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All 21 Flashcards — Experimental methods
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Question
What is an experiment?
Answer
A method that manipulates an IV and measures its effect on a DV, controlling other variables.
Question
What is the independent variable (IV)?
Answer
The variable the researcher changes on purpose.
Question
What is the dependent variable (DV)?
Answer
The variable the researcher measures.
Question
What is a true experiment?
Answer
One that randomly allocates participants to conditions.
Question
What is a quasi-experiment?
Answer
One where the IV is a pre-existing feature (e.g. age), so no random allocation is possible.
Question
Why does random allocation matter?
Answer
It spreads individual differences evenly, so DV changes are more likely caused by the IV.
Question
Why can experiments show cause?
Answer
Control and random allocation isolate the IV as the likely cause of DV changes.
Question
One strength of experiments?
Answer
Best method for showing cause and effect, with high control and replicability.
Question
One limitation of experiments?
Answer
Control can make them artificial, and participants may show demand characteristics.
Question
Which concept do experiments link to?
Answer
Causality — they test whether the IV causes a change in the DV.
Question
What is a hypothesis?
Answer
A testable prediction about the effect of the IV on the DV.
Question
Control group vs experimental group?
Answer
The experimental group gets the treatment (IV); the control group does not and is the comparison.
Question
Extraneous vs confounding variable?
Answer
Extraneous = any other variable that could affect the DV; confounding = one that changes with the IV and ruins the cause-claim.
Question
Three experimental designs?
Answer
Repeated measures (same people), independent measures (different people, random allocation), matched pairs (pre-tested and paired).
Question
What are order effects and how are they reduced?
Answer
Practice or fatigue from doing conditions in a set order; reduced by counterbalancing.
Question
Field experiment?
Answer
The IV is manipulated in a real-life setting: more natural, less control.
Question
Natural experiment?
Answer
The IV changes naturally (e.g. a lockdown); no random allocation; useful when manipulation would be unethical.
Question
Longitudinal vs cross-sectional?
Answer
Longitudinal follows the same people over time; cross-sectional compares different groups at one moment.
Question
What does it mean to operationalise a variable?
Answer
To state exactly how it will be changed or measured, for example "memory" as "words recalled out of 20".
Question
Ecological validity or mundane realism?
Answer
Ecological validity: the setting is like real life. Mundane realism: the task is like everyday life.
Question
What is internal validity?
Answer
How sure we can be that the IV, and nothing else, caused the change in the DV.
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