Week 1 - Introduction to research methods

Question 1

What problems are created by demand characteristics and experimenter effects?

Answer 1

Demand characteristics can lead to biased participant responses, and experimenter effect can result in innaccurate data interpretation.

Question 2

What do DEMAND CHARACTERISITCS and EXPERIMENTER EFFECT lead to?

Answer 2

• Demand Characteristics might arise as participants consciously or unconsciously change their behaviour to match the expected effects of caffeine on memory, potentially biasing the results.
• Experimenter Effect could occur if the experimenter’s tone, nonverbal cues, or other unintentional behaviours influence participants’ memory performance in a way that confirms the study’s hypothesis.

Question 3

How to minimise experimenter effect?

Answer 3

A double blind procedure; both the experimenter and participants are unaware of who receieved coffe, ensuring unbiased interaction and data collection.

Question 4

How to avoid demand characteristics?

Answer 4

the experimenter can decide not to disclose the true purpose of the study to participants