Important Key-terms & Memorisation for Research Methods

Question 1

How do we write a hypothesis?

Hint: There are four steps.

Answer 1

1. To write the alternative and null hypotheses for an investigation, you need to identify the key variables in the study. The independent variable is manipulated by the researcher and the dependent variable is the outcome which is measured.
2. Operationalise the variables being investigated. Operational variables (or operationalizing definitions) refer to how you will define and measure a specific variable as it is used in your study.
3. Decide on a direction for your prediction. If there is evidence in the literature to support a specific effect on the independent variable on the dependent variable, write a directional (one-tailed) hypothesis. If there are limited or ambiguous findings in the literature regarding the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable, write a non-directional (two-tailed) hypothesis.
4. Write your hypothesis. A good hypothesis is short (i.e. concise) and comprises clear and simple language.

Question 2

What is the Sign Test?

Moreover, what kind of test is it and what does N and S represent?

Answer 2

✩ The sign test is a method used in interferential statistics to determine whether or not an observed result (from an experiment) is significant or not.

✩ It is a non-parametric test which means that there is no assumption that the data will follow a normal distribution.

✩ It is known as the Sign Test as it is based on the number of plus or minus signs present in the data after the calculations have taken place

✩ N = Number of Participants, S = The Observed Value

Question 3

What criteria determine the use of the Sign Test?

Hint: There are four criteria, well technically three…

Answer 3

✩ Investigating a difference (i.e. an experiment)

✩ Repeated measures design (i.e. each participant experiences all conditions of the IV)

✩ Nominal data (i.e. data in categories)

–

✩ Is the hypothesis directional or non-directional (this will determine which critical value to apply to the data)

Question 4

What are the Steps of the Sign Test?

Hint: There are 6 steps, this could be an 8 marker.

Answer 4

1. Subtract each value in the control condition from the experimental condition, recording the sign (+ or -)
2. Count the number of times the less frequent sign appears to give you S
3. Count the total number of pluses and minuses to get N
4. Use the table of critical values for the sign test, picking one or two tailed as appropriate. The critical value at the intersection between N and the 0.05 level of significance.
5. S must be less than or equal to the critical value to be significant
6. State the conclusion (i.e. as the result is significant/not significant we cannot accept the null/alternative hypothesis; therefore, we accept the alternative/null hypothesis)

Question 5

What is Randomisation?

Answer 5

✩ The use of chance (such as in choosing participants) in order to control for the effects of researcher bias when designing materials and deciding the order of conditions.

Question 6

What is the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 errors?

How can we fix Type 1 and 2 errors?

Answer 6

✩ Type 1 error - Is a false positive. It is where you accept the alternative hypothesis when it is false —> overly lenient

Solution: Make significance level lower.

WHEREAS

✩ Type 2 error - Is a false negative. It is where you accept the null hypothesis when it is false –> overly strict

Solution: Make significance level higher.

Question 7

Implications of Psychological Research for the Economy

Tell me about its implications in Attachment

Answer 7

✩ Role of the father – Tiffany Field found that fathers can take on the role of being a primary caregiver.

What does it mean for the economy?

✩ Mothers can return to work

✩ More flexible working arranges within families

✩ Can maximise their income and effectively contribute to the economy.

Question 8

Implications of Psychological Research for the Economy

Tell me about its implications in Psychopathology

Answer 8

✩ Research into the association of low levels serotonin with OCD, has led to the development of SSRIs.

✩ Patients can simply take them and live relatively normal lives. This means that offering drugs can lead to an enhanced quality of life as patients are given independence.

What does this mean for the economy?

✩ This meant those patients could return to work, pay taxes and not cost the health care system more, which has a positive effect on the economy

Question 9

Implications of Psychological Research for the Economy

Tell me about its implications in Forensic Psychology

Answer 9

✩ Eyewitness testimony – How leading questions or post event discussion can affect eyewitness testimony.

What does it mean for the economy?

✩ Led to police using the cognitive interview which reduces wrongful convictions of innocent civilians and hence reduces waste of money and space in jail.

Question 10

What are the five features of Psychology as a Science?

Answer 10

Paradigms & paradigm shifts, Theory construction & hypothesis testing, Falsifiability, Replicability , Objectivity and the empirical method

Question 11

Can you define Paradigms & paradigm shifts as a feature of Psychology as a science?

Answer 11

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

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

✩ Kuhn argues that paradigm shifts separate scientific disciplines from non-scientific disciplines, and that they also show progress within a science.

✩ When compared to this feature, psychology appears to have too much disagreement and conflicting approaches and thus some may argue it cannot qualify as a science but rather a pre-science.

Question 12

Can you define Theory construction & hypothesis testing as a feature of Psychology as a science?

Answer 12

✩ Theory construction occurs through the gathering of evidence from direct observation using empirical methods. Theory should generate a testable hypothesis.

✩ Hypothesis testing - it should be possible to make clear predictions on the basis of the theory.

Question 13

Can you define Replicability as a feature of Psychology as a science?

Answer 13

✩ Falsifiability is the principle that states a theory cannot be considered scientific unless it allows itself to be proven untrue. Popper argues that this is a key criterion for a scientific theory.

✩ He proposed the theory of falsification which states that successful theories that have been constantly tested and supported simply have not been proven wrong yet.

✩ Sciences that cannot be proven wrong are known as ‘psuedosciences’ - a good example is Freud’s concepts from the psychodynamic approach like the Oedipus Complex

Question 14

Can you define Objectivity and the empirical method as a feature of Psychology as a science?

Answer 14

✩ Objectivity is when all possible biases from the researcher are minimised so that they do not influence or distort the research process.

✩ The empirical method is when evidence is collected through making direct observations and through direct experiences.

✩ A theory cannot be scientific unless it can be empirically tested and verified using either the empirical experimental or observational method.

Question 15

Can you define Falsifiability as a feature of Psychology as a science?

Answer 15

✩ Replicability refers to the extent to which scientific methods and their results can be repeated by other researchers across other contexts and circumstances.

✩ It is used to assess validity and reliability of results from a research study.

Question 16

What is the Serial Position Effect?

Answer 16

✩ Some of the strongest evidence for the multi-store model comes from serial position effect studies and studies of brain-damaged patients.

✩ The tendency to recall earlier words is called the primacy effect; the tendency to recall later words is called the recency effect.

✩ Murdock suggested that words early in the list were put into long term memory (primacy effect) because the person has time to rehearse each word acoustically.

✩ Words from the end of the list went into short term memory (recency effect) which can typically hold about 7 items.

✩ In a nutshell, when participants remember primary and recent information, it is thought that they are recalling information from two separate stores (STM and LTM).

Question 17

What arguments are put fourth about Psychology as a Science?

Arguments For… #1 - Scientific Determinism

Expand point and provide an example.

Answer 17

✩ Scientific methods are used in many research studies giving them scientific credibility.

✩ For example, determinism is consistent with the aims of science as it allows us to predict behaviour through establishing cause and effect relationships and therefore allowing us to better understand and manage behaviour.

✩ This is evident in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory which allows researchers to identify that if children are left alone, during a critical period, they’ll need adequate substitute care to avoid the long-term effects of maternal deprivation such as problems with cognitive development.

Question 18

What arguments are put fourth about Psychology as a Science?

Arguments Against… #1 - Observations

Expand point and provide an example.

Answer 18

✩ Experiment interpretations can be subjective and may not capture the true behaviour of participants, leading to the findings being low in validity.

✩ For example, observations depend on how the observer interprets the behaviour of the participant. This means that it is open to observer bias as the researcher may only note down behaviours that support their own theories, or behaviours that reflect what they hoped to find.

✩ Therefore, psychological methods of investigation may not be obtaining objective data and thus psychology cannot be viewed as a science.

Question 19

What arguments are put fourth about Psychology as a Science?

Arguments Against… #2 - Case studies

Expand point and provide an example.

Answer 19

✩ While case studies do appear to provide rich qualitative data which can be used to gain insight into further research, it is unreliable and ungeneralisable.

✩ For example, HM’s case study was beneficial because it played a role in the development of the understanding of the localisation of brain function, but our use of case studies is limited in psychological research because this we cannot test for reliability as the study cannot be repeated as replicating brain damage in people is unethical. Therefore, psychology can be argued as not being a science as it does not meet the features of replicability as a feature of science.

Question 20

What arguments are put fourth about Psychology as a Science?

Arguments Against… #3 - Cognitive Approach

Expand point and provide an example.

Answer 20

✩ The cognitive approach has also been criticised for being too abstract and theoretical. This is because cognitive psychologists are only able to infer mental processes from the behaviour they observe in their research.

✩ For example, neuroimaging evidence showing activity in the brain for certain cognitive functions is only correlational and does not signal scientific validation for theoretical models. This means that only assumptions/inferences can be made about mental processes because they cannot be directly observed which can cast doubt on the validity of the claims.

Question 21

What is an acronym to remember references?

Answer 21

Surname (Some)
Date (Dinosaurs)
Title (Tried)
City (Calling)
Publisher (Papa)

Question 22

What are behavourial categories?

Answer 22

✩ Behavioural categories contain a list of key behaviours, or collections of behaviour, that the researcher conducting the observation will pay attention to and record.

✩Target behaviour is broken up into a set of behavioural categories that should be precisely defined and made observable and measurable.

✩For instance, the target behaviour ‘affection’ may be broken down into observational categories such as hugging.

Question 23

What are coding frames?

Provide an example…

Answer 23

✩Allow for more specific behaviours to be observed within a behaviour category. Codes and abbreviations can be used to record the severity of behaviours or a different subtype within a category.

✩Example of Codes – Severity of strength of the Kicks from weakest to strongest – K1 or K2 or K3 or K4 or K5.

Question 24

How can we increase the validity of observations?

Answer 24

✩Carry out a covert observation so participants don’t change their behaviour (observer effect)

✩Double blind observations to reduce observer bias

✩Clearly operationalised coding system.

Question 25

How can we increase the reliability of observations?

Answer 25

✩Clearly operationalised coding system

✩Check inter-rater reliability

✩Train researchers to use coding system to ensure there is a consistent understanding of the behavioural categories

✩Conduct a pilot study to check behaviour categories

Question 26

The validity of self-report methods can be improved by:

Answer 26

✩Removing leading/unclear/poorly operationalised/socially desirable/recall questions (can find which ones these are using a pilot study)

✩Adding open questions with qualitative data.

✩Adding closed questions to allow for easy quantitative data collection

✩Add filler questions unrelated to the study so that participants don’t figure out the aim and display demand characteristics

✩Ensuring answers will be anonymous and confident.

Question 27

The reliability of self-report methods can be improved by:

Answer 27

✩Training interviewers so they are standardised.

✩Providing standardised questions.

✩Adding closed questions with quantifiable data.

✩Using split test/test-retest methods.

Question 28

What are the Main Aims of Peer Reviews

6 marks: 3 points + Development..

Answer 28

To allocate research funding

✩ Independent peer evaluation also takes place to decide whether or not to award funding for a proposed research project.

To validate the quality and relevance of research

✩ All elements of research are assessed for quality and accuracy: the formulation of hypotheses, the methodology chosen, the statistical tests used, and the conclusionsbeh drawn.

To suggest amendments or improvements.

✩ Reviewers may suggest minor revisions of the work and thereby improve the report, or, in extreme circumstances, they may conclude that the work is inappropriate fo

Question 29

How is bias overcome by using peer reviews?

Answer 29

+ Issues of bias can be overcome by using a double-blind peer review.

+ This is when both the reviewer and the author are anonymous, and therefore no extra information is provided which could influence their judgement.

Question 30

How can bias still impact the success of a peer review?

Answer 30

• The reviewer is more likely to look favourably upon research presented by someone within their social circle.
• Other forms of bias include Institution bias (research from prestigious universities is favoured) and Gender Bias (male researchers seem to be favoured)

Question 31

What is the ‘file-drawer’ problem?

Answer 31

• There is a bias towards publishing studies with positive results i.e., those supporting the hypothesis.
• Negative findings tend to be either rejected or are never submitted for publication.
• For every study showing positive findings, there could be a hundred with negative results stuffed in university filing drawer – our understanding of a subject then becomes distorted.

Question 32

What is counterbalancing?

Answer 32

✩ Counterbalancing is when participants are divided into two different groups and each group performs a slightly different task from each other to eliminate any order effects.

Question 33

How should a debrief form be written?

6 steps…

Answer 33

✩ Thank them

✩ Brief summary about what the study is about

✩ How their data will be used.

✩ Ethical issues are addressed.

✩ Ask if they have any questions

✩ Signature and Email.

Question 34

What is test-retest reliability?

Answer 34

✩Involves presenting the same participants with the same test or questionnaire on two separate occasions and seeing whether there is a positive correlation between the two. If correlation is poor, then we should alter the task until it produces higher correlation.

Question 35

What is the split-half method?

Answer 35

✩Data collected is split randomly in half and compared, to see if results taken from each part of the measure are similar. It therefore follows that reliability can be improved if items that produce similar results are used.

Question 36

What is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 36

✩ Extent to which two or more observers are observing and recording behaviour in the same way. We can assess it by comparing the results of two researchers on the same thing and see how well they correlate. We can improve inter rater reliability with training, practice in a pilot study, better operationalisation, and ensuring that each researcher has the same ability to see the subjects.

Question 37

What is content analysis?

Answer 37

✩ Technique used to analyse qualitative data which involves coding the written data into categories – converting qualitative data into quantitative data.

Question 38

What is the criteria for a parametric test?

Answer 38

✩ Data must be interval level - parametric tests use the actual scores rather than ranked data.

✩ The data should be drawn from a population which would be expected to show a normal distribution for the variable being measured. Variables that would produce a skewed distribution are not appropriate for parametric tests.

✩ There should be homogeneity of variance - the set of scores in each condition should have similar dispersion or spread. One way of determining variance is by comparing the standard deviations in each condition. If they are similar, a parametric test may be used. In a related design it is generally assumed that the two groups of scores have a similar spread.