Experimental Study Guide 2

Experimental study guide 2

1.  Know about Milgram's obedience study that we watched in class

- make sure you understand the following issues and how it can sometimes be difficult to

achieve all of the factors simultaneously

- preventing physical and psychological harm

- informed consent

- deception

- debriefing

2. Know about the IRB

3. Know about IACUC

4. Define Independent Variable

5. Define Dependent Variable

6. Identify the difference between a true independent variable and a subject variable.

7. Be able to identify Independent and Dependent Variables if given an experiment. Also be

able to identify the number of independent variable, and levels of each independent variable.

8. Explain what an experimental operational definition is. Provide an example

9. Explain what a measured operational definition is. Provide an example.

10. What is a hypothetical construct? Provide an example.

11. List and define the four scales of measurement. Provide an example of each.

12. Reliability and validity are ways to evaluate the worth of an operational definition. Define

these concepts, and explain how they are related to the worth of an operational definition.

13. Define inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability and inter-item reliability.

14. Define Face Validity, Content Validity, and Predictive Validity.

15. What is Construct Validity?

16.Provide a precise explanation of internal and external validity. Experiments tend to be high in

internal validity, and thus lower in external validity, why is this? Field studies tend to be

high in external validity and low in internal validity, why is this?

17. What is an extraneous variable? What is a confound? How does an extraneous variable

affect the outcome of an experiment? How does a confound affect the outcome of an

experiment?

18. List and briefly explain the classic threats to internal validity

19. Be able to identify confounds in an experiment. Be able to identify the type of confound it is.

Also, be able to provide a way to run the experiment so that it is not confounded.

20. What is the difference between a between-subjects and a within-subjects design?

21. What is the benefit of randomly selecting subjects?

22. What is the benefit of randomly assigning subjects to groups?

23. Is an experimental psychologist more concerned with random-selection or random-

assignment? Why?

24. How do a greater number of subjects benefit your experiment?

25. Explain how nonrandom assignment could have affected the results of Brady’s (1958)

executive monkey study.

26. Sometimes researchers use a two-experimental groups design, as opposed to an experimental

control group design. Why is it that sometimes the control group is beneficial for the

interpretation of your results

27. Under what conditions is a two-matched-groups design warranted?

28. Define precision, range, and rank-ordered matching.

29. What are the advantages of using a two-matched groups design?

30. Why might a researcher think that it would be beneficial to use more than two levels of an independent variable?