Hypothesis

• Aims are intentions or research questions about what we intend to investigate.
• IV - What the researches change/manipulate.
• DV - How are you going to measure the impact of the IV.
• A hypothesis is a statement about what you believe to be true i.e. what you expect to find. State the relationship between the IV and the DV.
• A directional hypothesis specifies the expected direction to be followed to determine the relationship between variables. It is derived from theory.
• A non-directional hypothesis does not predict the exact direction or nature of the relationship between the two variables.
• Operationalisation means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.
• Extraneous variables are any variable, other than the IV, that could have an effect on the DV, if it is not controlled.
• Confounding variables are when EVs become important enough to cause a definite change in the DV they become confounding.
• Demand characteristics - If participants work out what is going on because they have interpreted certain cues in the experiment, as a result the participants many change their behaviour, either to act in a way they think is to be expected, or they may underperform to sabotage the results.
• Investigator effects - any unwanted influence of the investigator on the research outcome. This can include expectancy effects and unconscious cues such as smiling during an interaction.
• Randomisation - use of chance methods to control for the effects of bias when designing material and deciding the order of experimental conditions.
• Standardisation - using exactly the same formalised procedures and instructions for all participants in a research study.