Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Dependent And Independent Variables

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Mike Atkinson

Document Summary

Scientific method: identify the problem and formulate hypothesis, design and execute the experiment (variables and control, determine the truth, communicate the results. Independent variable must change, if they do not change, then they are controls: control is important - without proper control, experiment is confounded (messed up) - statistics account for chance factors and determines the truth. Communicate results: publish a report in journal, present a verbal description of results at a convention, discuss several related experiments in book chapter. Research methods: observational methods, collecting information about behaviour without trying to change it, non-participant or participant, ex. Festinger"s why prophesy fails: survey methods, collecting information about behaviour through surveys and questionnaires, case study methods. In depth study of one individual: ex. Luria"s s, which s is a person with phenomenal memory and can remember everything: correlation methods, determining the degree of relationship between two or more variables, ex.