PSY220H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Random Assignment
15 Sep 2018
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Steps of the scientific process: make an observation, make a guess as to why this happens, frame that guess as a testable hypothesis, design an experiment to test the hypothesis. Social science blends art and science when creating experiments, bc it deals with sophisticated human beings who have developed their own ideas and beliefs, and not chemicals or lab animals. Iv (independent variable): the variable that the experimenter changes/varies to see if it affects the other variable. Dv (dependent variable): the variable that depends on the iv. The reason that experiments are preferred over analyzing real life situations is control. A lot of the unnecessary variables are eliminated and there is control over what variable stays the same and what variable is changed between conditions. Other than control, the major advantage of experiments over real life situations is random assignment, meaning each participant has an equal chance of being any of the situations in the study.
