week 2 - research methods

Question 1

what makes up a experimental research?

Answer 1

1. manipulates one variable of experiement - independant variable
2. independant variable causes a change in response to another varibale (dependant variable)
3. holding all other variables constant
4. eliminate sources of bias / alternative explanations of results

Question 2

How do you keep other varaibbles in experimental research constant?

Answer 2

• experiemtnal group : group that is exposed to thevariable of the experiment
• control group: treated exactly same way as experimental group but not exposed to the experimental condition
• random group: equal chance of being exposed or NOT exposed to experimental condition

Question 3

what is experimenter bias? how can self-fulfilling prophecy explain experimenter bias?

Answer 3

experimeter bias: where the experimenter has expectancies which alter the way they treat their participants
self -fulfilling prophecy is when someone unknowingly causes a prediction to come true because he/she expects it to
- because the experimenter has self-fulfilling prophecy, he/she will alter the way they treat participants which wl cause the prediction to come true

Question 4

how do we control experimental bias?

Answer 4

double blind study : where both participant and experimenter is unaware of the study
single blind study : where the participant is unaware of the purpose of the study

Question 5

A experiment where the experimenter is given pills in which half are placebo and half are real that weigh the same, look the same and taste the same in which were given to participants who did not know what group there were in within the experiment is called what type of experiment?

Answer 5

double blind study - both the experimenter and participants do not know which drugs/groups are what.
this type of experiment avoids both participant and experimenter bias

Question 6

what is correlational research?

Answer 6

research method where experimenter looks for a relationship between two variables
- good for a study where experimenter cant manipulate
(perosnality, sex, age, gender preference)

Question 7

does correlation mean causatin?

Answer 7

No, correlation does not mean causation.

Question 8

what is positive, negative and no correlation?

Answer 8

postitive: when variable A increases, variable B increases
negative: when variable A increases, variable B decreases (the more hours studying, fewer errors students make in an exam)

no correlation: if one varaible is high, doesnt mean the other one is high or low, it is random and does not follow a pattern

Question 9

what is correlation coefficient?

Answer 9

numerical measurment on the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables being measured within an experiment

Question 10

What is the difference between realiability and validity>

Answer 10

reliability: is the experiment producing consistant results?
validiity: is it measuring what its supposed to measure?

Question 11

what are the different types of reliability?

Answer 11

1. test-retest reliability: does the test produce same results if participant repeats it 2 + times?
2. internal consistancy: different items that measure the same varaible should produce consistant results
3. inter-rater reliability: two testers who are rating the same participant on the same variable should rate the person similar/same