EVs/CVs

Learning Intention: You will learn about...

• the types of groups in a psychological experiment.

• the types of variables that may affect the results.

Success Criteria: You will be able to...

• Identify and describe control and experimental groups.

• Identify and describe extraneous and confounding variables.

• Explain the difference between extraneous and confounding variables.

Key Terms:

• control group

• experimental group

• extraneous variables

• confounding variables

• Individual participant differences

• non-standardised instructions and procedures

• Order effects

• Experimenter effect

• Placebo effect 

Application Task:

• Task - Groups within an experiment

  • Where is the Love lyrics vs Music video with lyrics

• Task - EVs & CVs

• Come up with a hypothesis and then draw a picture that shows the differences in the intervention for your experimental and control groups.

• Explain the relationship between extraneous and confounding variables including what the difference between them is.

• For each of the following research topics, identify the IV, the DV and three potential extraneous variables that could affect the DV. 

  • • 1. The effect of shyness on the ability to make new friends at school  

      2. Whether meditation can improve performance on a VCE English exam 

      3. Whether males are more willing than females to taste different foods 

      4. Whether students who have breakfast concentrate better in class 

      5. Whether having a pet in an aged-care nursing home improves happiness for elderly people who live there

• Complete the  ‘Identifying and minimising EV’s and CV’s’ table.