Research Methods Flashcards
(137 cards)
1
Q
What is standard deviation?
A
This defines how far away the score are from the mean. It can be shown in a normal distribution graph.
2
Q
Give examples of qualitative data
A
Self report techniques
Questionnaires
Interviews
3
Q
What is an open question
A
Participant can respond freely and are able to elaborate on their answers.
4
Q
What are the three types of interviews?
A
Structured
Semi-structured
Unstructured
5
Q
What is an interview?
A
An interview is on a face to face basis where participants respond to questions verbally.
6
Q
What is a structured interview?
A
The interviewer has a set list of questions that they can’t deviate from.
7
Q
What is a semi-structured interview?
A
There is a set list of topics with questions, the order that these questions are asked can be changed.
8
Q
What is an unstructured interview?
A
The participant is able to respond freely. The interviewer sets the topic but the participant is able to elaborate on answers.
9
Q
What are the two types of qualitative data analysis?
A
Content analysis
Thematic analysis
10
Q
What is content analysis?
A
Converting qualitative data into quantitative. This is done by assigning topics to a category. The data placed in categories can then be counted (quantitative) or can be analysed in themes (qualitative)
11
Q
What is thematic analysis?
A
This keeps qualitative data qualitative. It searches for themes within the data. This is used to explain the data which can then be produced in a final report.
(Don’t refer to counting or tallying!)
12
Q
What is peer review?
A
This is where other psychologists from a similar field check the research before it is published. It is scrutinised for its validity, significance, originality and theoretical background.
13
Q
Why is peer review used?
A
- Publication cannot be reversed
- Impacts on research funding (universities are funded for the strength of their research)
- Assessment of research rating for universities
- Preventing plagiarism (published work must be original)
- The findings should be reliable and valid, adding knowledge to the field.
14
Q
What is a strength of peer review?
A
Ensures the quality of publication on to ensure that there is trust in research and has beneficial economic impacts.
15
Q
What is a weakness of peer review?
A
- If you are famous, you are more likely to be published, meaning there are issues with whether creditworthy or appropriate studies are always published
- Peer redivide is time consuming and expensive
- Sabotage may occur from competing researchers who are completing research in similar areas
- Peer review cannot deal with already published research
16
Q
What are the four types of experiment?
A
Lab experiment
Field experiment
Natural experiment
Quasi-experiment
17
Q
What is a lab experiment?
A
The experiment is carried out in controlled conditions
18
Q
What is a strength of a lab experiment?
A
There are no extraneous variables.
19
Q
What is a weakness of a lab experiment?
A
- Risk of demand characteristics
- Too controlled
20
Q
What is a field experiment?
A
Participants are in a normal environment but the experimenter still manipulates some variables.
21
Q
What is a strength of a field experiment?
A
- Increased mundane realism
- Participants act naturally
22
Q
What is a weakness of a field experiment?
A
- Less control
- Risk of ethical issues, lack of informed consent
23
Q
What is a natural experiment?
A
An observation where participants are in their everyday environment, the experimenter has no control.
24
Q
What is a strength of a natural experiment?
A
- Increased ecological validity
- Increased mundane realism
25
What is a weakness of a natural experiment?
1. No control over variables
2. Potential ethical issue if the participant is not aware they are being observed.
26
What is a quasi-experiment?
Where the IV is naturally occurring however the DV is measured in a lab.
27
What is a strength of a quasi-experiment?
1. Allows comparison
2. No extraneous variables
28
What is a weakness of a quasi-experiment?
1. Cannot show a casual relationship as there is no manipulation
29
What is a pilot study?
This is a small-scale experiment that is carried out before the initial experiment to see whether what they are going to do will work.
30
What is the purpose of a pilot study?
1. To check participants understand the instructions
2. To ensure their test works
3. To check the materials are appropriate
4. To get feedback from participants
5. Test for extraneous variables
6. To see if they would get a result
7. Tackle problems to save time and money
31
What is a case study?
A case study is an intense description of a single individual or case. These allow researcher to analyse unusual cases in extreme detail. A case study is an in-depth study of one person or a small group of people over time.
32
What is a strength of a case study?
1. Can provide rich data
2. Exposure to uniques cases
3. Naturally occurring scenarios (this makes it ethical)
33
What is a weakness of a case study?
1. Issues with replicability
2. Difficult to generalise
3. Informed consent can be difficult to obtain.
34
What is event sampling?
An observer records the number of times a certain behaviour occurs.
35
What is time sampling?
The observer records behaviour at prescribed intervals. (E.g. every 5 minutes)
36
Explain:
Naturalistic/Controlled observations
Naturalistic: no manipulation from the observer, it is natural.
Controlled: the observer controls some of the variables.
37
Explain:
Overt/Covert observations
Overt: participants are aware that they are being observed.
Covert: participants are not aware that they are being observed.
38
Explain:
Participant/Non-participant observations
Participant: the observer is actively involved in the observation.
Non-participant: the observer does not interact and observed from a distance.
39
In an observation, the experimenter is looking for a particular behaviour, however this is not directly measurable. We have to operationalise it, breaking down the behaviour so it can be classified by psychologists observing.
What are the two behavioural categories?
Event sampling
Time sampling
40
What is a strength of a naturalistic observation?
Behaviour is natural, this ensures validity.
41
What is a weakness of a naturalistic observation?
Cannot control variables
42
What is a strength of a controlled observation?
Greater reliability
43
What is a weakness of a controlled observation?
Not a reflect of true human behaviour
44
What is a strength of an overt observation?
Ethically valid due to consent being given by participants to be observed.
45
What is a weakness of an overt observation?
1. Demand characteristics
2. Social desirability
46
What is a strength of a covert observation?
Participants behave naturally
47
What is a weakness of a covert observation?
Informed consent was not given by participants- ethical issue.
48
What is a strength of a participant observation?
Clearer insight on behaviour
49
What is a weakness of a participant observation?
The observer may miss something.
50
What is a strength of a non-participant observation?
Showing true behaviour
51
What is a weakness of a non-participant observation?
The observer may not get the additional information that would be collected from a participant observation.
52
What is a strength of an observation?
1. Gives an insight on how people really behave
2. High ecological validity
3. Can observe behaviour that would be unnatural to manipulate
53
What is a weakness of an observation?
1. Behaviour can be interpreted differently
2. No control over variables
3. Results are not representative as they were collected from a small group
4. Issues with inter-observer reliability
54
What are the five sampling techniques?
Random
Opportunity
Volunteer
Systematic
Stratified
55
What is random sampling?
Each member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected.
56
What is opportunity sampling?
When the experiment uses participants that are actively available at the time.
57
What is volunteer sampling?
Participants self-select and volunteer to take part
58
What is systematic sampling?
Use of a system to select the participants (e.g. every nth person is selected).
59
What is stratified sampling?
The number of people is equal to their representation in the population.
60
What is a strength of random sampling?
1. Representative
2. High population validity
61
What is a strength of opportunity sampling?
1. Easy
2. Time efficient
3. Convenient
62
What is a strength of systematic sampling?
1. Unbiased method using an objective system
63
What is a strength of stratified sampling?
1. Representative
64
What is a weakness of random sampling?
1. Can get a non-representative sample
65
What is a weakness of opportunity sampling?
1. Biased sample
2. Low population validity
66
What is a weakness of volunteer sampling?
1. High chance of biased sample
67
What is a weakness of systematic sampling?
1. Some biases due to the number chosen (e.g. every 12th person instead of every 15th)
68
What is a weakness of stratified sampling?
1. Subgroups may be missed
2. Not accurate estimate of representation in the population
69
What are the three measures of central tendency?
Mean
Median
Mode
70
How do you calculate the mean?
Add up all of the scores, then divide that answer by how many scores there are.
71
How do you calculate the median?
Place values in order and find the middle value, if there are two, find the middle of those two numbers.
72
How do you calculate the mode?
Count how many times each number appears in the data set.
73
What are the two measures of dispersion?
Range
Standard deviation
74
How do you calculate the range?
Subtract the smallest score from the largest.
75
What is a directional hypothesis?
Stating the IV will have a specific effect on the DV. It is specific. There is also previous research in that area.
76
What is a non-directional hypothesis?
Stating the IV will have an effect on the DV, but it is not specific. Stating that it can go two ways. There is no previous research in that area.
77
What is a null hypothesis?
Stating that the IV will not have an effect on the DV.
78
What are the three types of experimental design?
Independent measures
Repeated measures
Matched pairs
79
What is an independent measures design?
Participants are allocated to one or the other conditions, taking part in only one.
80
What is a strength of independent measures?
1. No order effects
2. Reduce chances of demand characteristics
81
What is a weakness of independent measures?
1. Participant variables
2. Needs a lot of participants
82
What is a repeated measures design?
The same participant are used in each condition.
83
What is a strength of repeated measures?
1. Fewer participants needed
2. Participant variables eliminated
84
What is a weakness of repeated measures?
1. Order effects
2. Chance of demand characteristics
85
What is a matched pairs design?
Participants are matched closely and then pairs are randomly allocated to conditions.
86
What is a strength of matched pairs?
1. No order effects
2. Controlling participant variable attempt
87
What is a weakness of matched pairs?
1. It is difficult to match pairs exactly
2. Need a large number of participants
3. Time consuming
88
What is informed consent?
Participants have to be informed of the true aims of the experiment.
89
What is deception?
The participants are not allowed to be deceived (lied to), unless authorised.
90
What is risk of harm?
All participants should be protected from harm, either physical or psychological.
91
What is confidentiality?
The participants data must be kept confidential.
92
What is anonymity?
The participants identity must not be know.
93
What is debriefing?
Participants are spoken to after the experiment and are informed on what happens next.
94
What is the right to withdraw?
All participants have the right to leave the experiment at any time, no questions asked.
95
What is the right to see results?
Participants can see their data.
96
What is psychological help?
Experimenters can offer alternative aid in the debrief.
97
What is nominal data?
The data type given is a category or name.
98
What is ordinal data?
The data type ranked in order.
99
What is interval data?
There is an equal gap between each part of the data.
100
What is a type 1 error?
Saying something was found when there wasn’t (false positive)
101
What is a type 2 error?
Saying nothing was found when there was (false negative)
102
What are the two types of reliability?
Internal reliability
External reliability
103
What is internal reliability?
This refers to how consistent something is within itself.
104
What is external reliability?
This refers to consistency across time or situations.
105
What are the three methods used to check reliability?
Test-retest reliability
Inter-rater reliability
Split-half reliability
106
What is the test-retest reliability?
Repeating a test again on the same participant to see if you attain the same result.
107
What is the inter-rater reliability?
Using different observers to rate the same behaviour to see if they give the same score.
108
What is the split-half reliability?
Seeing if participants score in the first half of a test matches their scores in the second half of a test.
109
What is validity?
Refers to how true/accurate a study is.
110
What is ecological validity?
Can we generalise results to a different setting?
111
What is mundane realism?
Does the study mirror how it would appear in the real world.
112
What is temporal validity?
Can we generalise beyond the time period it was investigated.
113
What is internal validity?
Whether a researcher did test what they say they tested.
114
What is external validity?
Whether the result of a study can be generalised to other situations.
115
What is test validity?
Whether a test includes concurrent, predictive or face validity.
116
What is predictive validity?
Whether the model can predict future results accurately.
117
What is face validity?
Does it make sense? Is it logical?
118
What is concurrent validity?
Is what we’ve found similar to what we know.
119
How can we improve validity?
1. Controlling extraneous
2. Making an investigation as real as possible
3. Making sure the sample is representative
120
What are empirical methods?
This involves collecting large amounts of information then thoroughly studying this data in order to formulate a theory or reach a conclusion.
121
What is objectivity?
This means that any judgements, theories, findings, explanations must be based on observable phenomena. They must no be influenced by emotions or personal prejudice.
122
What is hypothesis testing?
We make predictable statements to assess whether or not our findings are generalisable. Through the process of falsification, we attempt to prove theories wrong by questioning and testing hypotheses to examine their validity. If we can prove these things wrong, we assume that they are correct.
123
What is a standardised procedure?
A specific set of instructions are provided so that specific acts are performed at specific times to ensure that all behaviour is replicable and not subject to bias.
124
What is a single blind technique?
The participants don’t know the hypothesis they are in or what condition the are in.
125
What is a double blind technique?
Neither the participants nor the experimenter knows the hypothesis or condition.
126
What is counterbalancing?
In a repeated measures design, this is used to reduce order effects. This is done by splitting the participants in half. One half will do condition 1 first and the other half complete condition 2 first. They then swap and complete the other condition.
127
What is randomisation?
Placing things randomly into different conditions.
128
What is an independent variable?
This is the variable that is changed by the experimenter.
129
What is a dependent variable?
This is what is measured.
130
What is a confounding variable?
These are related to the IV and are not accounted for but can impact the DV.
131
What are extraneous variables?
These are something that effect the DV that is not the IV.
132
What is a paradigm shift?
When there is a scientific revolution.
133
Kuhn argues that way holiday is a ____-___________ as it lacks a universally accepted paradigm.
Pre-science
134
The process of getting a new hypothesis from an existing theory is known as…
Deduction
135
Popper argued that scientific progress occurs through a process of…
Falsification
136
What did Popper call theories which can’t be challenged?
Pseudoscience
137
What is a paradigm?
Distinguished scientific disciplines from non-scientific disciplines is a shared set of assumptions and methods.
