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Slide 1 ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Behavioral Research ___________________________________ Chapter Four Studying Behavior ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 2 ___________________________________ Introduction • Examine the basic issues and concepts ___________________________________ necessary for understanding behavioral research. • Look at the nature of variables, including ___________________________________ measurement, types of relationships, and general methods for studying these relationships. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 3 ___________________________________ Variable- (def) any event, situation, behavior or individual characteristic that has two or more levels or values on which they can vary. ___________________________________ Four General Categories of Variables  Response Variable s  Situational Variables ___________________________________  Participant (Subject) Variables  Mediating Variables ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________

Slide 4 ___________________________________ Operational Definitions of Variables operationally definition  defines a ___________________________________ concept by specifying precisely how the concept is measured or manipulated in a particular study. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 5 ___________________________________ How does it help us to operationally define our variables?  Defining an abstract term helps you to ___________________________________ determine if your study (your focus) is too vague or not. ___________________________________  Having operationally defined our variables also helps us to communicate our ideas to others . ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 6 ___________________________________ Relationships Between Variables Four most common relationships found in research are: ___________________________________  Positive liner relationship- increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by increases in the values of the second variable.  Negative linear relationship- Increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by decreases in the values of the ___________________________________ other variable.  Curvilinear relationship Increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by both increases and decreases in the values of other variables.  No relationship- When there is no relationship between the two ___________________________________ variables the graph is a straight line. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________

Slide 7 ___________________________________ Correlational coefficient  (def) a numerical index of the strength of the ___________________________________ relationship between variables.  When variables are highly correlated, this indicates there is little deviation in the general ___________________________________ pattern of the data.  When two variables are weakly correlated, there are either many Participants who deviate from the general pattern of the data or the two ___________________________________ variables don’t effect each other that strongly. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 8 ___________________________________ Nonexperimental vs. Experimental Methods  Nonexperimental method  relationships are ___________________________________ studied by making observations or measures of the variables of interest .  When the two variables vary together---we say that ___________________________________ they are correlated.  While we can say that there is a relationship between the two variables, we cannot say we can determine causality. ___________________________________  CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION!! ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 9 ___________________________________ Problems with Non-Experimental Method • Direction----cannot tell which variable ___________________________________ causes the other. • Third Variable problem: There may be a ___________________________________ relationship between the two variables because some other variable causes both. ( also called confounding variables). ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________

Slide 10 ___________________________________ Experimental method  Involves direct manipulation and control of variables. ___________________________________  The researcher manipulates the variable of interest and then observes (measures) the response.  Because one variable is manipulated while the other is ___________________________________ measured, researchers can now comment about the direction of cause and effect.  The experimental method helps to eliminate the ___________________________________ ambiguity found in the results ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 11 ___________________________________ Extraneous variables  variable that interferes with the results, making it impossible for the researcher to draw meaningful conclusions about the effect of the variables. ___________________________________ Experimental Control -with experimental control all extraneous variables are kept constant, and therefore cannot be responsible for the results of the ___________________________________ experiment. Randomization- The experimental method ensures that extraneous variables, in which control would be ___________________________________ difficult, are equalized through random assignment. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 12 ___________________________________ Independent and Dependent Variables • Independent variable  what’s ___________________________________ manipulated by the experimenter — the variable that is considered to be the cause. ___________________________________ • Dependent variables  Ps’ response, or what is measured — the variable that is the effect of the dependent variable. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________

Slide 13 ___________________________________ Two Kinds of Independent Variables • Manipulated I.V. ___________________________________ • Non-Manipulated I.V. • Constant  a variable that is held ___________________________________ constant, in order to prevent it from varying, and possibly affecting the outcome of the experiment. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Slide 14 ___________________________________ Evaluating Research-Three Validities • Construct Validity  ___________________________________ • Internal validity  • External validity  ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________