Variables Flashcards
What are variables?
Any ‘thing’ that can vary of change within the investigation
What are extaneous variables?
Any variable other than the IV that may have an effect on the DV if it is not controlled
What are some examples of extraneous variables?
Situational and participant variables
What are situational variables?
Certain aspects of the situation or environment may affect participants behaviour in an experiment
What are participant variables?
These occur when individual characteristics of participants affect their behaviour in an experiment
What are confounding variables?
Any variable other than the IV, that may have affected the DV so we cannot be sure of the trye source of the changes to the DV
What are demand characteristics?
Any cue from the researcher of the research situation that may be interpreted by the participants as revealing the purpose of the investigation. This may lead to the participant changing their behaviour within the research situation
What are investigator effects
Unwanted influence of the researcher on the researcher outcome - they occur when the experimenter treats some participants differently to others
Whats investigator bias?
Where the expectations that the experimenter has about what might happen, affects how they interpret the results
What are the two ways of controlling for extraneous/confounding variables?
Randomisation and standardisation
What is randomisation?
This refers to the use of chance to reduce the researchers influence on the design of the investigations - it attempts to control for investigator effects
What is standardisation?
Where all participants are subject to the same environment, information and experience. This ensures non-standardised changes in the procedure do not act as extraneous variables
