Research Methods

Question 1

define and evaluate content analysis

Answer 1

instead of analysing people etc, they analyse indirectly through books etc.

• Reduces objectivity
• High ecological validity

Question 2

evaluate the use of case studies

Answer 2

• Rich, in-depth information, info on complex interaction of many interactions
• Good for looking into rare cases
• Can’t generalise because they are rare

Question 3

define reliability

Answer 3

-How much we can rely on a measurement

Question 4

how to improve reliability

Answer 4

• Test-retest
• inter-rater
• reduce ambiguity

Question 5

define validity

Answer 5

-Does the data represent reality

Question 6

how to improve validity

Answer 6

• Face validity

- Concurrent

Question 7

features of science

Answer 7

Empirical methods
Objectivity
Replicability
Theory construction
Hypothesis testing

Question 8

the difference between deductive and inductive

Answer 8

Deductive- theory at the beginning

Inductive- theory after testing etc

Question 9

parametric, correlation

Answer 9

pearsons r

Question 10

parametric, difference

Answer 10

repeated measures- related t-test

independent measures- unrelated t-test

Question 11

nominal

Answer 11

independent data- chi squared

repeated measures- sign test

Question 12

ordinal, correlation

Answer 12

spearman’s rho

Question 13

ordinal, difference

Answer 13

repeated measures- Wilcoxon

independent groups- Mann-Whitney

Question 14

evaluate repeated measures

Answer 14

• Participants may do better in the second due to a decrease in anxiety and they have practised in the first, order effects
• May guess the purpose after the first so do better in the second
• use 2 different tests, though they must be equivalent
• stop order effects with counter balancing

Question 15

evaluate independent groups

Answer 15

• Participant variables- different abilities
• Need moire participants
• To get around this, randomly allocate participants to the different conditions- distribute variables evenly

Question 16

evaluate matched pairs

Answer 16

• Difficult to match pairs of key variables
• Can’t control all variables because they only need to match relevant pairs
• Restrict the no. of variables they have to match
• Conduct a pilot study to consider key variables that might be important when matching

Question 17

outline all sampling techniques

Answer 17

• Opportunity sampling- most available people- those walking on the street at that moment
• Random sampling- names in a hat
• Stratified sampling- subgroups within a population are identified, then taken from each strata in proportion of their occurance, then random technique to finsh
• Systematic sampling- selecting every 6th person in a list
• Volunteer sampling- people volunteer to an ad

Question 18

evaluate opportunity sampling

Answer 18

Easiest, quickest

Biased due to the sample was taken from a small part of the population

Question 19

evaluate random sampling

Answer 19

Unbiased

Need a list of all people

Question 20

evaluate stratified sampling

Answer 20

More representative

Time-consuming to identify subgroups

Question 21

evaluate systematic sampling

Answer 21

Unbiased as we are using a predetermined system

Not truly unbiased unless you use a random method to determine the sampling (no. of number)

Question 22

evaluate volunteer sampling

Answer 22

Gives access to many participants, more representative

Ps may be more highly motivated or helpful, volunteer bias