Variables

• What is an independent variable?

  Something you manipulate in an experiment.
• What is a dependent variable?

  Something you measure in an experiment.
• What is cause and effect?

  Only IV and DV involved in the research (no other variables).
• What are the 2 IV conditions and what do they mean?

  • Control condition: Natural behaviour
  • Experimental condition: manipulated behaviour
• What is Operationalisation? 


  Making a variable specific and measurable.
• Examples of operationalisation:

  
• What are Extraneous variables?

  Other variables that could influence the DV (other than the chosen IV).
• What are the 4 types of extraneous variables?

  • Participant variables
  • Demand characteristics
  • Situational variables
  • Investigator effects
• What is Participant variables?

  Level of skill, ability, mood or concentration that may influence their performance on task. (e.g. personality, gender, age).
• What is Demand characteristics?

  Participants pick up on clues about the purpose of the study and change their behaviour. (e.g. answering questions differently).
• What is Situational variables?

  Environmental factors such as lighting + temperature which affect performance. (e.g. noise, time of day, weather).
• What is Investigator effects?

  Being nicer to one participants and not the other, or giving more information to one participant. (e.g. asking a leading question).
• What is confounding variables?

  Variables that have impacted the research and have been found AFTER it has happened.
• What are the 2 controlling demand characteristics?

  • Single blind design: Participants are unaware of which condition they're in (e.g. placebo drug).
  • Deception: Lying about the study and/or using trick questions.
• What are the 2 controlling investigator effects?

  • Double blind design: Both the participants AND experimenter doesn't know which condition is being used.
  • Inter-rater reliability: Independent raters rate same behaviour as researcher and they compare results.