PSYC 217 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Operational Definition, Direct Manipulation Interface, Confounding
Document Summary
Any event, situation, behavior, or individual characteristic that can take more than one value. Relationships are studied by observing or otherwise measuring the variables of interest. May include asking people to describe behavior, directly observing behavior, recording physiological responses, examining public records, etc. Manipulates first variable of interest and then observes response. A definition of the variable in terms of the operations or techniques used to measure or manipulate it in a specific study. The length of words that you read in a book. The number of people who are squeezed into a classroom. The credibility of a person trying to persuade you. The response of behaviors of individuals such as. Describes a characteristic that individuals bring with them to a study. Variables that are intertwined with another variable so that you cannot determine which of the variables is operating in a given situation.
