If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances...

Data collection is a systematic method of obtaining, observing, measuring, and analyzing accurate information. An experimental study is a standard method of data collection that involves the manipulation of the samples by applying some form of treatment prior to data collection. It refers to manipulating one variable to determine its changes on another variable. The sample subjected to treatment is known as “experimental units.”
An example of the experimental method is a public clinical trial...

An experiment is a planned activity carried out under controlled conditions. The purpose of an experiment is to investigate the relationship between two variables. When one variable causes change in another, we call the first variable the explanatory or independent variable. The affected variable is called the response or dependent variable. In a randomized experiment, the researcher manipulates values of the explanatory variable and measures the resulting changes in the response variable. The...

When conducting an experiment, it is crucial to have control to reduce bias and accurately measure the dependent variables. It also marks the results more reliable. Controls are elements in an experiment that have the same characteristics as the treatment groups but are not affected by the independent variable. By sorting these data into control and experimental conditions, the relationship between the dependent and independent variables can be drawn. A randomized experiment always includes a...

An experimental design is a systematic process that allows researchers to evaluate the relationship between dependent and independent variables. There are three widely used types of experimental design - pre-experimental design, true experimental design, and quasi-experimental design. In pre-experimental design, the researcher compares the data before and after some interventions or treatments. The true-experimental design has more than one purposefully created group, a commonly measured...

The t-test is a statistical method used to compare the sample mean with a population mean or compare two means from two data sets. The test statistic is calculated from the standard deviation, mean, and number of measurements in the data set at a selected confidence interval and then compared to a table of critical values at this confidence level. If the test statistic is smaller than the critical value, the null hypothesis is accepted. In this case, we state that the difference between the...