Research Methods Flashcards
(239 cards)
How do you work out the mean
Add all the values together then divide by the number of values
What’s a strength of using mean as a measure of central tendency
More sensitive as it uses all score and not just a select few
What’s a weakness of using mean as a measure of central tendency
Can be easily distorted if there is outliers and therefore be unrepresentative
How do you work out the median as a central tendency
All the values are arranged into order and the middle value is the median
What is a strength of using the median
It’s not affected by outliers so still representative
What’s a weakness of using a median as a central tendency
May not be representative as does not take into account all data
How do you work out the mode
The most frequent recurring number
What’s a strength with using the mode
Not effected by outliers
What’s a weakness of using a mode
Can be unrepresentative and there isn’t always a mode
How do you work out the range
The highest number takeaway the lowest number
What’s a strength of using the range as a measure of central tendency
It gives a basic indication of the spread of scores
What’s a weakness of using the range as a measure of dispersion
Does not indicate how groups are scored around the mean
What is a self report
Any method where a person is asked to state or explain their own thoughts/feelings
What are ethical concerns?
Withdraw
Consent
Confidentiality
Deception
Protection from harm and abuse
How can we ensure consent is given
Obtain prior general consent - inform the participant they will not be told everything and may be deceived
Obtain fully informed consent - ask the participants to formally consent to the research after being given comprehensive details about the aims and procedures
How can we ensure we do not decept people
After the research is completed inform participants of the true aims of the research and debrief the participants so they know they can leave the research
How can we ensure people know they have the right to withdraw
Provide people with the right to withdraw at any point in the study
How do we maintain confidentiality
Avoid collecting personal details from participants
Maintain anonymity - false names or numbers to identify participants
How do we ensure participants in a study are protected from harm
Terminate research if harm is likely
Provide right to withdraw
Debrief participants
What is a bias sample
Where the sample collected is distorted in some way and does not represent the target population
What is meant by ‘generalising research’
Results from the sample can be applied to the target population
How is random sampling conducted
Every member of target population has equal chance of being picked
Names may be put in a hat
What is a strength of using random sampling
No bias
Increases chance sample will be representative
Generalisable
What is a weakness of using random sampling
Not practical
If a population is large or too small