Term
Independent Variable (IV)
What is an independent variable (IV) in psychological research?
Answer
Definition
The variable that the researcher manipulates to observe its effect on the dependent variable.
Variables are the different elements or factors that researchers measure, manipulate, or control in psychological research. Understanding variables is essential because they help structure the research and determine the relationships being studied.
These two variables form the backbone of nearly all experimental research designs.
The IV could be the presence or absence of noise (manipulated factor).
The DV is concentration levels (measured factor).
Variables are categorized based on the nature of the data they represent.
For variables to be measured and tested scientifically, they must be operationalised.
This means defining them in terms of specific, measurable criteria. For example, "memory performance" could be operationalised as the number of words recalled from a list after 30 minutes.
What is an independent variable (IV) in psychological research?
The variable that the researcher manipulates to observe its effect on the dependent variable.
What does the dependent variable (DV) represent?
It is the outcome or effect measured to see how it responds to the IV.
What are extraneous variables?
Variables other than the IV that could influence the DV and introduce unwanted variability.
How does a confounding variable differ from an extraneous variable?
A confounding variable changes systematically with the IV, making it hard to determine which variable causes the effect.
What are categorical variables?
Variables divided into distinct groups or categories (e.g., gender, handedness).
What are continuous variables?
Variables that can take any value along a scale (e.g., height, reaction time).
What does operationalisation of variables mean?
Defining variables in specific, measurable terms for scientific testing.
Why is controlling extraneous variables important?
To maintain the internal validity of the experiment.