Scientific Processes

• Creating psychological research: Research question, Aim, Hypothesis
• Research question- a question that the research endeavours to answer
• Aim- general statement of what the researcher intends to investigate
• Hypothesis- a clear, testable prediction that states the relationship between the variables being investigated
• Directional hypothesis- identifies a difference between the levels of hypothesis, usually based of prior research
• DH example:

  Participants who 'insert condition 1' will 'insert DV' 'adjective' than participants who 'insert condition 2'
• Non-directional hypothesis- states a difference between the levels of the independent variable, but doesn't specify a difference
• NDH example:

  There will be a difference in 'insert DV' between participants who 'insert condition 1' and participants who ' insert condition 2'
• Null hypothesis- states that there is no relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable
• Extraneous variable- not controlled by the researcher, doesn't vary systematically with the independent variable but might have an effect on the dependent variable
• Confounding variable- not controlled by researcher, varies systematically with the independent variable, can cause changes in the dependent variable
• Participant variable- variables about participants which need to be controlled or they'll confound the results
• Variables must be controlled to ensure the validity and reliability of the methods, results and conclusions of the study.