PSYC 1010 Lecture Notes - Dependent And Independent Variables, Blind Experiment, Confounding

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Rebecca Jubis

Document Summary

Consists of a set of written questions that are used to determine people"s beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours. Sometimes questionnaires are too long and people quickly make up responses. Large sample required: must be representative of the population. Random sampling: every person in the population has the same probability to be randomly picked as part of the sample. Often pilot studies are conducted to ensure enough responses are sent. Act of recording peoples" behaviour naturally in a natural setting. Bias in observer (tendency to want to prove hypothesis) Cannot infer cause and effect: you are only observing, it would be fallacious to say one thing leads to another because you don"t know the entire picture. Researchers must aim to minimize subject reactivity so that they continue acting naturally. Participant observer: the researcher adopts a cover and blends in with the subject(s) Unobtrusive measures: methods of attaining information without the subject"s knowledge.