SOME CAUTIONS ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH A. VALIDITY B. EXTERNAL V...
8. Some Cautions about Experimental Research a. Validity b. External Validity c. Internal Validity d. Experimenter Bias e. Demand characteristics f. Research Participant Bias and the Placebo Effect i. Double-Blind Experiment D. Applications of the Three Types of Research Suggested Activities Correlations: Draw various graphs on the board representing both positive and negative correlations. Also put various correlation coefficients on the board under the graphs. Break the class into groups and ask them to identify each graph as either a positive or a negative correlation and also whether it is representing a strong or a weak correlation. After the groups have finished, ask one member of each group to come to the board and write down what their group decided on. This activity will give the students experience in identifying different types of correlations. Words that are alike?: On the board or electronically, write the word correlation in one column and the word causation in another column. Either in groups or individually, ask students to identify as many words as possible that are synonyms to these column labels. Afterwards, discuss recent media illustrations using or even misusing these terms. Lastly, was there a discrepancy in the number of synonyms in each column? Have student speculate as to why that may or may not be. WebQuest—Understanding Experiments in Psychology: At this link, https://traloihay.net, there is a scavenger hunt related to topics in experimental design. This is best done in groups and the activity is more successful as a small project. Students will learn, through questing on the web, various aspects of experimental design. Types of Variables and Types of Groups: Use Activity Handout: 2.2: What Type of Variable Is It? What Type of Group Is It? This activity has different examples of hypotheses for research ideas. The students have to identify both the independent and dependent variables in the hypotheses. They also have to identify who makes up the experimental group and who makes up the control group.