variables

• what is an independent variable (IV)

  the variable that is manipulated by an experimenter in order to test the effect of the DV
• what is an example of an IV

  gender- male vs female
• what is operationalisation

  making a variable specific and measurable
• how do you operationalise the IV

  specify the conditions of the IV
• what is the dependant variable (DV)


  a measurable outcome of the action of the IV in an experiment
• how would you operationalise the DV

  use units, usually out of something and usually starts with 'the number of...'
• what is an extraneous variable

  a variable other than the IV that MAY affect the DV and this should be controlled
• what is a confounding variable

  a variable other than the IV that HAS affected the DV and has confounded the findings of the study- usually it is more difficult to control these variables
• what are the five types of extraneous/confounding variables

  participant

  situational

  experimenter/investigator

  demand characteristics

  social desirability bias
• what is a participant variable

  characteristics of Ps that can affect the experiment e.g age, gender, nationality
• how can you control for confounding variables

  matched pairs- Ps are matched through important characteristics

  repeated measures- cancels out performance as conditions are all the same for all Ps
• what is a situational variable

  factors in the environment which could affect the DV e.g temperature
• how can you control for a situational variable

  standardised procedure are used and this ensures all conditions are the same for all Ps
• what are experimenter/ investigator variables

  behavioural characteristics that the experimenter does which has an effect on the experiment and could affect the behaviour of Ps
• how can you control for experimenter/ investigator effects

  double-blind procedure and standardised procedure

  use a range of experimenter so there isn't one person causing the effect
• what are demand characteristics

  guessing the true aim of the study- cues from researcher can lead to Ps sabotaging or align behaviour with study
• how can you control for demand characteristics

  single or double-blind procedure- neither Ps nor researcher know the aim
• what is social desirability bias

  the tendency of Ps to answer in a certain way to present themselves in a better light
• how can you control for social desirability bias

  Ps should perform the experiment individually and anonymously