PS102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Central Tendency, Observer-Expectancy Effect, Hawthorne Effect
Document Summary
Variable: condition, event, or situation that is studied in an experiment. Independent variable: condition or event that is thought to be a factor in changing another condition or event. Dependent variable: condition or event that you expect to change as a result of variations in the independent variable. Operationalize: to develop a working definition of a variable that allows you to test it. Sample: a group or set of people or items drawn from a larger population. Random selection: identifying a sample in a way that everyone in the population of interest has an equal chance of being involved in the study: gets the manipulation variable. Experimental group: group that is exposed to the independent variable. Control group: group that hasn"t been or won"t be exposed to the independent: equivalent but doesn"t get the manipulation/treatment, eliminates extraneous/confounding variables, ex. environmental condition.
