PSY BEH 11A Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Informed Consent, Quasi, Statistical Inference

• School: UC-Irvine
• Department: Psychology and Social Behavior
• Course: PSY BEH 11A
• Professor: Bruce Berg

Document Summary

Any research project begins with a testable hypothesis a prediction that has been formulated specifically enough so that it is clear what observations would confirm the prediction and what observations would challenge it. Operational definition: one that translates the variable we want to assess into a specific procedure or measurement. The operational definition needs construct validity it must truly reflect the variable named in our hypothesis. Dependent variable: to find out whether changes in this variable depend on another factor. The variable that is measured or recorded in an experiment. If the experiment is to find out if females or males are more aggressive on the playground, the measure of aggression is going to be the dependent variable. The variable that the experimenter manipulates as a basis for making predictions about the dependent variable. If we ask how males and females differ in their aggression, then sex is the independent variable. The dependent variable is easily and objectively measured.