Experimental Method Flashcards
(28 cards)
What is a non-directional hypothesis?
A hypothesis that does not state the direction the results will go in
What is a directional hypothesis?
A hypothesis that states the direction that the results will go in
What is a null hypothesis?
A hypothesis that states there will be no difference between the participants
The operationalised directional hypothesis?
participants who [do something IV] will be [faster, score higher etc.] at [something DV] than participants who [ do something else IV]
The operationalised non-directional/null hypothesis?
there will be (no) significant difference between participants who [ do something IV] and those who [do something else IV] when asked to complete [the task DV]
What is an independent variable?
A variable that you manipulate
What is a dependent variable?
The variable that you measure
What is the control condition?
A condition where there is no manipulation of the IV
What are pilot studies?
Small-scale trial runs of the actual investigation
What are extraneous variables?
Variables that if not kept the same for every participants, may affect the results
What are the 2 types of extraneous variables?
participant variables - gender, age
situational variables - heat, time of day
What are confounding variables?
If extraneous variables are not controlled then they become confounding variables - if they are not controlled throughout the experiment then they will have an effect on the results.
What are demand characteristics?
Any features of a procedure that influences a participant to try to guess what the study is about
How can demand characteristics be controlled?
Deceiving participants
Single blind study - the participants don’t know hat condition they are in.
What is the investigator effect?
A term used to describe subtle cues or signals from an experimenter that effect the performance of participants in studies
How can the investigator effect be controlled?
Double blind study - where neither the participant nor the researcher knows which condition they are in
Randomization - using chance wherever possible
What is the independent group design?
Participants are placed in separate groups, and each group experiences one level of the IV
What is the repeated measure design?
All participants receive all levels of the IV
What is a matched pairs design?
Match participants with similar characteristics and then split them into two groups, which both experience one level of the IV
What are the limitations of the repeated measures design?
The order effect - participants may do better or worse because of the boredom effect or practice effect
Demand characteristics - they may guess the experiment and skew the results
What are the limitations of the independent groups design?
The researcher cannot control the participant variables- can be evened out by random allocation
Needs more participant than the repeated measures design
What are the limitations of the matched pairs design?
Time consuming to match up pairs and Requires a large group to make sure pairs can be made
Cannot control/match all of the participant variables.
How to avoid the order effect?
Leaving a gap
Two equally hard tasks
Using a different design
Counterbalancing
What is counterbalancing?
ABBA (AB, BA) get some participants to do AB and some to do BA therefore any difference is not due to the order.
