PSY 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sampling Bias, Naturalistic Observation, Operational Definition
21 Apr 2020
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Dependent variable (dv) -- variable you measure. Change the temperature in a room iv (hot or cold) and measure performance on a task (writing test) dv. Operational definition: how researcher decide to measure our variables (e. g. aggression, depression) Measure: device to detect measurable events e. g. electromyography (emg) Population - entire group that is of interest to researchers. Sample - portion of any population selected for study. Random selection - randomly choose a sample from a population. Sampling bias - sample that does not represent your population. Two basic types of research methods: descriptive observe and describe behaviour, experimental cause and effect relationships between variables. Descriptive research: case studies - focus on a single person (pitfall - researcher bias, naturalistic observation - observe people behaving as they normally do (pitfall - Hawthrone effect: surveys - use of questionnaire of interview (pitfall - participant bias)
