Research Methods

Variables and Control

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Hypotheses and aims

 The questions start like this,
please complete all of them by
next Tuesday 31st August.
Today’s lesson:

Be able to define: independent variable and dependent variable

Be able to identify IV and DV in different research studies.

Be able to operationalise variables

VARIABLES
 PROSOCIAL
MEMORY HOURS OF SLEEP
BEHAVIOUR
STUDYING
CAFFEINE
METHODS
Variables are factors that change
or can be changed in an
experiment.
ENVIRONMENT HUNGER ANGER

SOCIAL DRIVING ATTAINMENT/

AGE
SETTING ABILITY GRADES
 PROSOCIAL
MEMORY HOURS OF SLEEP
BEHAVIOUR

CAFFEINE STUDYING
METHODS
Sort these factors into 2 groups:
things you things that
change you measure
HUNGER
ENVIRONMENT ANGER
SOCIAL DRIVING ATTAINMENT/
AGE
SETTING ABILITY GRADES
 things you things that
change you measure

CAFFEINE MEMORY

STUDYING HOURS OF SLEEP

PROSOCIAL
METHODS BEHAVIOUR
ANGER
ENVIRONMENT DRIVING ABILITY
HUNGER
SOCIAL SETTING
ATTAINMENT/GRADES
AGE
Independent variables (IV)
The factor under investigation
which is manipulated to create two
or more conditions (or levels).
The IV is expected to be responsible
for any changes in the DV
(dependent variable).

HOURS OF SLEEP
Could you suggest 2 or more conditions (levels)?
How could you manipulate (change) this IV?
Dependent variables (DV)
The factor which is measured.
The DV is expected to change under the
influence of the IV.

IV: HOURS OF SLEEP

What might change as a result of this IV?

How you measure this DV?

Other examples of ...:
IV: light level
DV: attention

IV: listening to music

DV: ?
IV: ?
DV ?
What do you remember about correlations?
• There is no IV and DV

• There are two co-variables (co-V1 and co-V2)

• The two variables may be related to each other

• One is not manipulated, the other is not measured

• But we still have to operationalize them.

• We cannot conclude causation from a correlational study.

 People who drink more
Activity: Mountain Dew will sleep for
less hours than those who
Identifying drink less Mountain Dew.
IVs and
DVs There will be a difference
in resting heart rate
Type of between people who jog 1
hypothesis mile a day and people
? who jog 5 miles a day.
What are the
IV and the
DV?
Work with your
partner to identify
the IVs and the DVs.
ONE GROUP WERE
TRAINED IN MINDFULNESS
(A TYPE OF MEDIATION)
AND ANOTHER GROUP
RECEIVED NO TRAINING.
THE STRESS LEVELS OF
THESE PARTICIPANTS
WERE MEASURED USING A
QUESTIONNAIRE.
Some students
were asked to
chew gum in
lessons, another
group of students
were asked not to
chew gum. The
class were then
tested on the
content of the
lesson and their
scores were
recorded.
A group of war
veterans completed
questionnaires to
measure their
aggressiveness
levels. Their family
members were also
interviewed and
asked to complete
questionnaires. Some
of the veterans had
suffered brain
damage while others
had no damage to the
brain.
A group of females
were injected with
testosterone and
were timed running a
5k. Another group of
males were injected
with testosterone
and also timed
running a 5k.
One group of participants
drank a substance that
reduced the amount of
serotonin (a neurotransmitter)
in the brain.
A second group that drank a
placebo (a substance with no
effects) that did not affect
their serotonin levels.
Both groups had a brain
image scan and the neural
activity in the prefrontal
cortex was recorded.
CAKE RECIPE

Add eggs, flour,

chocolate, sugar and the
rest together.

Cook it in the oven.

Enjoy.
 ?????
Young participants will have significantly
better memories than older people.

How would I conduct this experiment?

Psychology is a science, we need clear
instructions for how to do our experiments.

Operationalisation of variables
the definition of variables so that they can be accurately
manipulated, measured or quantified and replicated.

IV and DV
2 covariables in correlations
It is important that the IV is
clearly defined and manipulated
in a way that the conditions
represent the intended
differences.
How could you
operationalise
“hunger” as an
IV?
And as a DV?
IVs
Alertness

Age

Frustration

Income
DVs
Growth (in children)
Effectiveness of a phobia
treatment
Diet

Anger
 Just a minute!
Can you talk about a keyword for a minute with
no hesitation, repetition or deviation?
 Identify & Operationalise IV & DV
Women are more attracted to men without
earrings than men with earrings.
IV:_______________________________________________

DV:_______________________________________________

People who exercise regularly sleep better at night.

IV:_______________________________________________

DV:_______________________________________________
 The Experiment was a documentary series
broadcast on BBC television in 2002
produced by Reicher and Haslam in which
15 men are randomly selected to be either
"prisoner" or guard, contained in a
simulated prison over an eight-day period.

"The BBC Prison Study explores the social

and psychological cPonsequences of
putting people in groups of unequal power.

Identify the IV and the DV.

Today’s lesson:

Be able to define: control

Be able to describe and identify types of variable

Be able to control variables

There will be a difference in the amount of time spent outside by
nursery children on sunny days compared to overcast days.

IV?
How would you
operationalise it?
DV?
How would you
operationalise it?
Type of hypothesis?
Null hypothesis?

What other factors could affect the amount of time children spend
outside other than the weather?
After the study, the
researchers find that children
spend significantly more time
outside in sunny weather than
in overcast weather.
How could they increase
their certainty that their IV
alone is responsible for
observed differences in their
DV?
Researchers need to control
any other variables that
could have an effect on the
DV.

It allows us to be more
certain that there is a cause-
and-effect relationship
between the IV and the DV.
Extraneous variable:

A variable which either acts

randomly, affecting the DV To control an
in all IV levels, or extraneous
systematically so can variable we
obscure the effect of the IV must keep it
and make results difficult to the same in all
interpret. levels of the
IV.
Researchers are manipulating aromas in
a research room to see if it has an effect
on types of food chosen from a free
buffet.

An extraneous variable would be hunger – how could we

control this in all levels of the IV?
 Extraneous variables that
have a systematic /
consistent effect on the
DV are called confounding
variables.

This is because they

confuse or “confound” the
Confounding variables either work
results against
collected.
the effect of the IV, or increase the effect of
the IV in one level more than in other levels.
Confounding variables caused by aspects of the environment,
e.g. light or sound, are called situational variables.
If we fail to adequately control the effect of
extraneous variables in a study they become
uncontrolled variables.

 we have less confidence in our results

 We cannot say the IV affects the DV with
confidence.

 the study has a lower validity

 It does not measure what it is supposed to
measure.
 Controls:Ways to
keep a potential
extraneous variable
constant, raising
the validity of a We use them to make
study. sure the IV levels are
going to create the
intended situations to
test our hypothesis.
 Extraneous Variables
Any variable other than the IV that could
potentially affect the DV.

Uncontrolled Variables
Any extraneous variable that is not
controlled adequately so affects the DV.
[It’s impossible to control everything]

Systematic effect – variables have

different effects in each IV level

Confounding Variables
Random effect
Variables that affect DV in all
levels of the IV.
The experimental method
IV set for
PPs complete condition A DV measurements
task under two for A & B
conditions IV set for compared
Condition B

from psychlotron.org.uk
In an ideal world, the only variation within the DV measurements
would be that caused by the manipulation of the IV
 All the variability in the DV scores

Variability in DV
Variability in DV caused by error
caused by the IV

Systematic
Systematic Random
error error

from psychlotron.org.uk
This affects the This is spread
scores of one randomly across the
condition differently scores of both
from the other conditions
 Student
performance (test
at end of lesson)

Chair
comfort

Participant variables Situational variables

The psychologist could run a PILOT STUDY

A preliminary test of the procedures in the

study to check for any effects of extraneous
variables.

Small scale study on a few participants.

Could save a lot of time and money before

a large research project.
Start to design your study in your groups, you need a
hypothesis, a null hypothesis, IV and DV (and how you
will operationalise these) and any extraneous variables
(and how you will control them).
To investigate how To investigate how
To investigate how
male facial hair weekly swimming
room temperature
affects success of sessions affect
affects
face-to-face job motivation during
concentration.
offers. classes.

To investigate how
To investigate how To investigate how
different music types
colour of packaging traffic affects
affects verbal
affects food choices. pedestrians’ moods.
aggression.

Extension – who will your participants be?

Practice operationalising
hypotheses on p15 of your booklet.
E.g.
IV = age
We could operationalise this as “under 25-years-old” and
“over 25-years-old”.

DV = amount of exercise
We could operationalise this as “minutes spent doing
exercise”.
Today’s lesson:

Be able to define: standardisation

Remind me:

What are
controls?
 Controls:Ways to
keep a potential
extraneous variable
constant, raising
the validity of a We use them to make
study. sure the IV levels are
going to create the
intended situations to
test our hypothesis.
 Today I am going to do a study on how room colours affect mood.

This is Chad, he comes This is Emma, she comes

to the lab at 8am. to the lab at 7pm.

He waits for 5 minutes, then is She waits for 40 minutes, then I

taken to a library painted green. show her to a canteen painted red.
After 30 minutes, I ask him to After 30 minutes, I ask her to
complete a Mood Inventory. complete a Mood Inventory.
It is important that every
participant in a research study is
treated the same way (or as
similarly as possible).

This process is called

standardisation.
Keeping the research procedure for each participant exactly the same to
ensure that any differences between participants/conditions is due to
the variables under investigation rather than differences in procedure.
How psychologists achieve standardised procedures:

Standardised
Standardised
instructions
equipment / tests
Measure/change variables the
same way each time

Standardised manipulation
of IV / controls
 Standardisation improves the validity of our
measures and the reliability of our studies
Standardised Standardised
Standardised equipment / tests
manipulation of IV /
instructions Measure the same variable
controls the same way
 Research studies that
take place in
laboratories or
controlled
environments are
easier to standardise.

Research studies that take

place in the “field” are
much harder to control
and standardise.
Complete practice questions on p17 -
18
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