PSYCH 1F03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Observer-Expectancy Effect, Energy Drink, Confounding
31 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
The sample must accurately re ect the population itself so that the results of the experiment can be generalized. There are many different techniques for choosing participants for the experiment, but ideally we will choose from a random sample. By choosing a sample at random from the entire population, we reduce the chance that our selections might be biased toward a speci c group. This goal is rarely possible to achieve, especially if out population includes all undergrads around the world. Although eric will likely have to limit his participant pool to undergraduate students at his university, he can be careful to avoid biasing his selections. If we have chosen our sample at random, a second important step is random assignment. Here, we assign our participants to either the experimental or control group randomly, again avoiding any biases that might cause the participants in our groups to systematically differ from each other.
