Research Methods

Question 1

Hawthorne effect

Answer 1

Added attention of being in a study affects P’s behaviour

Question 2

Greenspoon effect

Answer 2

Interviewer makes affirmative noises

Question 3

Interviewer bias

Answer 3

Interviewer affects responses of interviewee

Question 4

Experimenter bias

Answer 4

Experimenter affects results e.g. body language

Question 5

Order effects

Answer 5

Extraneous variables in repeated measures design e.g. learning or fatigue

Question 6

Event sampling

Answer 6

Observers decide on a specific event relevant to their investigation and record every time it happens

Question 7

Time sampling

Answer 7

Recording behaviour within a pre-established time frame e.g. every 30 secs you look and record the behaviour observed

Question 8

Lab experiment

Answer 8

Controlled environment
IV manipulated
P’s randomly allocated to conditions

Question 9

Field experiment

Answer 9

Natural environment
IV manipulated
No control over extraneous variables

Question 10

Natural experiment

Answer 10

Setting can be natural or controlled

IV not manipulated, based on unplanned, naturally occurring events (whether they have kids, been in a car crash)

Question 11

Quasi experiment

Answer 11

Setting can be natural or controlled
IV not manipulated, based on pre-existing differences between P’s (age, gender)
Planned manipulation of IV

Question 12

Pilot study

Answer 12

Small scale version of an investigation that takes place before the real one, allowing the researcher to check all the procedures, materials etc work and let them make final changes

Question 13

5 Ethical issues

Answer 13

Deception
Right to withdraw
Informed consent
Protection of participants
Confidentially

Question 14

Three alternative ways of gathering consent

Answer 14

Presumptive- asking a similar group of ‘P’s’ if they’d agree
Prior-general consent- give consent to participate in multiple experiments, one of which being a deception one
Retrospective- asked for consent during debriefing

Question 15

Confounding variables

Answer 15

Affect the DV and vary systematically with the IV (affect everyone in the same way)

Question 16

Checking for reliability

Answer 16

Test-retest: conduct the test again and see if you get the same results
Spearman’s rho: test for a correlation

Question 17

Ways to improve reliability

Answer 17

• Observers familiarise themselves with behavioural categories
• Pilot study
• Compare observers data with a correlation coefficient
• Operationalise variables
• Repeat

Question 18

Purpose of peer review

Answer 18

• Allocation of research funding
• Validate quality and relevance of research
• Suggest amendments or improvements before publishing, or if it should be withdrawn

Question 19

Process of peer review

Answer 19

• Sent to anonymous peer
• Peer checks for: originality, validity, methods and design, results
• Report can be accepted, amendments suggested or rejected
• Final reports submitted to a panel and assessed for publication

Question 20

Inferential vs descriptive stats

Answer 20

Inferential- draw conclusions about how significant the data is (stats tests)
Descriptive- characterise and describe the data (mean, SD, etc)

Question 21

Problems with questionnaires

Answer 21

• Overuse of jargon (technical terms which are unfamiliar to the participant)
• Emotive language
• Leading questions
• Double negatives

Question 22

Naturalistic observation

Answer 22

Naturalistic setting, investigator doesn’t interfere in any way, just observes behaviour present

Question 23

Controlled observation

Answer 23

Observing behaviour under controlled conditions

Question 24

Overt observation

Answer 24

Participants are aware they’re being watched

Question 25

Covert observation

Answer 25

Participants are not aware that they are being watched

Question 26

Structured observation

Answer 26

Researcher determines precisely what behaviours are being observed, uses a standardised checklist to record frequency of behaviours within a time frame

Question 27

Unstructured observation

Answer 27

Observer records all relevant behaviour but has no specific system

Question 28

Participant observation

Answer 28

Researcher gets involved with participant activity so they can experience it for themselves

Question 29

Non-participant observation

Answer 29

Observer mains separate from the participants

Question 30

Concurrent validity

Answer 30

The level of agreement between data produced by a new test compared to the established test (close agreement = correlation between two sets which is greater than +0.8)

Question 31

Abstract

Answer 31

First section
Short summary of whole report
Brief methods, aims, results, discussion, etc
Usually written last

Question 32

Introduction

Answer 32

Second section
Background research
Rationale for current research
Aims and hypothesis

Question 33

Method/procedure

Answer 33

Third section

Details of how study was conducted: design, materials, procedure, participants, ethics

Question 34

Results

Answer 34

Fourth section
What the study found
Any stats, facts, figures
Two types: descriptive and inferential

Question 35

Discussion

Answer 35

Fifth (penultimate) section
Researcher aims to interpret findings:
-Summary of results and explanation of what they show
-Relationship to prior research
-Considerations for methodology
-Implications for theory and irl application
-Suggestions for future research

Question 36

References

Answer 36

Sixth (final) section
List all of the information used in the report that is not the researchers own work
Allows researchers to be credited and prevents plagiarism
Order for reference: name (surname then first name initial); date in brackets; book title; place published; publishing company