SOCPSY 2K03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Dependent And Independent Variables, Operationalization

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 2K03
• Professor: Dr Glavin

Document Summary

Causality - when x causes y to occur. E. g. , taking music class leads to a better performance. 3 conditions required to establish a casual relationship. A change in events happening in a logical order. To define something casual, the events have to take place in logical order: co-variation (association or correlation) Ensuring that there is an association between the two variables. However, correlation does not equal causation: non-spurious. Empirical evidence - change in one variable is systematically identified with a change in another (association) When an apparently casual relationship between 2 variables is actually accounted for by a third variable (extraneous variable: z) The central focus of a study or an alysis. Social psychologists are primarily concerned with a & b. Process of coming to an agreement about what concepts mean and represent with regards to social and physical reality. Mental processes whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions are made more specific and precise.