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GROOT Flashcards

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1
Q

What is a construct?

A

An intangible, abstract attribute that is theorised to underlie observable behaviour. Not directly observable or measureable

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2
Q

What is an operational definition?

A

The process of defining and measuring an unobservable construct indirectly

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3
Q

What are 3common type of research question?

A

Association (is happiness related to sunshine?)
Difference (are arts students happier than science students?)
Prediction (does happiness influence academic performance?)

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4
Q

Where do research questions come from?

A

Interest, practical problems, theories, observation

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5
Q

Why is a literature search and review important?

A

Helps to inform what study has been done in area of interest, when work has been done, helps inform what next logical step will be

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6
Q

Qualities of a good hypothesis

A

Should follow on from literature review
Very specific in contrast to research question
Testable - observable and measureable qualities
Should be refutable - should be able to be proved or disproved
Should be predictive of an effect
Should not ever predict nothing will happen
Must be positive statement of effect

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7
Q

What is a variable?

A

A characteristic that can change or vary between people (could be intangible - like IQ, or tangible - height, weight, etc)

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8
Q

When do you use an IV and DV in an experiment?

A

When doing a causal experiment

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9
Q

Define IV

A

Variables that are causal or influential to focus of research - the thing you change

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10
Q

Define DV

A

Affected by IV - what you measure

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11
Q

What is a continuous variable?

A

Allow for decimal or fractional values between points on a scale to be obtained (time, distance, etc)

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12
Q

What is a discrete variable?

A

Seperate, indivisible categories, and values can’t meaningfully exist between points on a scale - no decimals or fractions (no. of people in a family)

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13
Q

What is a nominal scale?

A

Measurement based on a set of categories
Values assigned to indicate different category, and no intrinsic ordering (different values don’t = differences in magnitude, just indicate membership to different categories)

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14
Q

What is an ordinal scale?

A

Values assigned to indicate order, but does not describe magnitude of differences between points on a measurement scale (e.g. running race, 1, 2, 3, indicates order of arrival at finish line, but does not describe how far ahead each runner was of the other, in either time or distance)

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15
Q

What is an interval scale?

A

Numbers indicate an actual amount of something, e.g. temperature, has equal units of measurements seperating scores, but there is not a real 0, in that 0 does not mean complete absence of something,

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16
Q

What is a ratio scale?

A

Numbers equal an actual amount of something, with even amounts seperating scores, has a real 0, could measure distance with this scale

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17
Q

What is research design?

A

Refers to structure and format of an experiment

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18
Q

What are the 5 main types of research design?

A

Descriptive, correlational, experimental, quasi-experimental, non-experimental

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19
Q

What is descriptive research design?

A

Describing natural state of individual variables experienced by a certain group of people.
No experimentation, nothing is manipulated, focus is on observation only (height of people in class, then could describe what is typical)

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20
Q

What is correlational research design?

A

Concerned with relationships between variables, with no experimental manipulations, instead looking for relationship between 2 variables (e.g. relationship between happiness and exercise).
Cannot make claims about cause and effect or which variable influences the other.
Could also be a 3rd variable that explains relationahip between the other 2

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21
Q

What is experimental research design

A

Determining cause and effect in a relationship between variables
2 core features: manipluation of hypothesised independent variable and uses carefulyl controlled experimental conditions to increase internal validity or degree of confidence in direct relationship between 2 variables

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22
Q

What is random assignment of participants to different groups and how does it increase internal validity?

A

Randomly assigning people from sample to groups, which manipulates IV
Rules out biases that may effect group allocations

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23
Q

What is quasi-experimental research design?

A

Investiage cause and effect, and some effort made to include controls for extraneous variables, but less stringent controls possible, preventing thorough evidence of cause and effect, mainly in that don’t include random assignment of people to groups

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24
Q

What is non-experimental research design?

A

Similar to correlational designs, looking for relationships between variables, but do not attempt to alter variables or explain cause and effect.
Invoves 2 or more groups of people on 1 variable and compare groups
(are arts or science students smarter?)

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25
Define population
Everyone of relevance to a research study
26
What is a sample?
group of people from population participating in the study
27
What is probability sampling?
number of sampling techniques that can be applied when certain characteristics of the populations are known, and probability of any given individual taking part in research study can be determined
28
What is the simplest form of probability sampling?
Random sampling, where each individual in the population has equal chance of being selected for a research study. Free of any type of selection bias but does not guarantee if sample selected will be representative of population
29
What are non-probablity sampling techniques?
Where probability of selecting a given individual is not known. Pragmatic and useful for psych studies, but can be vulnerable to selection bias, which can affect degree to which a sample is representative of a population
30
Where is ethics within the research process?
At the centre
31
What is good ethical practice intended to do?
To ensure the welfare and dignity of participants
32
What governs ethical guidelines in Australia?
The National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research
33
What are the 3 core terms of ethical conduct according to the NHMRC?
Justice, Beneficence and Respect
34
What are the 2 components of justice?
Merit and Integrity
35
What is merit?
Research that is seen to have benefit to humanity, and is scientifically sound (likely to achieve its aim - this is done by conducting a lit review of work in the area of interest)
36
What is integrity?
Research perfomed with good research conduct. Conducting research with honesty and transparency whether or not hypotheses were supported
37
What is justice?
Inclusion or exclusion of research participants is fair and equitable, no unfari burden placed on any participant group, no exploitation of participants, fair distribution/access of participation benefits,
38
What is Beneficence?
Measuring benefits/risks of doing the experiment. Research should have benefits, to either participants or community that would justify any risks or discomforts endured as part of the experiment. Risk should be minimised and controlled. Benefits and risks must be described to participants prior to unertaking the study. Helps for informed consent
39
What is respect?
Hold regard for research participants, their cultures, beliefs and welfare. Respect provacy and confidentiality of participants + empower people to make decisions about their participation
40
How are projects approved for ethics?
Proposal sent to ethics advisory group for approval
41
What does a research proposal provide?
Lit review of data in the space, proposed method, risk management, all measures used, explanation of what participants will be required to do and how they will be supported.
42
Is psychological research primarily qualitative or quantitative?
Quantitative
43
What is a frequency distribution?
Grouping no. of individuals located at each point on the scale of measurement
44
What is a normal distribution/bell curve?
Most scores in middle, then reduce towards either end of the histogram in a symmetrical fashion.
45
What side is data higher on for a positive skew?
Left
46
What side is data higher on for a negative skew?
Right
47
Where are low scores on a box plot?
Low 25% at bottom
48
Where are middle scores on a box plot?
Middle 50% (mean is the line in the box)
49
Where are high scores on a box plot?
High 25% at the top
50
What happens to outliers on a box plot?
Represented as a dot above or below whiskers
51
What is central tendency?
What is most typical/representative
52
Describe the mean of a data set
AKA the average Appropriate to use with interval and ratio data, and with normal distributions If data is skewed or has outliers, this may move mean away from where it actually is in a data set
53
Describe median
Can be used if data is skewed (middle no. is always middle, regardless of outliers) Also used with ordinal scales of measurement
54
Describe the mode
Best to use with discrete data and nominal scales of measure
55
What is variability?
How scores are spread out through a distribution of data
56
What does low variability mean?
Scores are close together + close to the mean (means the mean is a good measure to use for this data)
57
What does high variability mean?
Scores far away from each other + far from the mean (means the mean is not a good measure for this data)
58
What are 3 measures of quantitative variability?
Range, interquartile range, standard deviation
59
What is range?
Highest score - lowest score
60
What is interquartile range?
Distance in a distribution from scores falling the first quartile (25% percentile) to scores at the third quartile (75% percentile) Note: Median = second quartile This is used when it's appropriate to use a median as measure of central tendency
61
What is standard deviation?
Average amount that scores differ/deviate from the mean To find a deviation score: Pick a score and subtract the mean from it (note: can get negatives in this process)
62
How is the problem of negative scores solved in standard deviation?
By squaring each deviation score
63
What is sum of squares?
The sum of each squared deviation score
64
What do you do to a sum of squares?
Calculate variance, so divide sum of squares by the sample size -1 (n-1 - degrees of freedom) which corrects underestimation bias which would be there if you use whole sample size instead.
65
What is standard deviation?
Square root of variance (bc distribution was squared, we now need to square root to cancel this out)

Psychology (10 decks)

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