PSYC 2360 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Electrodermal Activity, Convenience Sampling, Electrical Resistance And Conductance

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2360
• Professor: Carol Anne Hendry

Document Summary

The method used to select participants has implications for generalizing the research results. Probability testing is crucial for scientific polls because it can accurately describe the population whereas convenience sampling affects one"s ability to generalize the results to a larger population from the samples. You need to determine a sample size. Increasing the sample size increases the statistical significance because larger samples give more accurate estimates of the population. To manipulate an independent variable one must construct an operational definition of the variable (turn a conceptual variable into a set of operations). The independent and dependent variables must be introduced within the context of the total experimental setting which is called setting the stage. In setting the stage you have to (1) provide participants with the informed consent information needed for your study and (2) explain why the experiment is being conducted. No clear cut rules for setting the stage or translating conceptual variables into specific operations.