Research issues

Question 1

What are extraneous variables?

Answer 1

• a variable that is not the IV but affects the DV
• these do not systematically vary with the IV
• examples are the lighting in a room or age of a participant

Question 2

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 2

• A variable that is not the IV and has an effect on the DV.
• However, these do systematically vary with the IV
• an example of this is the time of day a memory test is done.

Question 3

What are demand characteristics

Answer 3

• any cue the researcher or the research situation that may give that makes the participant guess the aim of a study

Question 4

What are the two types of effects that demand characteristics has?

Answer 4

• the Please - U effect where they try to please the experimenter
• the screw - <u effect where they may try to sabotage an experiment

Question 5

What are investigator effects?

Answer 5

where a researcher (consciously or unconsciously) acts in a way to support their prediction.

Question 6

What is one of the most major extraneous variables?

Answer 6

• participant reactivity

Question 7

What are investigator effects?

Answer 7

• any unwanted influence from an investigtators behaviour
• this can be unconscious or conscious

Question 8

What is randomisation?

Answer 8

• the use of chance to reduce the effects of bias from investigator effects
• For an example in a memory test, the participants should be given randomised words so the researcher doesnt decide the order of words

Question 9

What is standardisation?

Answer 9

• using the same exact formalised procedures and instructions for every single participant
• this limits extraneous variables and eliminates non standard conditions