Boring maths research methods Flashcards
what are the 3 measures of central tendency
- Mean
- median
- mode
what is the mean
it is the arithmetic average, calculated by adding up the sum of scores then dividing it by the number of scores
what is the median
it is the middle score after the data is ordered
when 2 scores are in the middle add them up and divide by 2
what is the mode
the most frequently occurring score
give an advantage and disadvantage of the mean
advantage- most sensitive and representative measure of central tendency as it takes into account all scores
disadvantage- can be distorted by extreme scores and then becomes unrepresentative of the data set
give an advantage and disadvantage of the median
advantage- unaffected by extreme scores, more appropriate when there are extreme scores
disadvantage- only takes into account 1 or 2 scores
give an advantage and disadvantage of the mode
advantage- unaffected by extreme scores
disadvantage-can be affected by the change in one score, making it unrepresentative
name the types of data
- qualitative
- quantitative
- primary
- secondary
what is qualitative data
data that is in words not numerical and is detailed information
what quantitative data
this is numerical data
what are the strengths of qualitative data
rich detail- allows participants to express their thoughts and feelings, gather lots of detail about them
more meaningful data that is more representative of real life
can explain why
- p’s can explain reasons for their behaviour
help develop more accurate theories and useful practical applications
what are the weaknesses of qualitative data
subjective- during analysis researcher have to look for themes
this is open to bius as different researchers may interpret it in different ways
can affect the validity of conclusions drawn
difficult to analyse
-very time consuming to analyse
- researcher has to write a transcript of each p’s data and spend time going through it to look for themes
not possible to use many participants and makes it difficult to generalise
what is primary data?
original data that has been collected for the purpose of an investigation.
data that has arrived first hand from the participants themselves
what is secondary data
data that has been collected by someone else that has already been analysed and published
strength and wekaness of primary data
strength- it is authentic data obtained from the participants themselves for the purpose of that research
therefore the experiment can be designed in such a way that targets the information the researcher needs
weakness- requires time and effort
to plan research get the participants etc
strength and weakness of secondary data
strength- inexpensive, easily accessed, requiring minimal effort
weakness- data may be invaluable
- at first, it may appear that the data is valuable and promising but on further investigation, it may be outdated or incomplete
the content of the data may not match what the researcher needs
what is reliability
refers to the consistency of research. wether the findings or measuring device used is consistent and creates the same results every time
what are the ways of assessing reliability
inter-rater reliability
test-retest reliability
explain the test-retest method
a person is given a test used in one occasion and the same est is then repeated again a number of times after a reasonable interval with the same person
needs to be long enough so that the respondent does not remember the questions
if there is a positive correlation this means there is good reliability as the outcome is the same or similar everytime. this increases confidence in the study and its conclusions
explain inter-observer relaibility
all observers use the same beahvioural category in a study, observing the same participants.
this can be assessed by measuring the extent to which different observers achieve similar results.
observers record their own data individually and then the sets of data are correlated to establish the degree of similarity
inter-observer reliability is achieved if there is a significant positive correlation between scores
ways to improve reliability in experiments
test- retest method
- make sure all variables are opertionalised
- control of all variables including extrenous variables
- materials used need to be clearly described and in depth method section included in the report so the study can be replicated
- standardized instructions used to improve control
ways to improve reliability in an observation
inter-observer reliability
- use more than one observer and compare reliability
- all observers thoroughly trained and know how to use coding system
- behavioural checklist clear and non-ambiguous
- filming behaviour that is observed to check data against film
ways to improve reliability in a self-report (interview/questionnaire)
interview- inter-rater reliability
questionaire- test-retest
- pilot study carried out before to identify any problems with questions
- all questions checked so that they are clear and non-amiguous
- interviewers should be carfully trained and same interviwer should be used for all interviews
what is validity
validity refers to the accuracy. thye degree to which something claims its measuring what its supposed to be measuring
extent to which findings can be generalised beyond research settings
