experiments

Question 1

What is an independant group

Answer 1

There are 2 groups in 2 different conditions

Question 2

What are the advantages of an experimental design

Answer 2

• Fewer demand characteristics - participants may only know their condition
• No order effects - only take part in one condition, so don’t get bored

Question 3

What are the disadvantages of an experimental design

Answer 3

• More participants needed
• Individual differences as the people taking part in each condition are different - one group might simply be better at that task

Question 4

What is a matched pair

Answer 4

Two separate groups, but this time they are matched into pairs for certain qualities such as age or intelligence. One of each pair takes part part in condition a and the other takes part in condition b

Question 5

What are the advantages of matched pairs

Answer 5

• No order effects
• Control for individual differences can be more sure in IV caused differences in DV rather than big differences between the two groups
  yeahhh I’m not going to lie to you i don’t think that makes sense, but u two are smart I’m sure u can figure it out :D

Question 6

What is the nature and use of field experiment

Answer 6

Take place in a natural environment; outside the lab

Question 7

Give an example of a field experiment you have studied

Answer 7

Bickman

Question 8

What are some advantages of a field experiment

Answer 8

• Less artificial than a lab; represents reality
• Can be completed in natural environments; avoids participant affects

Question 9

What are some weaknesses of a field experiment

Answer 9

• Extraneous variables less easy to control, therefore less able to show cause and effect
• Ethical issues - participants unlikely to know they are being studied

Question 10

What is the nature and use of a laboratory experiment

Answer 10

• Controlled artificial environment
• Independent variable is manipulated

Question 11

What are some advantages of laboratory experiment

Answer 11

• Controlled environment - minises problems with extraneous variables
• Can be easily repeated; high in reliability

Question 12

What are some weaknesses of laboratory experiments

Answer 12

• Artificial environment (low mundane realism)
• Participants may behave differently than normal or to be affected by the environment
• It therefore may lack generalizability

Question 13

What is the nature and use of natural experiments

Answer 13

Independent variable not manipulated taking advantage of naturally occurring event

Question 14

Give some advantages of natural experiments

Answer 14

• High in ecological validity (represents real-life experiences and provides the opportunity for research)
• Enables psychologists to study ‘real problems’
• Few ethical issues
• Objective research method

Question 15

Give some disadvantages of natural experiments

Answer 15

• A naturally occurring event may happen very rarely which limits the opportunity to investigate
• Many extraneous variables
• Participants are not randomly allocated to biased conditions

Question 16

Give the nature and use of quasi experiments

Answer 16

The IV is a naturally exisiting charactertstic between people and has not been changed by anyone/anything - quasi means something is not quite real; and so are not considered real experiments

Question 17

Give some advantages of quasi experiments

Answer 17

• Carried out under lab conditions so therefore high in controls
• Enables psychologists to study ‘real problems’

Question 18

Give some weaknesses of quasi-experiments

Answer 18

• Participants cannot be randomly allocated to conditions therefore there may be confounding variables
• We therefore cannot say cause and effect