Ch.3 The Research Process Flashcards
What are the elements of good experiments?
- Reliability
- Validity (External or Internal)
- Ruling out confounds
- Handling nuisance variability
- Random selection and convenience sampling
- Random assignment
What consists of EXTERNAL validity?
Whether the results are able to be generalized to larger demographics
What consists of INTERNAL validity?
Whether the results of the experiments can be explained without any outside variables
How can you secure INTERNAL validity?
Limit the demographic of the sample
- EX. just examine women
- Test your sample with the same computer programs
How can you secure EXTERNAL validity?
Expand the demographic of the sample:
- EX. Include multiple ethnicities, genders, socioeconomic statuses
Randomize the selection from the whole population
What is one disadvantage of Maximizing EXTERNAL validity?
Can add nuisance variability (higher variability makes it harder to see the effects (reduces internal validity)
What are two ways to select research participants?
- Random selection
- Random assignment
What is one disadvantage of maximizing INTERNAL validity?
Reduces external validity
What is a Type I Error?
A false positive. The experimenter rejects the null hypothesis when it is true
What is a Type II Error?
When the experimenter fails to reject the null hypothesis when it is false
