variables

Question 1

what is the independent variable?

Answer 1

variable changed/manipulated by researcher

Question 2

what is the dependant variable?

Answer 2

variable measured by researcher

Question 3

what is the only thing that should influence the dependant variable?

Answer 3

the independant variable

Question 4

what is operationalisation?

Answer 4

clearly defining variables in terms of how they are measured

Question 5

what is an extraneous variable?

Answer 5

any other variables apart from independent variables that have an affect on dependant variable, if not controlled by experimenter

Question 6

what happens if you don’t control extraneous variables?

Answer 6

they become confounding variables meaning we cannot establish cause and effect

Question 7

what are the types of extraneous variables?

Answer 7

● participant variables

● situational variables

● investigator effects

Question 8

what are participant variables?

Answer 8

individual differences between participants that could affect dependant variable

Question 9

what are examples of participant variables?

Answer 9

● personality

● age

● gender

● motivation

● intelligence

● concentration

Question 10

what are situational variables?

Answer 10

features of experimental situation / environment that could affect dependant variable

Question 11

what are examples of situational variables?

Answer 11

● noise

● time of day

● weather

● temperature

Question 12

what are investigator effects?

Answer 12

any unwanted influence of investigator on research outcome

Question 13

what are examples of investigator effects?

Answer 13

if investigator is very helpful to one group and not helpful to the other (may do this to create particular results)

Question 14

what are demand characteristics?

Answer 14

● participants change their behaviour as a result of being in experimental situation

● might deliberately under preform / act in a way they think is expected and over preform

● behaviour is no longer natural and acts as an extraneous variable

Question 15

what are 3 examples of how to control extraneous variables?

Answer 15

● random allocation

● standardisation

● double blind procedure

Question 16

what is random allocation?

Answer 16

participants randomly allocated to each condition of the independent variable

Question 17

what does random allocation control for?

Answer 17

participant variables

Question 18

how do you overcome issues with experimental designs with random allocation?

Answer 18

● participants need to be randomly allocated to different experimental conditions

● attempts to evenly distribute participant variables across conditions of experiment

Question 19

what is standardisation?

Answer 19

using the exact same formalised procedures and instructions for all participants in a research study

Question 20

what does standardisation control for?

Answer 20

investigator effects, situational variables

Question 21

what is a double blind procedure?

Answer 21

neither participants nor researcher who conducts study is aware of aims of investigation

Question 22

what does a double blind procedure control for?

Answer 22

● demand characteristics

● investigator effects

Question 23

what are order effects?

Answer 23

● order of conditions affecting participants behaviour

● e.g. performance in second condition better due to participants knowing what to do
performance might be worse in second condition as they are tired

Question 24

what is counter balancing?

Answer 24

● half of the participants complete condition 1 first
and condition 2 second

●other half of participants complete condition 2 first and condition 1 second

● doesn’t get rid of order effects
but stops order from becoming confounding variable as effect is balanced out over two conditions