Psychologists use a number of different methods and techniques to conduct research. An experiment has some very specific rules and this is where we are going to begin our exploration of research methods.
Observe - Explain - State Expectations - Design a Study - See f your expectations were correct
What will you measure?
The Dependent Variable (DV
What are your two conditions?
This is called the Independent Variable (IV) e.g. TV on and TV off
What will you expect to find?
This is your hypothesis (different to aims).
What will the participants do?
You worked out a set of standardised procedures.
What do you need to control?
You will have tried to control some confounding variables.
What is the main characteristic of an experiment?
There is an IV which is deliberately changed to see if there is any effect on the DV.
This permits us to draw causal conclusions. We can
make a statement about whether the two
conditions causes the result because we can
compare the effect of the two levels of the IV that
have been deliberately manipulated.