week 5 Flashcards
factors under the experimenters control are known as _______, factors held consistent are _____, and behaviours/factors measured are ______
Independant, extraneous, dependant
all manipulated independant variables must have a minimum of ___ levels
two (comparison between two situations/conditions at least)
categories of manipulated independent variables
- situational: features in enviro ppl may encounter
- task: give ppl different problems to solve
- instructional: telling diff groups to perform task different ways
experimental vs control group
- experimental: treatment is present, manipulated
- control: treatment withheld, gives a comparison baseline
confound
- uncontrolled extraneous variable that can change outcome
extraneous varibales
- researchers try to control them
- any variable not being studied/of interest
- can influence behaviour if not controlled properly
t or f: when a study has a confound, the results are due to the effect of the confounding variable
false, due to confounding variable OR IV, no way of knowing which one
Ceiling and floor effects
- ceiling: average scores for groups are so high no difference can be determined between conditions (ex easy DV)
- floor: all scores low bc task is too difficult for everyone
t or f: anything can be any one of the three types of variables, depending on the framing of the research
true
subject variables
- already existing characteristics of the participant (ex. race, age, gender, class etc)
- similar to nonprobability studies
when the term IV is used broadly it refer to ____ but when used narrowly it refers to ____
subject and manipulated variables, only manipulated variables
t or f: when subject variables are present you can still make causation conclusions
false, When subject variables are present, all we can say is that the groups performed differently on the dependent measure.
extent to which researcher uses stats properly and draws appropriate conclusions
statistical conclusion validity
factors reducing statistical conclusion validity
- wrong stat test used
- reliability of measures used
construct validity in terms of experimental research
- adequacy of operational definitions of IV and DV
external validity
- how research findings can be generalized beyond the context of the experiment
research results should generalize to other _____, ____ and ______
populations, times, and environments
_____ ______ is research that is relevant for everyday cognitive activities of ppl trying to adapt to their environment
ecological validity
internal validity
how sound and confound free an experiment is
threats to internal validity for studies over time (pre and post tests)
- history and maturation
- regression to the mean
- testing and instrumentation (measurement instrument changes)
regression to the mean
- if you choose a random number, you may choose an outlier and the next number you choose to compare to may be closer to the mean
threats to internal validity (participant problems)
- subject selection effects (groups are NOT equivalent in all ways minus the DV, confound not accounted for)
- attrition (not all participants finish the study, some drop out/die)
problems with internal validity show problems with ___ and those with external validity shoe problems with _____
confounds, generalizability
