PSY 3171 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Internal Validity, Design Of Experiments, Statistical Significance

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 3171
• Professor: Allison Jane Ouimet

Document Summary

Hypothesis: educated guess or statement to be tested by research. Research design: plan of experimentation used to test a hypothesis. Dependent variable: in an experimental research study, the phenomenon that is measured and expected to be influenced. Independent variable: phenomenon that is manipulated by the experimenter in a research study and expected to influence the dependent variable. Internal validity: extent to which the results of a research study can be attributed to the independent variable after confounding alternative explanations have been ruled out. External validity: extent to which research study findings generalize or apply to people and settings not involved in the study. Hypothesis: need to plan and test for answers to questions we have in everyday life. Confound: any factor occurring in a research study that makes the results uninterpretable because its effects cannot be separated from those of the variables being studied.