2. Who to Test  Population: Everyone who could possibly be in the study Entire School  Random Sample: Only the people we actually test  Random: Everyone had an equal chance of being selected  All class periods were put into a hat, our class was selected at random

3. Random Assignment  Determines who will be assigned to the experimental and control group  Place your random sample BACK INTO THE HAT and pulling names out again.  We use this to guarantee the groups have the same differences (controls for confounding variables)  If your number is called, you will be a part of the experimental group

4. Experimental Group  Group implies people  People who receive the independent variable  Independent Variable: The "thing" that the experimental group gets that the control group does not get Mint

5. Control Group  Group implies people  The control group receives either nothing or a placebo So you can compare the results  Placebo: something given to the control group so they are confused if they received the independent variable NO MINT Placebo video (2:57) Placebo video

7. Dependent Variable  What is being measured How many words you remembered

8. Single Blind vs. Double Blind  The participants don’t know which group they are in *Minimizes participants acting differently *If you know you received the caffeine, you might act more focused during the test  BOTH the participants and the experimenter do not know if the participants received the independent variable or placebo *Eliminates experimenter bias, information is recorded fairly *No unconscious hints

9. Constant Variables  All the things that stayed the same How large the mint was How long you stared at the words How long you were given to recall the words

10. Operational Definitions  The details that allow someone else to replicate the study  If its not your exact directions, then its not your study

11. Confounding Variables  What else could cause the results to happen but it wasn’t your independent variable?  In our case, what else would cause someone to have good short term memory but it wasn’t the mint?

12. Validity and Reliability  Valid Does it accurately measure what you want to measure?  Reliable Is it consistent? If another researcher conducted the same study, would they get similar results? Research can be reliable without being valid!