Glossary // Glossary term Technical
Moderator
A variable that changes the strength or direction of the relationship between two other variables, answering the question 'for whom or under what conditions'. For instance, whether talking about an event helps may depend on whether the listener responds with support or with judgement. Moderators found by comparing studies within a meta-analysis are associations across studies, not tested causes, and they are easily confounded with other study features. How one could reason about recording a catharsis-like change of state: signals, features, inference and context, baselines, self-report, error costs and ethics, and why every step stays uncertain. Nothing on this site measures anyone. Every public claim on this site with its type, evidence level, confidence, sources and review date, and an appraisal of each reference. How claims are graded, how art is kept apart from evidence, and how to report a problem. The works the definition rests on, with the level of evidence each was appraised at. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173 Cited for the conceptual distinction between moderators and mediators. Its stepwise procedure for testing mediation has since been widely criticised, so it is not cited for how mediation should be tested.Where the site uses it
Studies behind it