PSYB01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Confounding, Field Experiment, Design Of Experiments
Document Summary
Variable any event, situation, behaviour or individual characteristic that can take more than one value. 2 specific instances levels/values of the variable: a variable must have 2 or more levels. Diffusion responsibility - as # of bystanders increase, ind responsibility to help. Operational definition a definition of the variable in terms of the operations or techniques the researcher uses to measure or manipulate it. Operational definitions helps us communicate our ideas to others. May be several levels of abstraction which adds complexity to a variable. Researchers must always translate variables into specific operations to manipulate them. Technology can change the operational definitions and research questions available to researchers. 2 general approaches to study relationships among variables: the non-experimental method and experimental method. Non-experimental method relationships are studied by observing or otherwise measuring the variables of interest: a relationship b/w variables is established when the 2 variables vary together.