Key Words

• Dependent Variable - what is measured to see if it has been affected by the independent variable.
• Independent Variable - the factor that changes or manipulated by the experimenter.
• Confounding Variable - An extraneous variable that affects the results of an experiment, making them unreliable.
• Alternate Hypothesis - A clear cut statement that describes the statistical significance between variables that are operationalized.
• Self-report - Asking participants questions about their thoughts, feelings, attitudes etc.
• Closed Question - A question that has a preset list of answers (e.g. Yes/No questions)
• Confidentiality - The right to privacy and the right to keep information about oneself private.
• Confounding Variables - Influences that interfere with the validity of the main IV.
• Consent - Conscious and full informed permission from some with the capacity to accept.
• Correlation - The relationship between two or more variables.
• Covert Observation - An investigation that involves no awareness and therefore consent from the participant.
• Debrief - Informing participants of the purpose of the study and the procedures used.
• Deception - Purposefully withholding information from or misleading the participant for the nature of the study.
• Demand Characteristics - Characteristics that surface due to an artificial or pressuring environment.
• Ecological Validity - the extent to which the findings of the study can be generalized to the real world.
• Ethics - Standard of conduct that distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad, justice and injustice.
• Field Experiment - Experiments that focus on behavior being studied in it's natural environment.
• Independent Measures - Using different participants in each condition of the experiement.
• Interview - A conversation with a participant, where the researcher asks questions about the topic of the study.
• Laboratory Experiment - A controlled experiment conducted in a laboratory setting.
• Matched Pairs - A method of pairing participants with similar characteristics and testing on each of them separately (e.g. twins).
• Natural Experiment - Where the participant is questioned on an events mental effect after it has happened.
• Negative Correlation - When two variables are inversely related, as one increases, the other decreases.
• Null Hypothesis - A statement that acknowledges that the results obtained may be due to chance.
• Open Question - A question that is not answered by a yes or no and requires a developed response.
• Opportunity Sampling - Selecting anyone who is available from the target population.
• Overt Observation - Those being observed are aware of the experiment taking place.
• Participant Observation - 1st person observation, researcher is a participant in the study.
• Positive Correlation - When two variables are proportional to each other (they move in the same direction).