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AQA A-Level Psychology > Research methods- Scientific processes > Flashcards

Research methods- Scientific processes Flashcards

1
Q

What is an aim ?

A

An aim is a general statement made by the researcher which tells us what they plan on investigating, the purpose of their study. Aims are developed from theories and develop from reading about other similar research.

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2
Q

What is a hypothesis ?

A

A hypothesis is a precise statement which clearly states the relationship between the variables being investigated.

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3
Q

What is a directional hypothesis ?

A

States the direction of the relationship that will be shown between the variables

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4
Q

What is a non- directional hypothesis ?

A

It does not state the direction of the relationship between two variables

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5
Q

What is opportunity sampling ?

A

Participants happen to be available at the time which the study is being carried out so are recruited conveniently.

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6
Q

What are the strengths of opportunity sampling ?

A
  • Easy method of recruitment which is time saving and less costly.
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7
Q

What are the limitations of opportunity sampling ?

A
  • Not representative of the whole population hence lacks generalisability.
  • Researcher bias is presented as they control who they want to select.
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8
Q

What is random sampling ?

A

This is when all members of the population have the same equal chances of being the one that is selected. The method used is : each member of the population is assigned a number then either a random number table or a random number generator or the lottery method is used to randomly choose a partner.

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9
Q

What are the strengths of random sampling ?

A
  • No researcher bias : researcher has no influence of who is picked.
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10
Q

What are the limitations of random sampling ?

A
  • Time consuming : need to have a list of members of the population (sampling frame) and then contacting them takes time.
  • Volunteer bias : participants can refuse to take part so can end up with an unrepresentative sample.
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11
Q

What is systematic sampling ?

A

A predetermined system is used whereby every nth member is selected from the sampling frame. This numerical selection is applied consistently.

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12
Q

What are the strengths of systematic sampling ?

A
  • Avoids researcher bias and usually fairly representative of population.
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13
Q

What are the limitations of systematic sampling ?

A
  • Not truly unbiased unless you use a random number generator and then start the systematic sample.
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14
Q

What is stratified sampling ?

A

Composition of the sample reflects the varying proportions of people in particular subgroups (strata) within the wider population.

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15
Q

How would you carry out stratified sampling ?

A

Firstly you identify strat. Then you calculate the required proportion needed for each stratum based on the target population. Then select sample at random from each stratum using a random selection method.

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16
Q

What are the strengths of stratified sampling ?

A
  • No researcher bias : the selection within each stratum is done randomly.
  • Produces representative data due to the proportional strata hence generalisation is possible.
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17
Q

What are the limitations of stratified sampling ?

A
  • Time consuming to identify strata and contact people from each.
  • A complete representation of the target population is not possible as the identified strata cannot reflect all the differences between the people of the wider population.
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18
Q

What is volunteer sampling ?

A

Involves self selection whereby the participant offers to take part either in response to an advert or when asked to.

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19
Q

What are the strengths of volunteer sampling ?

A
  • Quick access to willing participants which makes it easy and not time consuming.
  • As participants are willing to take part they are more likely to cooperate in the study.
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20
Q

What are the limitations of volunteer sampling ?

A
  • Volunteer bias : they study may attract a particular profile of a person. This means generalisability is then affected.
  • Motivations like money could be driving participation so participants may not take study seriously, influencing the results.
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21
Q

What is a population ?

A

A group of people from whom the sample is drawn.

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22
Q

What is a pilot study ?

A

A small-scale version of an investigation which is done before the real investigation is undertaken.

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23
Q

Why are pilot studies done ?

A

They are carried out to allow potential problems of the study to be identified and the procedure to be modified to deal with these. This also allows money and time to be saved in the long run.

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24
Q

What are the 3 experimental designs ?

A

1- Matched pairs
2- Independent groups
3- Repeated measures

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25
Q

What is an independent group design ?

A

The participants only perform in one condition of the independent variable (IV).

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26
Q

What are the strengths of an independent group design ?

A
  • There are no order effects presented.
  • Participants are less likely to guess the aims of the study (demand characteristics are eliminated).
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27
Q

What are the limitations of independent groups design ?

A
  • No control over participant variables whereby different abilities of participants in the various conditions can cause changes to the DV..
  • You need more participants than other designs to gather the same amount of data.
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28
Q

What is a repeated measures design ?

A

The same participants take part in all conditions of the IV.

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29
Q

What are the strengths of repeated measures designs ?

A
  • Eliminates participant variables.
  • Fewer participants needed, so not as time consuming finding and using them.
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30
Q

What are the limitations of repeated measures design ?

A
  • Order effects presented e.g. boredom may mean in second condition done participant does not do as well on task.
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31
Q

How can you reduce order effects ?

A

Counterbalancing : this is when half of the participants do conditions in one order and the other half do it in an opposite order.

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32
Q

What is a matched pairs design ?

A

Pairs of participants are first matched on some variable that has been found to affect the dependent variable (DV), then one member of each pair does one condition and the other does another.

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33
Q

What are the strengths of matched pairs design ?

A
  • No order effects.
  • Demand characteristics are less of a problem.
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34
Q

What are the limitations of matched pairs design ?

A
  • Time consuming and expensive to match participants.
  • A large pool of potential participants is needed which can be hard to get.
  • Difficult to know which variables are appropriate for the participants to be matched.
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35
Q

What is a behavioural category ?

A

When a target behaviour which is being observed is broken up into more precise components which are observable and measurable

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36
Q

What is time sampling ?

A

This is the recording of behaviour within a timeframe that is pre-established before the observational study.

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37
Q

What are the strengths of time sampling ?

A
  • It reduces the number of observations that has to made so it is less time consuming.
38
Q

What are the limitations of time sampling ?

A
  • The small amount of data that you collect within that time frame ends up being unrepresentative of the observation as a whole.
39
Q

What is event sampling ?

A

This involves the counting of the number of times a particular behaviour is carried out by the target group or individual you are watching.

40
Q

What are the strengths of event sampling ?

A
  • It is good for infrequent behaviours that are likely to be missed if time sampling was used.
41
Q

What are the limitations of event sampling ?

A
  • If complex behaviour is being observed, important details of the behaviour may be overlooked by the observer.
  • If the behaviour is very frequent, there could be counting errors.
  • It is difficult to judge the beginning and ending of a behaviour.
42
Q

What is operationalisation ?

A

Clearly defining the variables in terms of how they are being measured.

43
Q

What is an extraneous variable ?

A

Any other variable which is not the IV that affects the DV and does not vary systematically with the IV, they are essentially nuisance variables.

44
Q

What is a cofounding variable ?

A

A variable other than the IV which has an effect on the DV. With these variables it becomes difficult for the researcher to be sure of the origin of the impact of the DV

45
Q

What is randomisation ?

A

The use of chance to reduce the effects of bias from investigator effects

46
Q

What is standardisation ?

A

Using the exact same formalised procedures and instructions for every single participant involved in the research process.

47
Q

What are demand characteristics ?

A

Any cue the researcher or the research situation may give which makes the participant feel like they can guess the aim of the investigation

48
Q

What are investigator effects ?

A

Any unwanted influence from the researcher’s behaviour, either conscious or unconscious, on the DV measured (the research’s results)

49
Q

What is informed consent ?

A

Participants must be told the purpose of the investigation (their aims) and about any potential risks they may be subject to when taking part in it. This allows them to make an informed decision on whether they want to participate in the research study.

50
Q

How do you deal with getting informed consent ?

A

There are various methods of dealing with informed consent:
- Prior general consent : participants give permission to take part in many studies whereby one of them involves deception so effectively they are consenting to getting deceived,
- Presumptive consent : when a researcher gathers opinions from a group like the participants in the study but does not inform the actual participants. Allows demand characteristics to be eliminated.
- Retrospective : this is when the participants are asked for consent after they have participated in the study.

51
Q

What is deception ?

A

This is the act of deliberately withholding information from participants or misleading them during the research study.

52
Q

How can you deal with deception ?

A
  • Debriefing : all participants would be debriefed after the study, it can be a written or verbal debrief. During the debrief the true nature of the study must be said and the participants should be told what their data will be used for. After the debrief participants have the right to choose to withhold or withdraw their data.
53
Q

What is protection of harm ?

A

Participants must be protected from physical and psychological harm. It is the job of the researcher to make sure of this.

54
Q

How do you deal with protection of harm ?

A
  • If the participants have been subject to any stress or psychological harm, the researcher should provide counselling if it is required.
  • A Cost-Benefit Analysis should be done before a study is carried out. This is done by the ethics committee whereby the pros and cons of the study are weighed up to determine whether the study will be ethical.
55
Q

What is privacy and confidentiality ?

A
  • Right of privacy refers to the right that participants have to controlling information about themselves- how much is released and how it is used.
  • Confidentiality refers to the right participants have which concerns any personal data of theirs being protected.
56
Q

How do you deal with privacy and confidentiality ?

A
  • Anonymity can be maintained. This is achieved by the researchers not recording any personal details of their participants so that none of the results data can be traced back to them.
  • The participant should be reminded during both the briefing and debriefing of the investigation that their data will be protected
57
Q

What is peer review ?

A

The assessment of scientific work by experts in the same field

58
Q

What are the main purposes of peer review ?

A
  • To know which research is worthwhile hence funding can be allocated to it.
  • To validate the relevance and quality of research. This is important to prevent fraudulent
    research from being released to the public.
  • To suggest possible improvements or amendments to the research study.
59
Q

What are some of the problems with peer review ?

A
  • Anonymity is a problem : reviewers sometimes use it to settle old scores or bury rivals, especially if they’re competing for funds. This means that anonymity affects the objectivity of reviewers.
  • There is publication bias involved in peer review.
60
Q

What is reliability ?

A

A measure of how consistent the findings from an investigation are.

61
Q

What are the two types of reliability ?

A

Internal and external

62
Q

What is internal reliability ?

A

Describes how consistent something is within itself.

63
Q

How can internal reliability be assessed ?

A
  • Split half method
64
Q

What is external reliability ?

A

This is when consistent results are produced regardless of when the investigation is used or who administers it.

65
Q

How can external reliability be assessed ?

A
  • Test retest method
  • Inter observer reliability
66
Q

What is the test retest method ?

A

The researcher administers the same test on the same person on different occasions. The results should yield a correlation coefficient of ≥ 0.80. Sufficient time should be left between the test and retest so participants cannot recall their answers, and this time in between should not be too long as the person’s attitudes may change.

67
Q

What is inter observer reliability ?

A

Refers to the extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observing behaviour. This eliminates subjectivity bias and may either be carried out in a pilot study or reported at the end of the study.

68
Q

What is the split half method ?

A

Randomly select half of the questions and put them in one form then do the same for others. Theses two forms of the same test are then done separately and should yield the same score,have a correlation coefficient of ≥ 0.80

69
Q

What is validity ?

A

The extent to which results of a research study are legitimate.

70
Q

What is internal validity ?

A

Whether the outcomes observed in an experiment are due to the manipulation of the IV and not any other factor.

71
Q

What is external validity ?

A

This relates to factors outside the investigation - is it generalisable to other settings, populations & eras.

72
Q

What is ecological validity ?

A

This is the extent to which findings can be generalised to other situations and settings.

73
Q

What is temporal validity ?

A

Generalisability to other historical times and eras

74
Q

What is population validity ?

A

Generalisability to different populations of various ages, genders and cultures

75
Q

What is face validity ?

A

This is when a measure is scrutinised to determine whether it appears to measure what it is supposed to.

76
Q

What is concurrent validity ?

A

This refers to the extent to which a psychological measure compares to a similar existing measure. The results obtained should either match or be closely similar to the results of the well established and recognised test.

77
Q

What is predictive validity ?

A

This refers to how well a test can predict future events or behaviours

78
Q

How can validity be improved in experimental research ?

A
  • Use of a control group
  • Single and double blind procedures
79
Q

What is a paradigm ?

A

A set of shared ideas and assumptions within a scientific discipline.

80
Q

What is a paradigm shift ?

A

A significant change in these central assumptions within a scientific discipline, resulting from a scientific revolution.

81
Q

What is a theory ?

A

A set of general principles and laws which can be used to explain specific events or behaviours.

82
Q

What is falsifiability ?

A

Theory cannot be considered scientific unless it allows itself to be proven untrue.

83
Q

What is replicability ?

A

The extent to which scientific methods and their results can be repeated by other researchers across other contexts and circumstances

84
Q

What is objectivity ?

A

All possible biases from the researcher are minimised so that they don’t influence or distort the research process.

85
Q

What is the empirical method ?

A

When evidence is collected through making direct observations and through direct experiences

86
Q

What is an abstract ?

A

A summary of all the key details of the research report.

87
Q

What is included in an introduction ?

A

Information of past research on a similar topic whereby relevant theories, studies and concepts are mentioned.

88
Q

What is a method ?

A

A description of what the researchers exactly did when they undertook the study.

89
Q

What is included in the results ?

A

All the findings from the study, presented even with inferential and descriptive statistics

90
Q

What is included in a discussion ?

A

Considers what the findings exactly mean for us and for psychological theories.

91
Q

What is included in the references ?

A

A list of all the sources that were quoted or referred to in the report.

92
Q

What are the 6 parts of a scientific report ?

A

1- Abstract
2- Introduction
3- Method
4- Results
5- Discussion
6- References

AQA A-Level Psychology (38 decks)

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