Psychology: Experiments

Psychology: Experiments

1. Controlling other variables

   • Situational variables
     • Aspects of the environment which may effect behavior . e.g. variation of light, time of day or background noise.
   • Participant variables
     • How each participant differs from others and how it could effect the results. e.g. tired, dyslexic and poor eye sight could all effect their performance.
   • Standardised procedure
     • Each participant is treated in exactly he same way, each doing the same tasks, with the same materials in the same order.
   • Standardised instructions
     • Each participant is given the same set of instructions, all exactly the same, in the same way by the same person.

2. Types of experiment

   • Quasi/natural experiment
     • In a quasi experiment the independent variable occurs from a real life setting. This means the researcher can't create a difference for the purpose of the experiment.
   • Field experiment
     • In a field experiment the experiment takes place in a real life setting so there are less control variables.
   • Laboratory experiment
     • In a lab there are high levels of variables. The standardisation may create demand characteristics. There are features causing participants to act unnaturally.

3. Variables

   • Independent variable
     • Independent variables are the factors of an experiment which we manipulate/change.
   • Dependent variable
     • The dependent variable is what we measure in an experiment. It depends upon the independtdent variable and so enables the researcher to decide whether their manipulation did in fact have and effect.