VARIABLES
Independent Vs Dependent Variables
two
Examples of Independent and
Dependent Variables in Experiments
• For example, we might change the type of
information (e.g. organized or random) given to
participants to see what effect this might have on
the amount of information remembered.
• In this particular example the type of information is
the independent variable (because it changes) and
the amount of information remembered is the
dependent variable (because this is being
measured).
• Therefore, you could state that “media violence” is
operationally defined (in your experiment) as
‘exposure to a 15 minute film showing scenes of
physical assault’; “aggression” is operationally
defined as ‘levels of electrical shocks administered
to a second ‘participant’ in another room’.
• You are interested in finding out
“How does stress affect mental health?”
IV:
DV:
“Promotion affects employees motivation.”
IV:
DV:
Effect of video clips on students ability to learn?
IV:
DV:
Examples of IV and DV
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Type of treatment: Behavioral variables e.g.
drug treatments or Activity levels, smoking behaviour,
psychological treatment alcohol, diet habits etc
Treatment factors: Physiological variables such as
Brief vs long term factors heart rate, blood pressure and brain
Hospitalised vs OPD patient wave activity
Experimental manipulation: Self report variables e.g.
Sleeping pattern, beverage Anxiety levels, mood, life
consumption, work pressure adjustment, marital situation
Operationalising variables
• It is very important in psychological research to
clearly define what you mean by both your
independent and dependent variables.
• Operational variables (or operationalizing
definitions) refer to how you will define and measure
a specific variable as it is used in your study.
• Operationalization has the great advantage that it
generally provides a clear and objective definition of
even complex variables. It also makes it easier for
other researchers to replicate a study and check for
reliability.
• Therefore, you could state that “media violence” is
operationally defined (in your experiment) as
‘exposure to a 15 minute film showing scenes of
physical assault’; “aggression” is operationally
defined as ‘levels of electrical shocks administered
to a second ‘participant’ in another room’.
Controlled & Uncontrolled Variables
• a controlled variable is a factor that is kept constant
across different levels of the IV
• uncontrolled variables are variables that have not
been identified as a problem;
• or have not been /cannot be successfully eliminated;
• so limit validity;
• because they can affect one level of the IV (more
than the other); e.g. the weather;
• demand characteristics can cause uncontrolled
variables; e.g. if it is obvious to one people in one
level of the IV but not the other that they are in an
experiment
It is important to control
variables because
• because it ensures that the variable having
influence is the IV;
• so it improves validity;
• because it helps to standardise the experience of
participants;
• so it improves reliability;
• so the experimenter can make a judgment about
causality;
Confounding variable
• A confounding variable is an ‘extra’ variable you
didn’t account for. They can ruin an experiment and
give useless results. They are like extra variables
that have a ‘hidden’ effect on your dependent
variables.
• E.g. If you are researching the effect of lack of
exercise on weight, a confounding variable would
be any other influence like a disease or drug use
that can effect weight gain.
Extraneous variables
• When we conduct experiments there are other
factors in the study which are not being studied and
they distort our results if we do not control them.
• Extraneous variables are all variables, which are not
the independent variable, but could affect the results
of the experiment. They threaten validity because
they provide an alternate explanation for the results
• this effect can be random; e.g. if some participants in
a study were hungry and worked faster to get home;
which is less of a problem;
• or it can be systematic; and affect one level of the IV
more than the other, resulting in a biased result/ error
• Extraneous variables should be controlled
wherever possible, as they might be important
enough to provide alternative explanations for
the effects.
4 types of extraneous variables
1. Situational Variables
• These are aspects of the environment that might
affect the participant’s behavior, e.g. noise,
temperature, lighting conditions, etc. Situational
variables should be controlled so they are the same
for all participants.
• Standardized procedures are used to ensure that
conditions are the same for all participants. This
includes the use of standardized instructions
2. Participant / Person Variable
• This refers to the ways in which each participant
varies from the other, and how this could affect the
results e.g. mood, intelligence, anxiety, nerves,
concentration etc.
• For example, if a participant that has performed a
memory test was tired, dyslexic or had poor eyesight,
this could effect their performance and the results of
the experiment. The experimental design chosen can
have an effect on participant variables.
• Participant variables can be defined as the
differing individual characteristics that may impact
how a participant responds in an experiment.
Examples of participant variables include
gender, age, ethnicity, accent, manner,
socioeconomic status, literacy status, mood,
clinical diagnosis etc. of the experiment can affect
the behavior of the participants.
• (can be temporary) e.g. hunger in a study on
motivation to eat;
• • (or permanent) e.g. culture in a study on
attitudes to different animals;
• • e.g. personality in a study on risk taking;
3. Experimenter / Investigator
Effects
• The experimenter unconsciously conveys to
participants how they should behave - this is called
experimenter bias.
• The experimenter is often totally unaware of the
influence which s/he is exerting and the cues may
be very subtle but they may have an influence
nevertheless.
4. Demand Characteristics
Demand characteristics are all the clues in an
experiment which convey to the participant the
purpose of the research. Demand characteristics can
change the results of an experiment if participants
change their behavior to conform to expectations.
Participants will be affected by:
(i) their surroundings;
(ii) the researcher’s characteristics;
(iii) the researcher’s behavior (e.g. non-verbal
communication)
(iv) their interpretation of what is going on in the
situation.
THE END
Thank you
Sehr Saigol Shahid
