PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Operational Definition, Dependent And Independent Variables, Naturalistic Observation

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

Operational definition- an operational definition of a concept describes the concept by how it is demonstrated in an observable or measurable way. In other words, an operational definition describes the operation that makes the concept. Example- in a recall experiment, you are given a list of words to read. The list is taken away and then you are asked to write down as many words as you can from the list. Memory is operationally defined as how many items you recall. Independent variable- the variable the experimenter manipulates is referred to as the independent variable because it is independent of all other outside variables that might influence the outcome of the experiment. How questions look for a connection rather than why questions which look into the function of a known connection: research design begins with operational definitions and then incorporates the questions you ask and the hypotheses you formulate.