Research Methods Definitions

Research Methods Unit

Alternative hypothesis: States that there will be a difference between 2 sets of scores, or a correlation between them, e.g. there will be a relationship between reaction time and amount of alchohol drunk.

Biased sample: A sample of people who will have a certain effect on the results in some way.

Confidentiality (ethics): Individual results and personal information obtained in a study should be kept completely confidential.

Counterbalancing: When the participants do the experiment back-to-front to prevent boredom.

Debriefing (ethics): Participants should be told about the true nature and purpose of the experiment at the end.

Deception (ethics): Participants should not be deceived unless it is absolutely necessary.

Dependent variable: The thing you measure.

Experimental design: The different ways of using participants in an experiment.

Extraneous variable: Something that might affect the results, therefore giving you a false set of data.

Independent groups: When one set of…