PSYC 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Confounding, Dependent And Independent Variables

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Rebecca Jubis

Document Summary

Psyc 1010 lecture one research methods. In order to generalize from the sample to the population, the sample must be representative of the population: the sample should stay true to the entire population, sample should contain variety to prevent biases. How can we ensure the sample is representative: random sampling (selection): every person from the population has an equal chance of being in the sample. Using a phone book to conduct a survey/study is not representative because not everyone has a landline phone number listed or may have multiple ones. Is used when you want to describe or measure people"s behavior as they are behaving naturally in a natural setting. Advantages: you can generalize your results, the subjects don"t know they are being observed. Disadvantages: you have little control over the situation; it can be time consuming, cannot force things to happen.