Research designs

Question 1

What is a research design?

Answer 1

“refers to the overall strategy a researcher chooses to investigate the research problem and test their hypothesis. The research design a psychologist chooses may have an effect on the validity of the study.

Question 2

What is a Independent measures ( between-subjects) design?

Answer 2

Members of the sample are randomly allocated to one condition of the experiment

Question 3

What is a repeated measures (within-subjects) design?

Answer 3

One sample of participants receiving each condition of the experiment (all participants do both conditions)

Question 4

What is a matched pairs design?

Answer 4

People are not randomly allocated to conditions
People are usually pre-tested with regard to the variable
They are ‘matched’ based on trait
E.g.
People’s memory pre-tested
Poorest memorisers allocated into one condition
Best memorisers allocated into the other condition

Question 5

What are participant variables?

Answer 5

“These are extraneous variables that are related to individual characteristics of each participant that may impact how he or she responds
E.g. mood, anxiety, background differences, intelligence, and other characteristics that a unique to a person

Question 6

What is an order effect?

Answer 6

“Refers to differences in research participants’ responses that result from the order (e.g. first, second, third) in which the experimental materials are presented to them.

These can be affected by such factors as boredom, practice, or fatigue.”

Question 7

How do you eliminate an order effect?

Answer 7

By counterbalancing which is the systematic variation of the order of conditions in a study”

Question 8

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 8

“Refers to a subtle cue that makes participants aware of what the experimenter expects to find or how participants are expected to behave. This may subconsciously change their behaviour to fit in with their interpretation.

Question 9

What is the demand characteristic expectancy effect?

Answer 9

“a form of reactivity that occurs when a research subject expects a given result and therefore unconsciously affects the outcome, or reports the expected result.”

Question 10

What is the demand characteristic the screw-you effect?

Answer 10

“the participants attempts to discern the experimenter’s hypothesis

Question 11

What are Confounding (extraneous/third) variables?

Answer 11

“An ‘extra’ variable that the researcher didn’t account for. It influences both the dependent variable and independent variable, causing a spurious association. It can ruin an experiment and give invalid results.” e.g. external noise not part of the experiment

Question 12

What is internal validity?

Answer 12

The extent to which the effects observed in a study are due to the manipulation of the independent variable and not some other factor

Question 13

What is construct validity?

Answer 13

The degree to which a test or instrument is capable of measuring a theoretical concept or trait

Question 14

What is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 14

Measures the agreement between subjective ratings by multiple observers

Question 15

What is ecological validity?

Answer 15

A measure of how test performance predicts behaviours in real-world settings

Question 16

What is predictive validity?

Answer 16

the ability of a test or other measurement to predict a future outcome e.g. behaviour

Question 17

What does representative mean?

Answer 17

The extent to which a subset of a population accurately reflects the characteristics of a larger group

Question 18

What does heuristic validity means?

Answer 18

the results of a study are not replicated when different samples are used

Question 19

What does triangulation meaning?

Answer 19

the process of confirming a hypothesis by collecting evidence from multiple sources

Question 20

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 20

Refers to cues that may influence or bias participants behaviour

Question 21

What does generalisability mean?

Answer 21

the extent to which results or findings obtained from a sample are applicable to a broader population

Question 22

What does sampling bias mean?

Answer 22

occurs when some members of a population are systematically more likely to be selected in a sample than others

Question 23

What does replication mean?

Answer 23

the extent to which a study should produce the same results if repeated by the researcher or by another

Question 24

What does mundane realism mean?

Answer 24

The degree to which the materials and procedures involved in an experiment are similar to events that occur in the real world