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The Experimental Method: Discovering the Causes of Behavior Experiment: A controlled situation in which the researcher manipulates one variable to discover its effect on another variable, while holding all other conditions constant. Key Concepts
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The Experimental Method: Discovering the Causes of Behavior Independent Variable: The variable that the researcher “manipulates”. “Manipulates” basically means that we assign different levels of the variable to different groups. For example: Suppose the independent variable is the amount of time students have to take a test. We can give one class 40 minutes and another 60 minutes. These are the levels of the time variable. Key Concepts
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The Experimental Method: Discovering the Causes of Behavior Dependent Variable: This is an aspect of the participant’s behavior that the researcher records to see if it will be influenced by the independent variable. For example: In the test-taking situation, we could record how many questions each student got right. Number of correct answers would be the dependent variable. In everyday terms: Independent Variable = “Cause” Dependent Variable = “Effect” Key Concepts
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The Experimental Method: Discovering the Causes of Behavior So if the students who get 60 minutes to take the test do better than those who get 40 minutes, we can say it was the time factor that caused this difference in performance, assuming… there were no other differences between the classes. Everything else must be “HELD CONSTANT”. Key Concepts
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The Experimental Method: Discovering the Causes of Behavior Experimental Group: This is a group that is exposed to the independent variable. Control Group: This is a group that is not exposed to the independent variable. Additional Terms ControlExperimental1 012 Experimental2 Levels:
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The Experimental Method: Discovering the Causes of Behavior Independent Variable: Number of Models in Picture Experiment on Advertising ControlExperimental 012 Experimental2 Levels:
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