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psychology a level > research methods > Flashcards

research methods Flashcards

(63 cards)

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1
Q

what is an extraneous variable?

A

a variable that has the potential to mess up ur research

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2
Q

what does ecological validity mean

A

true to life

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3
Q

what is demand characteristics

A

when your participants have worked out ur experiment and change their behaviour

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4
Q

what is a strength of lab experiment

A

-allows extraneous variables to be controlled so cause and effect can be established
-increase of reliability

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5
Q

what is a weakness of lab experiment

A

lacks ecological validity
increase of demand characteristics

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6
Q

strengths of field experiment

A

increase of ecological validity
decrease of demand characteristics

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7
Q

weakness of field experiment

A

increase of extraneous variables
decrease of reliability

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8
Q

strengths of quasi

A

could be unethical
increase of ecological validity
decrease of demand characteristics

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9
Q

weakness of quasi

A

-hard to establish cause and effect (as researcher has not directly manipulated IV)
-decrease of reliability

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10
Q

when would you write a one tailed hypothesis

A

when you feel confident about which way your results are going to go

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11
Q

when would you write a two tailed hypothesis

A

when you are not clear which way your results will go

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12
Q

what’s a null hypothesis

A

when you say there will be no correlation between the two variables

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13
Q

what is a repeated measures design?

A

same participants are used in both conditions

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14
Q

what is an independent measures design?

A

two different sets of participants used in the two conditions

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15
Q

what is a matched design?

A

two different groups of participants are used but they are matched up

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16
Q

what is an advantage of repeated design

A

because same participants are being used, any differences you see are not likely to be due to differences between participants

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17
Q

what is a disadvantage of repeated design

A

your research might be affected by order effects
demand characteristics can be more likely

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18
Q

what is an advantage of independent design

A

-participants only doing research once so results not effected by order effects
-decrease of demand characteristics

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19
Q

what is disadvantages of independent design

A
  • people have different abilities (participant variables)
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20
Q

advantage of matched design

A

-decrease of order effects
-decrease of demand characteristics

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21
Q

disadvantage of matched design

A

-costly and time consuming
-reduces participant variables

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22
Q

what is a participant observation

A

-the researcher becomes part of the group they are studying
-this type of observation often be naturalistic and unstructured

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23
Q

what is a non participant observation

A

researcher just observes without becoming part of the group

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24
Q

what is an overt observation

A

participants are aware they’re being studied

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25
what is a covert observation
participants unaware they’re being studied
26
what is a naturalistic observation
behaviour is studied in a natural situation where everything has been left as it normally is
27
what is a controlled observation
some variables are controlled and participants likely to be aware they’re being observed
28
what is a structured observation
pre-decided set of behaviours that you are looking for
29
what is time sampling
involves observing behaviours at set time periods
30
advantages of time sampling
-allows u to see how a behaviour develops over time -give quantitative data that is easy to analyse
31
disadvantage of time sampling
-could be time consuming -could decrease reliability as it could be hard to be consistent -important behaviour could be missed if it occurs between an observation period
32
what is event sampling
involve recording how often specific behaviours occur
33
advantage of event sampling
-quantitative data -all behaviour will be seen rather than just at certain times
34
disadvantage of event sampling
difficult to observe all the targeted areas at the same time
35
what is an unstructured observation
-the researcher would have some idea of what behaviour they expect to see -they record everything they see
36
strengths of naturalistic and controlled observations
high ecological validity because they do not involve the manipulation of an IV and because participants are unaware
37
weakness of unstructured observations
-chance of observer bias (when the observer sees what they expect to see rather than what the actually saw) -may miss things
38
weakness of controlled and overt observation
observer effects (peoples behaviour might change if they are aware they’re being observed)
39
weakness of participant observation
ethical issues - often not possible to obtain consent of people that ur researching, people may feel betrayed if you have joined a group just to research them
40
what kind of method is a questionnaire?
self report
41
what kind of questions are in questionnaires?
closed questions
42
what is a likert scale?
respondents must indicate how closely their feelings match the question or statement on a rating scale
43
what is a semantic differential rating scale
it gathers info about someone’s attitude on a number of different dimensions
44
what kind of data does closed questions give
quantitative
45
advantage of closed questions?
easier to analyse and easier for respondents to fill in
46
a disadvantage of closed questions?
may miss something because the response the participants want isn’t included in the options, this lowers the validity
47
advantage of open questions?
-detailed and in depth data -gives a better idea of what someone thinks -increases validity
48
what type of data does open questions give?
qualitative
49
a disadvantage of open questions?
-data more difficult to analyse -more open to bias as researchers own subjective opinion may come in
50
strengths of questionnaires?
-relatively quick and cheap -allows patterns to be identified -if there is open questions the data could be in depth and detailed increasing validity
51
weaknesses of questionnaires?
-chance of social desirability bias - low response rate -increase in demand characteristics
52
generalisability
this is the ability to generalise the results beyond the research
53
operationalise
the definition of variables so that they can be accurately manipulated, measured and replicated
54
order effects
they can produce changes in performance that are not due to IV e.g doing worse because they’re tired or better because they’ve practiced
55
snowball sampling
gaining participants for the sample by asking current participants to refer others they know are suitable
56
split half
measure of reliability that compares two halves of a test e.g odd and even numbered questions
57
test-retest
measure of reliability that uses the same test twice, if they correlate well the measure has good reliability
58
what kind of method is an interview
self report
59
what is a structured interview
-mainly closed questions that are usually scripted -participants get asked the same questions in a fixed order
60
what is a semi structured interview
fixed list of open and closed questions same questions for all participants
61
advantage of semi structured interview
you can gather data that is more in depth and explore areas of interest
62
disadvantage of semi structured interview
some questions are open so more difficult to analyse bias is more likely
63
unstructured interview
questions not prearranged researchers have broad idea what they’re looking for

psychology a level (14 decks)

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