research Flashcards
(36 cards)
What is qualitative data ?
It is gathered through observations and interviews and it descriptive, relating to words and language and is open to interpretation. Analyzed by grouping data into categories
eg. gender.
What is quantitative data?
countable, measuring( relating to numbers). it tells us how much and how often. it is gathered by measuring and counting things and is analysed by statistical analysis. it tells us factual info.
eg. 50% of people in New York strongly like pizza.
What is a directional hypothesis?
a prediction stating that an effect will occur and it will specifically increase or decrease, depending on changes to the independent variable. should include dependent and independent.
what is a non directional hypothesis?
hypothesis that there is a relationship between variables by no direction is specified. will predict that the independent will influence dependent without specifying how.
extraneous variable?
a variable that is not under investigation in an experiment by may potentially affect the outcomes or dependent variable thus influencing results
Extraneous participant, environmental, researcher variables.
participant- related to the individuals characteristics of each study participant that may impact how they respond e.g. background differences, mood, anxiety
environmental- things in the environment that may impact how each participant responds e.g. noise, temp, lighting conditions
researcher- researched may unintentionally suggest clues for how participant should behave.
confounding variable
an unmeasured variable that influences both the supposed cause and effect, alters relationship between dependent and independent.
e.g.
what is convenience sampling
Selection of participants is based on the researcher’s accessibility to the participants or the participants’ availability.
e.g.Sampling one class in a school
what are the positives and negatives of convenience sampling
time effective, easy to do
negatives- does not always provide a sample representative of the population based on age, gender, interests.
what is random sampling
uses a carefully planned method that ensures every member of the population has a chance of being selected.
e.g.Pulling names out of a container.
what are the negatives and positives of random sampling
positives- less likely to be affected by sample bias, equal chance of being selected, more likely to be representative than convenience.
negatives- might not be representative, population is large, sampling is hard to acheive.
what is stratified sampling?
when the population is broken into groups based on characteristics relevant to the research they share- may require pretesting. Then participants selected randomly from each group in same proportion as they appear in the whole population, highly representative of population.
negatives and positives of stratified sampling?
results in representative sampling
negatives- info required about participants can be time consuming also can invade privacy if they ask questions not relevant to the study. expensive
what is snowballing?
A sampling method where current participants help recruit future participants for a study.
Researchers will form an initial sample by drafting any potential subjects from a population.
Even if only a couple subjects are found at first, researchers will ask those subjects to recruit other individuals for the study. Study participants will only provide specific names of recruited individuals if there is no risk a violation of privacy, current participants will continue to recruit others until the necessary sample size has been reached.
negatives and positives of snowballing?
participants are likely to know others who share similar characteristics that are relevant to the study. Participants are generally interested in and can contribute to the topic.
negatives- Since initial participants recruit new members, the sample is likely biased. e.g. An Individual who is well known/sociable is more likely to be recruited.
what is a target population?
is the total group of individuals that an experimenter is interested in and from which a sample group might be drawn.
what is a sample?
a subsection of a target population that is representative of the population of research interest. sampling is the process of selecting a representative group from the population under study.
what is sample bias?
A systematic error introduced by the sampling method.
what is generalisability?
refers to the extent to which we can apply the findings of our research to the target population we are interested in.
what is experimental research?
The experimental method involves the manipulation ofvariablesto establish cause and effect relationships. there is a control group who is not exposed to any changes and an experimental.
strengths and limitations or experimental research?
Cause and effect relationship is made. Experiments can be replicated to determine reliability of data. Researchers have greater control over variables than is found in non-experimental research.
limitations- results might not reflect real life behaviour. Difficult to control all required variables in a real-life setting
what is non experimental research?
Research where an independent variable is unable to be manipulated but may be measured.
what are the 3 reasons you cant manipulate the independent variable
The variables physically cannot be manipulated, but may be measured – e.g., age.
The variables cannot be manipulated for ethical reasons – e.g., promoting alcohol use to study its effects of newborns .It is not easy to alter the variables. This includes things like suburban crime.
strengths and limitations
Allows research to be conducted using variables that cannot be manipulated by the experimenter.
limitations- cause and effect cannot be established, difficult to control extraneous varibles.
