PSYCH-225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Random Assignment, Dependent And Independent Variables, Psych
7 Jul 2020
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Experimental method: the method in which the researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable (the one thought to have a causal effect on people"s responses) The experimental method always involves direct intervention on the part of the researcher, by carefully changing only one aspect of the scenario the researcher can see what difference is the cause of the behavior. Independent variable: the variable a researcher changes or varies to see if it has an effect on some other variable. Dependent variable: the variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the dependent variable; the researcher hypothesizes that the dependent variable will depend on the level of the independent variable. For instance if the probability level is less than 5 in. 100 then the results might be due to random chance and not the variables studied.
