PSYC 201W Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Signify, Analysis Of Variance, Descriptive Statistics

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 201W
• Professor: A.George Alder

Document Summary

Introduction: experiment researcher manipulates one or more variables, attempts to control extraneous factors, and then measures how the manipulated variables affect participants" responses. Independent variable variable manipulated by the researcher: dependent variable the response that is measured to determine whether an independent variable has produced an effect. The logic of experimentation: experimental method is the best scientific tool available to draw clear conclusions about cause-effect relations. In experiments, researchers typically reduce confounding factors by: keeping extraneous factors as constant as possible across the different conditions of the experiment, balancing extraneous factors that, in principle, cannot be held constant. In designing an experiment, we create an independent variable by forming two or more conditions that vary the amount or type of some factor: we can manipulate independent variables quantitatively and qualitatively. In single-factor experiments, each participant either engages in only one condition, or engages in all the conditions.