Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

Psychology Topics 1-8 paper 1 and 2 > Research methods > Flashcards

Research methods Flashcards

1
Q

What is meant by participant reactivity?

A

Ppts are not passive in an experiment
An extraneous variable
Ppts will be trying to make sense of the situation
Effect of this is demand characteristics

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is an Independent variable?

A

Something that the researcher changes or manipulates to observe effects. It is the thing being changed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is meant by Dependent variable?

A

The thing that is being measured

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the definition of an extraneous variable?

A

An outside variable which can influence/ have an effect on the outcome

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is repeated measures design and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

A

-Same ppts used in both conditions

Advantages:
+ Controls for individual differences
+ Fewer total ppts required (saves time and energy)
+Can compare results like for like

Disadvantages:
- Order effects
- Demand characteristics

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is independent measures design and what are advantages and disadvantages?

A

-Different ppts used conditions

Advantages:
+ No order effects
+ Can be useful when looking at gender differences
+ Cheap and quick to recruit ppts compared to matched pairs design

Disadvantage:
- Ppts variables which are not controlled (personality, IQ…). Acts as confounding variables, researcher cannot control these variables.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Explain matched pairs design and its advantages and disadvantages

A

-Match similar ppts together so you can compare these two results together as they are similar
-Find out the type of people and match them with similar people to take part in the other condition

Advantage:
+ Controls for induvial differences between ppts
+ Researcher can compare results without individual differences affecting results

Disadvantage:
-Difficult to match people
-It is time consuming due to the pre test on matching which takes place before hand
-This can be costly financially

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Strengths of laboratory experiments

A

+Control over extraneous variables
+Cause and effect be established
+Replicable due to high control of extraneous variables + use of standardised procedures
+Results can be checked for reliability as the same experiment can be conducted on multiple ppts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Weaknesses of laboratory experiments

A

-Lack of ecological validity due to artificial setting. Difficult to generalise the findings to the real world
-Demand characteristics. Ppts behaviour may not be natural due to the artificial set up of the environment. Ppts figure out the aims of the experiment (Please-U and Screw-U)
-Low mundane realism. Tasks carried out in lab experiments makes the results difficult to generalise to rea life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Difference between mundane realism and ecological validity

A

Ecological validity = To do with the environment
Mundane realism = To do with the task

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Definition of a lab experiment

A

Takes place in a controlled artificial environment and the researcher directly manipulates the IV to see effects on DV

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Definition of a field experiment

A

Field experiments are performed in a natural setting such as hospitals, schools, factories, trains or even on the street

IV is manipulated by researcher. Difficult to control extraneous variables in this type of experiment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is a field experiment?
What are the advantages?
What are the disadvantages?

A

What it is
Conducted in a natural setting, IV manipulated by the researcher

Advantages:
-High external validity which means you can generalise it to real life situations (people show more naturalistic behaviours)
-No demand characteristics

Disadvantages:
-Hard to control extraneous variables, could argue that result may not be due to IV

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is internal validity?

A

Whether a psychological test, experiment or observation produces a genuine result

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is external validity?

A

Whether the research findings can be generalised beyond the research setting in which it was found
(generalisability)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is a natural experiment and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

A

What it is
Change in IV has occurred naturally so not be manipulated by researchers e.g. would have happened even if the researcher had not been there

Advantages:

+High external validity (changes happened in real life)
+No demand characteristics
+Allow research in areas that could not happen due to ethical or cost reasons

Disadvantages:

-No control of extraneous variables which means it is hard to establish cause and effect
-Rare and can’t be replicated to see if we would get similar results not replicable

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is a quasi experiment and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

A

Change in IV cannot be manipulated or randomly assigned (male/female/old/new)

Advantages
-Only way to study these variables
-Often carried out in controlled conditions E.g. Bobo doll

Disadvantages
-Unable to know if gender is the reason for the result as you can’t control ppt variables

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is ecological validity?

A

When you can generalise to a different place or setting

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is mundane realism

A

Is the task similar to what we would do in real life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is temporal validity?

A

Can you generalise to a different century, or decade

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is naturalistic observation and what are the advantages and disadvantages

A

In a real-life setting

Advantages

+ High ecological validity due to the natural setting/environment in which observation takes place. The researcher doesn’t manipulate any aspects of the situation

+ Generalisability of findings as behaviour applies to real-life, everyday setting

Disadvantages
-Low levels of control may be unknown extraneous variables contributing to behaviour meaning it is hard to replicate these results

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is a controlled observation and what are the advantages and disadvantages

A

Aspects of the environment are controlled, to give ppts same experience, Often conducted in a lab (Ainsworth and Bandura)

Advantages

-High control reduces the likelihood of extraneous variables being responsible for the observed behaviour
-Results are reliable as they used the same standardised procedures

Disadvantages
-Low external validity because the environment is artificial, Behaviour may not be repeated in the actual environment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

3 strengths of longitudinal studies

A

-Give us deeper insight into behaviour by seeing how behaviour changes overtime
-Give us insight into how early experiences shapes behaviour
-More reliable results

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is attrition?

A

When there is a loss of ppts across the course of a study

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Definition of a case study
-An in-depth analysis of individual, group, institution/event -Typically involves analysis of unusual individuals or disorders. -They are idiographic and very individualistic -Typically longitudinal
26
Strengths of case studies
+ Allows researchers to study the individuals/events/complex psychological areas they could not practically or ethically manipulate + Offers rich detailed insights into behaviours which cannot be studied scientifically and may not be understood + Useful as it can be used to develop theories E.g. HM demonstrated separate stores for LTM
27
Weaknesses of Case Studies
- Small samples make it difficult to generalise results to the wider population - Risk of bias as researchers can become too involved and lose their objectivity: misinterpreting or influencing outcomes
28
What is meant by the target population?
People the psychologist is specifically interested in
29
What is random sampling?
When all members of the population have an equal chance of being selected
30
Strengths of random sampling
+ No selector bias + Everyone has an equal chance of being selected
31
Weaknesses of random sampling
-Takes more time to carry out compared to other methods - Freak sample
32
What is opportunity sampling?
Recruiting people who are most convenient or available
33
Strengths of opportunity sampling
+ Easy to find ppts + Takes less time to find ppts
34
Weakness of opportunity sampling
- Sample bias - PPTs are drawn from a small part of the population. Maybe all from the same ethnic background, social class, race, and age ... So the sample isn't representative of the wider population
35
What is a covert observation? What are the strengths and weaknesses of covert observation?
Ppts behaviour is watched and recorded without them knowing. + No demand characteristics + Higher validity - Unethical, ppts haven't given informed consent to being watched
36
What is an overt observation? What are the strengths and weaknesses of an overt observation?
Participants behaviour is watched and recorded with their knowledge or consent + No ethical issues -Participant reactivity, leads to demand characteristics, weakening the validity of results
37
What is a participant observation? What are the strengths and weaknesses of participant observation?
Psychologists will join the group they are studying to better observe the behaviour +Gain insight -Lacking objectivity. Researchers may become less neutral, creating bias
38
What is event sampling?
Involves recording the number of times a particular behaviour within the behavioural category occurs whilst observing participants
39
What is time sampling?
Recording the behaviour in an established time frame
40
Weakness of using correlations
- Doesn't establish cause and effect. Doesn't tell us how X causes Y, meaning we can't gain deeper insight into what is really happening between two variables
41
Strengths of using correlations
+ Highlights potential causal relationships + Can show the direction and strength of the relationship
42
Strength of qualitative data
+ High external validity. Researchers can gain a better insight into participant worldview +Rich detail - Pmts fully able to report their thoughts, feelings and opinions
43
Weakness of qualitative data
-Data is often difficult to analyse. Conclusions rely on subjective interpretations of researcher meaning it could be biassed -Described as not scientific
44
Strengths of quantitative data
+ Easy to make comparisons and trends between groups + Objective + Data is easy to analyse
45
Weakness of quantitative data
- Cant help us properly gain insight - Responses can be narrow in explaining complex human behaviour. May fail to represent 'real life' -Superficial
46
Definition of a case study
An in-depth study of an individual, group, institution/event. Typically involves analysis of unusual individuals or disorders. They are idiographic and individualistic
47
Weaknesses of Case Studies
-Small samples make it difficult to generalise findings - Risk of bias as researchers become too involved and lose their objectivity, misinterpreting or influencing outcomes - Difficult to establish cause and effect as case studies happen after the event - Case studies often depend on the memory of participants: retrospective data might be inaccurate
48
Strengths of case studies
- Allows researchers to study events/ complex psychological areas they could not practically or ethically manipulate - Offers rich and detailed insights into behaviours which cannot be studied scientifically and/or may not be understood - Useful as it can lead to the development of theories E.g. HM demonstrated separate stores of LTM
49
What is reliability a measure of?
- Measure of consistency - If a particular result can be repeated then that measurement is described as being reliable
50
Ways to ensure reliability in interviews
- Use the same interviewer -Dont ask questions which are open to ambiguity - Use a trained interviewer - less likely to ask ambiguous questions which are open to interpretation -Dont ask leading questions - Use structured interviewers
51
Ways of testing reliability (Test-retest)
- Giving the same questionnaire to the same person/group of people on a different occasion - If the test is reliable, the result should be the same or very similar - If the correlation is above 0.8 then there is good reliability - Must be sufficient time between two tests
52
Ways to increase the reliability of observations
- Should be more than one observer - Conduct a small-scale 'pilot study' - Administer appropriate behavioural categories - Observers should watch the same event independently and record data using agreed behavioural categories - Ensure behavioural categories have been operationalised
53
Why are lab studies easily replicable?
Due to the high/strict control the researcher has over extraneous variables - Researcher manipulates the IV to see an effect on DV - Researchers can control experimental conditions but also the instructions ppts are receiving - Means lab experiments are much easier to replicate
54
4 types of quantitative data?
- Nominal - Ordinal - Ratio - Interval
55
When is the sign test used?
- Need to look for a difference rather than a correlation - Data has to be nominal - Repeated measures design
56
What is ordinal data?
Data which exists in natural categories good, fair, poor, awful... e.g. Grades Income Frequency of zoo visits Sleep quality
57
What is nominal data?
Data which exists in categories with no natural order e.g. Nationality Blood Type Personality Type Employment Status Zip Code Movie Genre
58
What is ratio data? What is interval data?
Ratio = Regarding number values, we can directly see how much bigger one value is than another. Can't go below 0 Interval = Numbers which can go below 0 (E.g. Temperature or money in a bank account)
59
Continuous vs Discrete data
Continuous - Not restricted to certain numbers. E.g. Height or weight. You can be 70.9 kg or 178.5 cm tall Discrete—Restricted to certain numbers. For example, the number of children somebody has has to be a whole number; they can't have 2.4 kids.
60
Ordinal and nominal data are always ...
DISCRETE
61
When to use the Sign test
- When testing for a different -Nominal data -Repeated measures design
62
What does the t-test tell us?
The probability of observing our results if the null hypothesis is correct
63
The smaller the t-value, the bigger the probability of the null hypothesis being…
correct
64
As the sample size gets bigger, the probability of observing our results if the null hypothesis is correct gets…
Smaller
65
What is the p-value?
Probability of observing our results if the null hypothesis is correct
66
What is a type 1 error?
Incorrectly reject the null hypothesis, and say there is a real difference between two experimental groups when there isn’t one.
67
What is a type 2 error?
When researchers incorrectly accept the null hypothesis and conclude their results happened by chance, when there is a difference
68
What does the significance level tell us?
How likely we are to make a type 1 error
69
To balance the risk of a Type 1 and Type 2 error, researchers usually use a significance level of...
5%
70
We reject the null hypothesis if the obtained t-value is…
Bigger than, or equal to, the critical t-value for our significance level.
71
When is chi-squared test used?
-Testing for significance to see if a relationship exists between two variables -Independent design -Nominal data -Testing of difference
72
When is Mann-Whitney test used?
-Determines whether two uncorrelated means differ significantly -Independent design -Ordinal data -Test of difference
73
When is unrelated t-test used?
-When a difference between two sets of scores is being used -Data must be interval -Independent groups design
74
When is related t-test used?
-Testing for a difference between two sets of scores -Repeated design -Interval data
75
When is Wilcoxon test used?
-Used to compare repeated measures design or matched pairs on a single sample to assess whether their population mean ranks differ -Ordinal data -Repeated measures design
76
When is Spearman's rank used?
-Tests for strength of correlation -Used for nominal and ordinal data
77
When is sign test used?
-Test of difference -Nominal data -Repeated measures design
78
When is Pearson's r test used?
-Measures the direction and strength of the linear relation between two variables -Interval data
79
Briefly explain one reason why research should be peer reviewed. [2 marks]
-To reduce chances of flawed/unscientific research being published and therefore treated as ‘fact’ and misinforming the public
80
Explain the difference between a Type I and a Type II error.
A type I error (false-positive) occurs if an investigator rejects a null hypothesis that is actually true in the population; a type II error (false-negative) occurs if the investigator fails to reject a null hypothesis that is actually false in the population.
81
Explain the advantage of using the standard deviation instead of the range as a measure of dispersion
One advantage is that the standard deviation is a measure of dispersion that is less easily distorted by a single extreme score
82
A researcher used content analysis to investigate how the behaviour of young children changed when they started day care. He identified a group of nine-month-old children who were about to start day care. He asked the mother of each child to keep a diary recording her child’s behaviour every day for two weeks before and for two weeks after the child started day care. (a) Explain how the researcher could have used content analysis to analyse what the mothers had written in their diaries. (4)
Content analysis is a way of analysing data such as text using coding units such as themes. In this case mothers were asked to write down how their child behaved, so students might suggest. Create a checklist / categories Relevant example(s) of behaviours eg aggression, crying Read through the diaries / mothers’ writing / reports Counting behaviours or tallying Compare before and after day care
83
What is meant by validity? (1)
Validity refers to how well a test or a piece of research measures what it says it measures
84
Strengths and weaknesses of peer review
-Peer reviewers may not always be objective when reviewing research as it may not be in their personal interest to see the research get published +Protects society from harmful / bad research +Helps researchers improved their research
85
What happens in peer review?
-Journals can ask for changes to be made to a report based on the comments left by reviewers -Peer reviewing involves multiple reviewers, all from the same field -Reviewers may suggest that further analysis of the results is needed before the research can be published. -A journal will decide whether to accept or reject a report based on the feedback from the reviewers.
86
Explain two strengths of peer reviewing.
The process of peer reviewing highlights the good and bad of the report. One strength of this is that suggestions made can help researchers to improve their work, and learn better ways to conduct research in the future. Another strength of this is that it helps make sure that research is of a high quality, as poor quality research could have negative implications in real life.
87
Features of a pilot study
-A test used to identify potential flaws in an experiment -A study with only a few participants
88
Benefits of pilot studies
+ It is cost effective.
89
Explain thematic analysis
-Researchers use codes to label the data only after they have familiarised themselves with the data -The data used in thematic analysis must be in written form, qualitative data -Interprets the data to identify common themes
90
Process of thematic analysis
First, a researcher converts their data into written form. Second, they familiarise themselves with the data. Third, they label the data using codes. Fourth, they categorise their codes into themes ` And, finally, they write a report interpreting their themes, and relating them back to the research topic.
91
Content analysis involves…
-Turning qualitative data into quantitative data -Establishing coding units before a researcher looks through the data -Counting up whenever a coding unit appears in the data
92
Strength of content analysis
+It allows us to test hypotheses about qualitative data.
93
Strength of thematic analysis
+It provides a more detailed understanding about participants' experiences
94
Weakness of thematic analysis
-Lacks external reliability as different researchers may view the subjective experiences differently
95
Explain why it might be better for the researchers to use content analysis instead of thematic analysis
In thematic analysis, the researchers generate their codes while they read through transcripts. They then base their themes on these codes. This means that the themes are created based on what the researchers think is important, and is the reason why the four researchers came up with different themes. Therefore, the data lacks reliability. However, in content analysis, the coding units are determined before the researchers read through the transcripts. Therefore, the researchers are all looking for the same content units, and this means content analysis is more reliable than thematic analysis. Additionally, as the data gets turned from qualitative data into quantitative data, researchers can also test how reliable the analysis was. They could do this using the test-retest method or use inter-rater reliability.
96
Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data (3)
Qualitative data – non-numerical data; words; themes; language format; concerned with descriptions. Quantitative data – numerical data; expressed in numbers; credit reference to examples like mean, median, mode, etc. A distinction between the two, this must go beyond the definitions already given – qualitative data cannot be statistically analysed, quantitative can; reference to different methods used to collect this data; subjective vs objective
97
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of using an unstructured interview in this study (4)
+More flexible – questions can be adapted to respondents’ answers; can generate qualitative data that is rich in detail; increased validity as it gives the interviewer opportunity to probe deeper -More time consuming to carry out...
98
Outline one problem that might arise if the psychologist observes the offender’s behaviour alone (2)
The psychologist may be susceptible to observer bias. (1) For example, they may look for a particular behaviour which fits with his/her own expectations / misinterpret a behaviour to fit with pre-existing ideas. (1)
99
Overt observations Pros and cons
An overt observation is one in which participants know that they’re being watched for a research study. +Ethical because informed consent can be obtained
100
Covert observations Pros and cons
A covert observation is one in which ppts dont know they are being watched for a research study +Less chances of investigator effects or social desirability -Unethical because informed consent cant be gained

Psychology Topics 1-8 paper 1 and 2 (7 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions