Psych 213W
September 2, 2015
EXAM 1
Independent Variable
What the researcher is manipulating/changing
It contains different levels
o The effect of Oreos on test scores
o The Oreos are the independent variable
It doesn’t rely on something else. It is independent of other factors
Dependent Variable
The thing that is being measured
o In the Oreo experiment, the test scores is the DV; we are looking to see
how the Oreos affect the test scores
Card Experiment
a. Sort cards by color (red/blue)
b. Sort cards by suits (spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds)
c. Sort by Prime vs. Non Prime (the number)
Jack- 11
Queen-12
King-13
Ace-1
o 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13
Independent variable:
Card sorting method
Dependent variable:
Time (round to the nearest second)
Accuracy
Confound Variable
A variable that varies with the variable
Order effect- if everyone does condition A, then B, and then C, the response time
might be due to the condition or even to the order you did the conditions in.
o When to start/stop the timer
Start when the experimenter says “GO”
Stop when the participant puts down the last card
o Cards are face up/face down
o Standing or sitting
o Mush the cards before shuffling again
o Count the number of cards before you start
Participant- the one sorting the cards
Experimenter- the one observing
2 ways to control for order effect:
1
, 1. Latin square design- different groups perform the conditions in different
orders (so A isn’t always first and C isn’t always last)
2. Counter balancing- we will perform the conditions twice, in opposite
orders (ABC/CBA). That way when we balance the orders, they will have
an average
Perform ABC and then CBA
Shuffle using the bridge method, and shuffle three times
APA Style Papers
Method Section (centered and in bold)
Has 4 sections (each one is bold but NOT centered)
Participants (humans) or Subjects (non-human, animals)
o Who you did your experiment with
o How many participants
o College students
o Male-to-female ratio
o Age range
o Handedness (right or left)
o Corrected-to normal vision (no one is colorblind)
o Basis for participants- why the participant showed up for the
experiment
Were they compensated (paid)
We do it for academic credit. It’s a required class to graduate
with a psychology major
o Sub-sections do NOT have to be long. Can even be one sentence
Apparatus (Materials/Stimuli)
o Do not leave all 3 titles in it
o Materials
A standard deck of 52 playing cards, joker removed
Timer
Flat surface
Chairs
Paper and pen/computer to record the results
Some were in cubicles while others were in the main classroom
Experimental Design
o Explain what the design was
Control procedures
Counter balancing- ABC/CBA to control the order effect
IV
DV
Between subjects design
2
, 1/3 would have done condition A, 1/3 would do condition
B…
Within subjects design
This is what we did. Every person is doing every condition.
This increases our data
o Data –PLURAL!! (the data show, data are..)
Procedure
o Where you provide step-by-step instructions for someone to be able to
replicate the experiment.
How many times you shuffled the cards and the method we used
in order to shuffle them
o Anything not important in replication can be left out
o Ends with a statement about data analysis (don’t have to do an ANOVA),
just find the group means across conditions
Find the average for the 48 data points for condition A, and the
same for B and C.
“We calculated and compared group data and condition ___ had
the longest response time…”
Ethics
Nuremberg Trials
Host WWII trials in Nuremberg, Germany
Some of the defendants (Nazis) said they were doing scientific research, so it
was ok.
They also said that they did these unimaginable things, but it was their job and
they were ordered to do so.
Milgram Obedience Study
Recruited men from New Haven to participate in his study
They were assigned to be either the teacher or the learner. The volunteers
thought it was random but it was planned
o They were told it was a study on learning and he would have shocks
administered to him during the process.
The learner didn’t get any shocks, but the teacher (true participant) does not
know that.
o The teacher is shown a panel that has buttons with certain voltages
o He has to teach the learner would combinations. If the learner is wrong,
he has to shock the learner
The participants were struggling. They were anxious and conflicted
o There was psychological damage that might have resulted from this
experiment.
Zimbardo- The Stanford Prison Experiment
Turned the basement of the psychology department into a prison.
3
, He recruited men from Stanford to participate, and had them evaluated before
conducting the experiment
o They were randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards
o The guards had uniforms and had 8-hour shifts
o The prisoners were arrested and taken to the basement and processed
as well as given a prisoner uniform
o The prisoners stayed in their cells
This was supposed to last two weeks long, but it didn’t.
(Rules governing what you can and cannot do)
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
Certain people in the medical profession came up that Syphilis (sexual disease
which is very harmful) if not treated would cause the body to shut down. They
will go blind, their heart will fail, deafness, insanity, deaf..
They wanted to see how syphilis reacted in African males
Code of Ethics is meant to protect the participants/subjects of the studies. There are
rules of what can and can’t be done in a study.
Federal Legislation- The Common Rule
The federal government has limited ability to pass laws, so The Common Law
does not apply to all research.
o It applies to most public and private non-government institutions in
addition to government and federal institutions
o This is because most institutions get at least some federal funds, so they
need to follow The Common Rule
What is The Common Rule?
1. The requirement of an IRB- Institutional Review Board
a. A committee that has to have at least 5 members
b. They are tasked with reviewing all proposed research of that institution
prior to the research occurring. A research cannot occur without
approval from the IRB
c. At least one person has to have NO connection to the institution, other
than being on the IRB. This is because they are supposed to protect the
community, and to protect the public.
d. The IRB enforce the APA code of ethics
2. Informed Consent
a. You need to get written consent and document it in order to keep it on
file so that there is never an issue that someone did consent it
b. The participant has to have an idea of what is going to happen in order
to have informed consent
i. Sometimes when you give too much information, you skew the
results.
ii. The most concern is to protect participants from harm, not how
to get the best results
4
September 2, 2015
EXAM 1
Independent Variable
What the researcher is manipulating/changing
It contains different levels
o The effect of Oreos on test scores
o The Oreos are the independent variable
It doesn’t rely on something else. It is independent of other factors
Dependent Variable
The thing that is being measured
o In the Oreo experiment, the test scores is the DV; we are looking to see
how the Oreos affect the test scores
Card Experiment
a. Sort cards by color (red/blue)
b. Sort cards by suits (spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds)
c. Sort by Prime vs. Non Prime (the number)
Jack- 11
Queen-12
King-13
Ace-1
o 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13
Independent variable:
Card sorting method
Dependent variable:
Time (round to the nearest second)
Accuracy
Confound Variable
A variable that varies with the variable
Order effect- if everyone does condition A, then B, and then C, the response time
might be due to the condition or even to the order you did the conditions in.
o When to start/stop the timer
Start when the experimenter says “GO”
Stop when the participant puts down the last card
o Cards are face up/face down
o Standing or sitting
o Mush the cards before shuffling again
o Count the number of cards before you start
Participant- the one sorting the cards
Experimenter- the one observing
2 ways to control for order effect:
1
, 1. Latin square design- different groups perform the conditions in different
orders (so A isn’t always first and C isn’t always last)
2. Counter balancing- we will perform the conditions twice, in opposite
orders (ABC/CBA). That way when we balance the orders, they will have
an average
Perform ABC and then CBA
Shuffle using the bridge method, and shuffle three times
APA Style Papers
Method Section (centered and in bold)
Has 4 sections (each one is bold but NOT centered)
Participants (humans) or Subjects (non-human, animals)
o Who you did your experiment with
o How many participants
o College students
o Male-to-female ratio
o Age range
o Handedness (right or left)
o Corrected-to normal vision (no one is colorblind)
o Basis for participants- why the participant showed up for the
experiment
Were they compensated (paid)
We do it for academic credit. It’s a required class to graduate
with a psychology major
o Sub-sections do NOT have to be long. Can even be one sentence
Apparatus (Materials/Stimuli)
o Do not leave all 3 titles in it
o Materials
A standard deck of 52 playing cards, joker removed
Timer
Flat surface
Chairs
Paper and pen/computer to record the results
Some were in cubicles while others were in the main classroom
Experimental Design
o Explain what the design was
Control procedures
Counter balancing- ABC/CBA to control the order effect
IV
DV
Between subjects design
2
, 1/3 would have done condition A, 1/3 would do condition
B…
Within subjects design
This is what we did. Every person is doing every condition.
This increases our data
o Data –PLURAL!! (the data show, data are..)
Procedure
o Where you provide step-by-step instructions for someone to be able to
replicate the experiment.
How many times you shuffled the cards and the method we used
in order to shuffle them
o Anything not important in replication can be left out
o Ends with a statement about data analysis (don’t have to do an ANOVA),
just find the group means across conditions
Find the average for the 48 data points for condition A, and the
same for B and C.
“We calculated and compared group data and condition ___ had
the longest response time…”
Ethics
Nuremberg Trials
Host WWII trials in Nuremberg, Germany
Some of the defendants (Nazis) said they were doing scientific research, so it
was ok.
They also said that they did these unimaginable things, but it was their job and
they were ordered to do so.
Milgram Obedience Study
Recruited men from New Haven to participate in his study
They were assigned to be either the teacher or the learner. The volunteers
thought it was random but it was planned
o They were told it was a study on learning and he would have shocks
administered to him during the process.
The learner didn’t get any shocks, but the teacher (true participant) does not
know that.
o The teacher is shown a panel that has buttons with certain voltages
o He has to teach the learner would combinations. If the learner is wrong,
he has to shock the learner
The participants were struggling. They were anxious and conflicted
o There was psychological damage that might have resulted from this
experiment.
Zimbardo- The Stanford Prison Experiment
Turned the basement of the psychology department into a prison.
3
, He recruited men from Stanford to participate, and had them evaluated before
conducting the experiment
o They were randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards
o The guards had uniforms and had 8-hour shifts
o The prisoners were arrested and taken to the basement and processed
as well as given a prisoner uniform
o The prisoners stayed in their cells
This was supposed to last two weeks long, but it didn’t.
(Rules governing what you can and cannot do)
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
Certain people in the medical profession came up that Syphilis (sexual disease
which is very harmful) if not treated would cause the body to shut down. They
will go blind, their heart will fail, deafness, insanity, deaf..
They wanted to see how syphilis reacted in African males
Code of Ethics is meant to protect the participants/subjects of the studies. There are
rules of what can and can’t be done in a study.
Federal Legislation- The Common Rule
The federal government has limited ability to pass laws, so The Common Law
does not apply to all research.
o It applies to most public and private non-government institutions in
addition to government and federal institutions
o This is because most institutions get at least some federal funds, so they
need to follow The Common Rule
What is The Common Rule?
1. The requirement of an IRB- Institutional Review Board
a. A committee that has to have at least 5 members
b. They are tasked with reviewing all proposed research of that institution
prior to the research occurring. A research cannot occur without
approval from the IRB
c. At least one person has to have NO connection to the institution, other
than being on the IRB. This is because they are supposed to protect the
community, and to protect the public.
d. The IRB enforce the APA code of ethics
2. Informed Consent
a. You need to get written consent and document it in order to keep it on
file so that there is never an issue that someone did consent it
b. The participant has to have an idea of what is going to happen in order
to have informed consent
i. Sometimes when you give too much information, you skew the
results.
ii. The most concern is to protect participants from harm, not how
to get the best results
4
