as psychology research methods AO3 Flashcards

1
Q

what are the advantages of independent group design?

A

avoids order effects - as participants only do one condition

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2
Q

what are the disadvantages of independent group design?

A
  • larger number of participants required
  • individual differences may affect results (as two separate groups have different participants)
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3
Q

what are the advantages of repeated measures design?

A
  • minimises individual differences (as same people in each condition)
  • fewer participants required
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4
Q

what are the disadvantages of repeated measures design?

A
  • order effects (as same people do both conditions)
  • demand characteristics (easier to guess aim of study)
  • different set of materials required
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5
Q

what are the advantages of matched pairs design?

A
  • minimises order effects
  • minimises individual differences
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6
Q

what are the disadvantages of matched pair design?

A

difficult to achieve good match as it is time consuming (they are still not exactly the same)

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7
Q

what are the advantages of a questionnaire?

A
  • can gain large amounts of data quickly and easier data analysis
  • questionnaires dont have interviewer bias so it is easier to replicate
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8
Q

what are the disadvantages of questionnaire?

A

response bias and social desirability

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9
Q

what are the advantages of interviews?

A
  • more detailed so gives qualitative data (follow up points etc)
  • reduce social desirability so can build rapport with interviewee
  • no response bias
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10
Q

what are the disadvantages of interviews?

A
  • harder to replicate
  • difficult data analysis (statistically)
  • interview bias
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11
Q

why are closed questions better than open ones in some studies?

A

easier to analyse using statistics as they generate quantitative data

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12
Q

why are open questions better than closed ones in some studies?

A

gives qualitative data so easier to make conclusions and more detailed

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13
Q

what are the strengths of random sampling?

A

the sample will likely be unbiased as there is no researcher bias and will end up with a representative sample

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14
Q

what are the weaknesses of random sampling?

A
  • time consuming especially if large target population
  • could still be biased/unrepresentative
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15
Q

what are the strengths of stratified sampling?

A
  • very representative of population as everyone represent correctly
  • avoids researcher bias
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16
Q

what are the weaknesses of stratified sampling?

A
  • time consuming and difficult
  • smaller groups may not represent all the types of people in target population
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17
Q

what are the strengths of opportunity sampling?

A

convenient to do as quick and easy

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18
Q

what are the weaknesses of opportunity sampling?

A
  • tends to be less representative as taken from small section of population
  • researcher bias
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19
Q

what are the strengths of volunteer sampling?

A

quick and easy as participants come to researcher

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20
Q

what are the weaknesses of volunteer sampling?

A

participants likely to be similar more eager to please and more willing so reduces generalisability

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21
Q

what are the strengths of systematic sampling?

A

avoids researcher bias as people are systematically chosen

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22
Q

what are the weaknesses of systematic sampling?

A
  • time consuming and they may refuse to take part
  • could be unrepresentative (could potentially miss out whole groups)
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23
Q

what are the advantages of lab experiments?

A
  • extraneous variables can be controlled
  • can be replicated due to control
24
Q

what are the disadvantages of lab experiments?

A
  • can be artificial and could lack ecological validity
  • demand characteristics
  • lack of mundane realism - hard to generalise tasks to real life
25
Q

what are the advantages of field experiments?

A
  • ecologically valid
  • more mundane realism
  • reduce demand characteristics as less aware of taking parts of study
26
Q

what are the disadvantages of field experiments?

A
  • extraneous variables are harder to control
  • more difficult to replicate
  • ethics unaware of taking part of study and invade their privacy
27
Q

what are the advantages of natural experiments?

A
  • allow study of phenomena which may not be possible for ethical reasons
  • high ecological validity as studying real life
28
Q

what are the disadvantages of natural experiments?

A
  • loss of control extraneous variables and so unsure if IV affecting DV
  • conditions not always possible to find
29
Q

what are the advantages of quasi experiments?

A
  • extraneous variables controlled
  • can be replicated due to high control
30
Q

what are the disadvantages of quasi experiments?

A

can’t randomly allocate participants which may lead to confounding variables

31
Q

what are the strength of naturalistic observation?

A
  • high ecological validity
  • lack of control
32
Q

what are the weakness of naturalistic observation?

A
  • harder to replicate
  • more extraneous variables
  • lower internal validity
33
Q

what are the strengths of controlled observations?

A
  • control of extraneous variables
  • higher internal validity
34
Q

what are the weaknesses of controlled observations?

A
  • can’t be generalised into real life
  • lower ecological validity
35
Q

what are the strengths of an overt observation?

A

informed consent given so more ethical

36
Q

what are the weaknesses of an overt observation?

A
  • more investigator effects
  • demand characteristics
  • participant reactivity
  • lower internal validity
37
Q

what are the strengths of a covert observation?

A
  • less investigator effects
  • less demand characteristics
  • high internal validity
38
Q

what are the weaknesses of a covert observation?

A
  • goes against privacy
  • ethical issues
39
Q

what are the strengths of participant observations?

A
  • allow first hand account
  • high external validity
40
Q

what are the weaknesses of participant observations?

A

lose objectivity

41
Q

what are the strengths of non participant observations?

A

more objective

42
Q

what are the weakness of none participant observations?

A

less valuable insight as removed from first hand situations

43
Q

what are the strengths of correlations?

A
  • useful preliminary tool as it can investigate how variables are related to suggest further ideas for research
  • quick and easy to carry out as usually using secondary data
44
Q

what are the weaknesses of correlations?

A
  • can’t demonstrate cause and effect (no infer of causation)
  • third variable may cause link between variables so may not be related at all
45
Q

what are the strength of meta analysis?

A

good population validity so can be generalised across larger populations

46
Q

what are the weaknesses of meta analysis?

A

publication bias so may not select all relevant data so data may be biased (file drawer problem)

47
Q

what are the strengths of primary and secondary data?

A
  • all data relevant to study as its purpose is only for that
  • less time consuming as data already exists
48
Q

what are the weaknesses of primary and secondary data?

A
  • more time consuming to collect data as have to carry out study
  • data purpose not for study
49
Q

what are the advantages of case studies?

A
  • rich interesting data so high ecological validity
  • allow study of rare cases where large samples unavailable
  • starting point for further researcher
50
Q

what are the disadvantages of case studies?

A
  • low reliability as unable to replicate
  • may be subjective as relationship between interview and case may impact study
  • large amount of data may lead to bias when selecting
  • lack of population validity
  • could be less considered due to idiographic nature
51
Q

what are the strength and weaknesses of mean as a measure of central tendency?

A

+ uses all data so most representative of data as a whole
- can be distorted due to extreme values

52
Q

what are the strength and weaknesses of median as a measure of central tendency?

A

+ not affected by extreme values
- doesn’t take account of all the values in data

53
Q

what are the strengths and weaknesses of mode as a measure of central tendency?

A

+ easier to calculate
- crude measure
- may not be useful

54
Q

what are the strengths and weaknesses of range as a measure of dispersion?

A

+ easy to calculate compared to standard deviation
- only looks at extreme values so may be unrepresentative

55
Q

what are the strengths and weaknesses of range as a measure of dispersion?

A

+ more precise as it includes all data into calculation
+ more representative
- can be distorted by extreme values
- difficult to calculate

56
Q

what are the strengths and weaknesses of peer review?

A

+ anonymity so peers more likely to produce honest criticism of work
- publication bias as editors and journalists may choose more headline grabbing work to increase circulation so some research can be ignored
- burying ground breaking research as it may oppose mainstream theories as peers are more critical of work that doesn’t match their own so work follows current ideologies