What are the key components of an experiment?

In psychology, true experiments involve manipulating one or more independent variables to observe the effect on a dependent variable. In such experiments, participants are randomly assigned to conditions, meaning a true experiment cannot be conducted if participants are grouped based on pre-existing characteristics.

When conducting experiments, researchers use standardised procedures and aim to tightly control all other variables apart from the independent variable. These rigorous methods are designed to isolate the effects of the independent variable and establish a cause-and-effect relationship between it and the dependent variable.

Experiments test a hypothesis, and the data collected can usually be analysed for statistical significance. They are often carried out on a large scale with representative samples to increase the likelihood that the results can be generalised to larger populations of interest.