Research methods Flashcards

Question

Define natural and state its S +L

Answer 1

= An experiment where the variable changes naturally e.g. reactions to earthquakes and the researcher seizes the opportunity to study the effects. S - HIGH EXTERNAL VALDITY: as ur dealing with real life issues - PROVIDED OPPORTUNITIES: for research that would've otherwise been impossible due to practical/ethical reasons L - NATURAL OCCURING EVENTS: may be rare therefor unlikely to be replicable hence hard to generalise findings. - DIFFICULT TO RANDOMISE: confounding & extraneous variables become a problem

Answer 2

when a researcher unintentionally influences the results of a study

Answer 3

When a researcher combines results from many different studies and uses all the data to form an overall view of the subject they're investigating. S - GENERALISABILITY is possible as a larger amount of data is studied. TMT the researcher is able to view the evidence with more confidence. L - PUBLICATION BIAS: such as the file drawer problem may be presented. This is when researchers intentionally leaves out the negative results. This gives a false representation of what the researcher was investigating.

Answer 4

NOMINAL = Discrete date in the form of categories. ORDINAL = Whole numbers that can be ordered but not necessarily precise measurements. INTERVAL = Standardised units of measurement

Answer 5

The use of chance to reduce the effects of bias from investigator effects.

Answer 6

Using the same exact same formalised procedures for every single participants.

Answer 7

explanation: participants must be told the research's aims, the data being collected and any risks associated with participation solution: Prior consent = informing participants that they will be deceived without telling them the nature of the deception. Retrospective consent = Informing participants that they were deceived after the study is completed and asking for their consent. The problem with this is that if they don’t consent then it’s too late. Presumptive consent = Asking people who aren’t participating in the study if they would be willing to participate in the study. If these people would be willing to give consent, then it may be reasonable to assume that those taking part in the study would also give consent.

Answer 8

explanation: Participants must be protected from physical and psychological harm. solution: counselling cost-benefit analysis - before the study, the ethics committee weigh up the procs and cons of the study to determine whether it will be ethical.

Answer 9

explanation: the act of deliberately misleading participants about the nature of the study or withholding information from them. (only acceptable to avoid demand characteristics or if wont cause distress) solution: debriefing (written or verbal) - the true nature of the study must be said and participants should be told what their data will be used for - after the debrief participants have the right to withhold or withdraw their data

Answer 10

explanation: refers to the right that participants have to controlling personal data about themselves - what is disclosed and how its used. solution: - Anonymity can be maintained by the researched not recording and personal details so that the data results can't be traced back to them. - This can be done by referring them as numbers or initials.

Answer 11

Observations are made from a neutral perspective without bias, rather than the scientist’s subjective viewpoint. e.g. a set of scales is a more objective way of determining which of two objects is heavier than a researcher lifting each up and giving their opinion.

Answer 12

The extent to which scientific methods and their results can be repeated by other researchers across other contexts and circumstances - It's used to asses the validity and reliability of results from the study.

Answer 13

When a theory or hypothesis is tested/replicated, there must be some possible observation that could prove it false – even if that never actually happens.

Answer 14

when evidence is collected through making direct observations and through direct experiences.

Answer 15

refers to the process of deriving new hypotheses from an already existing theory

Answer 16

paradigm = a set of shared ideas and assumptions within a scientific discipline paradigm shift = a significant change in these assumptions resulting from a scientific revolution.

Answer 17

Naturalistic = Observations made in a real-life setting S HIGH ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY as the researcher records naturally occurring behaviour in a natural environment, without any interference. L CAN'T REPLICATE as the researcher isn't in control of variables Controlled = Observations made in an artificial setting set up for the purposes of observation S LOW ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY L CAN BE REPLICATED

Answer 18

Covert = Participants are not aware they are being observed S INVESTIGATOR EFFECTS unlikely meaning that participant's behaviour is genuine L ETHICAL ISSUES as participants can't give informed consent if they're unaware Overt = Opposite S INFORMED CONSENT obtained as participants are informed in advance L INVESTIGATOR EFFECTS likely which distorts participants behaviour due to social desirability bias

Answer 19

Participant = Where the researcher/observer is actively involved in the situation being observed S IN DEPTH DATA obtained as they're in close proximity to the participants and so unlikely to overlook or miss any behaviours L EVALUATION APPREHENESION means participants’ behaviour is distorted as they fear being judged by observers. Non-participant = Opposite S INVESTIGATOR EFFECTS AND EVALUATION APPREHENSION LESS LIKELY L LACK OF IN DEPTH DATA as research isn't in close proximity therefore might overlook/miss behaviours

Answer 20

time sampling = Recording participant behaviour at regular time intervals. E.G. making notes of the participant’s behaviour after every 1 minute has passed. event sampling = counting how many times the participant behaves in a certain way. E.G. tallying it over a full hour to gather an overall impression of the amount of co-operative behaviour

Answer 21

an organisation of observational data by operationalising the behaviours being recorded

Answer 22

= A measure of whether the same results can be consistently replicated under the same circumstances.

Answer 23

= describes the internal consistency of a measure. E.g. Whether different questions in a questionnaire are all measuring the same thing. measure: SPLIT HALF METHOD - where data is split randomly in half and compared, to see if results taken from each part of the measure are similar.

Answer 24

= assess the consistency when different measures of the same thing are compared measure 1: TEST RE-TEST - When you give the same test to the same person on two different occasions. If the results are the same or similar both times, this suggests they are reliable. measure 2: INTER-OBSERVER - Whether different observers obtain the same data from the same study - Can also be assessed mathematically by looking for correlation between observers’ score. - formula: total no. of agreements / to. no. of observations >= 0.80 = high

Answer 25

Replace some of the open questions where they may be more room for misinterpretation, with closed, fixed choice alternatives which may be less ambiguous.

Answer 26

use the same interviewer each time or properly train them to not ask leading or ambiguous questions

Answer 27

behavioural categories are: - operationalised - measurable - self-evident - not overlapping

Answer 28

refers to whether a study results accurately measures what they're supposed

Answer 29

whether the results of an experiment are due to the manipulation of the IV and not any other factor - concurrent = the extent to whether the results obtained are similar to the results of the well established test

Answer 30

The study just looks like it measures what it’s supposed to at face value. e.g. People with with high exam scores score higher on IQ test, however you can't be sure that these are directly linked.

Answer 31

= a measure of whether data can be generalised to factors outside the investigation - ecological - temporal - population

Answer 32

generalisability to other situations and setting.

Answer 33

generalisability to other historical times and eras

Answer 34

generalisability to different populations of various ages.

Answer 35

characteristics or aspects of a participant's background that could affect the study's results

Answer 36

factors such as researchers behaviour, gender or appearance that could affect the study's results

Answer 37

factors in the environment that could affect the study's results

Answer 38

1. Non-verbal communication e.g. a raised eyebrow can make the participant aware they might have said/done something that surprised the researcher 2. Physical characteristics such as gender e.g. a male interviewer in all-female group of participants 3. Bias in interpretation of data (if the method of measurement is subjective)

Answer 39

- using a CONTROL GROUP to better assess whether changes in the dv were due to iv to reduce demand characteristics and investigator effects: - STANDARDISATION - SINGLE-BLIND PROCEDURE = participants aren't made aware of the aims of the study - DOUBLE-BLIND PROCUDERE = a third party conducts the experiment without knowing its aims

Answer 40

- incorporate a LIE SCALE within the questions in order to assess the consistency of the participants response and to control for the effects of social desirability bias - assuring respondents that all data submitted will remain ANONYMOUS

Answer 41

high ecological validity if there's minimal intervention by the researcher, especially in COVERT therefore behaviour of participant is likely to be natural and authentic

Answer 42

- high ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY as depth and detail associated with case studies and interviews, for instance is better able to reflect participants reality - researcher has to demonstrate the INTERPRATIVE VALIDITY of their conclusions = the extent to which the researcher's interpretation of events matches those of their participants e.g. including direct quotes from participants within the report - TRAINGULATION - the use of a no. of different sources as evidence e.g. data compiled through interviews with friends and family, personal diaries ect.

Answer 43

S - uses all the data in the set - good for interval data L - influenced by outliers so it can be unrepresentative

Answer 44

S - not effected by outliers - good for ordinal data L - not as sensitive as mean as it doesn't use all data

Answer 45

S - useful for nominal data L - Not useful when there's several modes

Answer 46

= quantifying how much scores in a data set vary Range S - Easy to calculate L - Affected by outliers which may give an exaggerated impression of the data distribution - Doesn't account for how common scored are for e.g. if data sets have the same range but different distributions SD = a measure of how much numbers in a data set S - less affected by outliers L - takes longer/difficult to calculate

Answer 47

- majority of scores cluster or/near the mean average - symmetrical - scores become rarer as they deviate from the mean

Answer 48

+ most of the mean is distributed on the right - most of the mean is distributed on the left

Answer 49

as one variable increases so does the other but only up to a certain point after which as one variable continues to increase the other begins to decrease ( u shape)

Answer 50

bar - discrete histogram - continuous line - continuous

Answer 51

S - used as STARTING POINTS to asses patterns between co-variables before committing to conducting an experiment - SECONDARY DATA used which which makes it less time consuming L - difficult to establish a CAUSE AND EFFECT relationship as only an association is found - THIRD VARIABLE PROBLEM presented in which the researcher is unaware it's responsible for the relationship between co-variables

Answer 52

= a method used to analyse qualitative data and transform into quantitative data - uses coding units (varies widely depending on data) e.g. the number of swear words in a film 1. Data is collected 2. Researcher reads through and examines the data, familiarising with it 3. Researcher identifies coding units 4. The data is analysed by applying coding units 5. A tally is made of the number of the times that a coding unit appears

Answer 53

S - reliable as the coding units aren't open to interpretation and so are applied in the same way over time with different researchers - easy to analyse and isn't time-consuming L - Only describes the data it cannot extract any deeper meaning or explanation for the data patterns arising

Answer 54

(alt to content analysis) 1. data is reviewed repeatedly so that the researcher can identify trends 1.

Answer 55

- Open review: The researchers and the reviewers are known to each other. - Single-blind: The researchers do not know the names of the reviewers preventing them for being able to influence - Double-blind: The researchers do not know the names of the reviewers, and the reviewers do not know the names of the researchers, preventing researching bias.

Answer 56

Helps to prevent scientific fraud as the work submitted is scrutinised

Answer 57

- prevents progress of new ideas: reviewers of papers are typically older and established academics who have made their careers within the current scientific paradigm. As such, they may reject new or controversial ideas simply because they go against the current paradigm rather than because they are unscientific. - plagiarism: In single-blind and double-blind peer reviews, the reviewer may use their anonymity to reject or delay a paper’s publication and steal the good ideas for themself.

Answer 58

S - REPLICABLE since uses standardised procedures (pre-set questions for all participants) therefore results can be confirmed by other researchers strengthening certainty in the findings. - QUANTIFIABLE: closed questions provide quantifiable data in a consistent format, which enables to statistically analyse information in an objective way.

Answer 59

- DISHONESTY: social desirability bias - LESS DETAILED: descriptions of private experiences - BIASED SAMPLES: questionnaires handed out to people at random will select for participants who actually have the time and are willing to complete it

Answer 60

MORE DETAIL: particularly unstructured interviews conducted by a skilled interviewer - enable researchers to delve deeper into topics of interest, for example by asking follow-up questions. REPLICABLE since uses standardised procedures (pre-set questions for all participants) therefore results can be confirmed by other researchers strengthening certainty in the findings.

Answer 61

LACK OF QUANTIFIABLE DATA: may produce difficulties in comparing data between participants (statistical analysis) due to nature of open discussion INTERVIEWER EFFECTS: The interviewer’s appearance or character may bias the participant’s answers e.g. gender

Answer 62

- detailed investigations into an individual, a group of people, or an event. - use observations, questionnaires, interviews - qualitative data as its study of single subject (S) - data is then used to build a case history of the subject - longitudinal - Allows for investigation into issues that may be impractical or unethical to study otherwise. (S)

Answer 63

- LACK OF SCIENFTIC RIGOUR: Because case studies are often single examples that cannot be replicated, the results may not be valid when applied to the general population. - RESEARCHER BIAS