - Extraneous variables

Answer 3

Do not vary systematically with the IV and therefore do not act as an alternative IV but may have an effect of the DV. They are nuisance variables that muddy the waters and make it more difficult to detect a significant effect.

Question 4

Key term - Internal validity

Answer 4

The degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors such as confounding/extraneous variables.

Question 5

Key term - Mundane realism

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Key term - Validity

Answer 6

Refers to whether an observed effect is a genuine one.

Question 7

What is internal validity?

Answer 7

Internal validity refers to how controlled variables are within the setting of the experiment, to make it as certain as possible that it was IV that affected the DV.
This means confounding and extraneous variables should be as controlled for as possible to make sure they don’t affect the DV and therefore the validity of the experiment (this is more easily done in a laboratory).

Question 8

What is external validity?

Answer 8

Includes population validity (whether the sample is representative of the population as a whole and therefore whether generalisations can be made), ecological validity (if the place + way the experiment is conducted is similar enough to every day life to make generalisations).
Mundane realism = how similar the research environment + tasks are similar to the everyday world + life, the aim should be to make the research environment as realistic as possible to real life

Question 9

What are the threats to validity?

Answer 9

Demand characteristics = participants behave differently to how they normally would because they try to act how they think the researcher wants them to behave
Researcher bias = researcher encourages certain behaviours so that the participants behave in a way that supports the researcher’s hypothesis
Social desirability bias = participants give the socially acceptable answer/behave in a way that paints them in a good light