Chapter 9 - Conducting Studies

Question 1

Three issues with self-report measures, three with physiological measures, and two with behavioural measures

Answer 1

Self-report methods rely on the honesty and self-awareness of the participant and are used especially to measure behaviours or traits that cannot easily be directly observed by others.
- Self-report bias
- Self- recognition
- Social desirability

Issues with Physiological Measures
- Invasiveness
- Feasibility
- Cost

Issues with Behavioural Measures
- Ecological validity
- External validity

Question 2

Multiple Measures

Answer 2

Using multiple measures allows researchers to overcome shortcomings of any one method or measure.
(Self report + physiological + behavioural)
In addition, multiple measures demonstrate convergence, increasing our confidence in interpreting the results.

Question 3

Describe straightforward and staged manipulations with reference to mundane and experimental realism

Answer 3

Straightforward Manipulation: operationalizations that involve manipulating the independent variable using instructions or other stimulus materials in a simple and obvious way.

Whenever the tasks involved in a study mimic experiences and conditions present in everyday life, the study is said to have high mundane realism. High mundane realism increases ecological validity!

Staged Manipulations: operationalizations of an independent variable that involve creating a complex situation. Participants then experience the situation and their responses are recorded. Deception is often used to conceal the fact that the situation is a ruse.

Staged manipulations are used to involve the participants in an ongoing social situation, which the individuals perceive not as an experiment but as a real experience. When a study engages and involves participants in this deep way, the study is said to have experimental realism.

Question 4

Define manipulation strength and apply the concept of a manipulation check to a variable

Answer 4

Manipulation Strength: the degree to which levels of an independent variable differ from each other.
- In a weak manipulation, conditions are subtly different.
- In a strong manipulation, conditions are maximally different.

Manipulation Check: any means by which an experimenter evaluates the efficacy of an experimental variable, that is, verifies that a manipulation affected the participants as intended.
- Eg measure a variable

Question 5

Define sensitivity and articulate its relationship to floor and ceiling effects

Answer 5

Sensitivity: the capacity to detect and discriminate.

Ceiling effect is a situation in which the majority of values obtained for a variable approach the upper limit of the scale used in its measurement. (negative skew)
- If everyone does well then there isn’t much variability in the scores and so the measure lacks sensitivity to detect differences.

The opposite problem occurs when a task is so difficult that hardly anyone can perform well: This is called a floor effect. (positive skew)

Ideally, we want the scores for our measures to be not too high or too low and to have lots of variability (i.e., a good spread of scores), exhibiting the sensitivity to detect differences.

Question 6

List three potential challenges to experimental control and offer one solution for each

Answer 6

1. Demand Characteristics
   –> filler items
2. Placebo effect
   –> blind research
3. Experimenter bias + experimenter effect
   –> double/ triple blind procedure