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AQA A Level Psychology > Research Methods > Flashcards

Research Methods Flashcards

1
Q

What is an Alternate/Experimental Hypothesis?

A

A hypothesis predicting the effects of the Inependent Variable on the Dependent Variable

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2
Q

What is a Null Hypothesis?

A

A hypothesis that suggests the effects od the Independent Variable on the Dependent Variable do not correlate and arrised due to other factors

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3
Q

What is an Independent Variable?

A

Things that are manipulated or changed by the Psychologist

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4
Q

What is a Dependent Variable?

A

The thing that changes as a result of thr Inependent Variable and that is measured by the Psychologist

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5
Q

What does operationalised mean?

A

Stated in a measurable form

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6
Q

What is a Directional/One-tailed Hypothesis?

A

A hypothesis that predicts the direction in which the change is expercted to occur

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7
Q

What is a Non-directional/Two-tailed Hypothesis?

A

A hypothesis that predicts a change but not specifically a direction

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8
Q

Evaluate Laboratory Experiments

A

+ complete control over variables
+ forces pace of research
+ easy to replicate (reliable)
+ Quantitative Data
+ able to use technical equipmen
- Low Ecological Validity
- Experimental/Internal Validity
- Demand Characteristics
- Sampling Bias
- Ethics

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9
Q

Evaluate Field Experiments

A

+ Ecologically Valid
+ No Demand Characteristics
- Difficult to control Variables
- Can’t control pace of research
- lacks reliability
- can’t use technical equipment

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10
Q

Evaluate Natural Experiments

A
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11
Q

Evaluate Quasi Experiments

A

+ Reduction of demand characteristics
+ Lack of direct intervention
- Loss of control over variables

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12
Q

What is a Natural Experiment?

A

Researching something that has already happened

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13
Q

What is a Quasi Experiment?

A

Researcher doesn’t directly control the independent variables eg. age or gender

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14
Q

What are Extreneous Variables?

A

Factors appart from the Independent variable that can affect the putcome of an experiment

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15
Q

What are Demand Characteristics?

A

A subtle cue that makes participants aware of what the experimenter expects to find

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16
Q

What is Social Desirability?

A

When the participant changes their behaviouror answers in order to look good

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17
Q

What are Investigator Effects/Researcher Bias?

A

Occur when the researcher in some was influences the outcome of research

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18
Q

What are Situational Variables?

A

Outside influences on the experiment eg. time of day, weather, noise

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19
Q

How do you control Situational Variables?

A

Standardisation of instructions given to participants, procedures followed, scoring techniques

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20
Q

What are Order Effects?

A

eg. practice, boredom, fatigue- arise when a participant is ased to undertake a task more than once

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21
Q

How are Order Effects reduced?

A

Counterbalancing- changing the order of the tasks
Randomisation- order of tasks and presentation of data

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22
Q

What are Participant variables?

A

Individual variables between participants eg. IQ, age, gender, social class

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23
Q

What is Repeated Measure Design?

A

Using the same participants in each condition of the exoeriment

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24
Q

Evaluate Repeated Measures Design

A

+ controls for individual differences
+ need fewer participants
- order effects
- low validity

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25
Q

What is Independent Measures Design?

A

Using different participants in each condition of the experiment

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26
Q

Evaluate Independent Measures Design

A

+ Order Effects controlled
- reduced control of individual differences
- more people needed

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27
Q

What is Matched Pairs Design?

A

Using different but similar participants in each condition of the experiment

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28
Q

Evaluate Matched Pairs Design

A

+ same genes, different personalities
+ able to see difference more clearly
+ controlled for order effects
+ control for individual differences
- harder to find

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29
Q

What is a Structured Observation?

A

When the researcher decides in advance what sort of behaviour they are looking for

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30
Q

What is an Unstructured Observation?

A

When the researcher records everything they see

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31
Q

What is a Covert Observation?

A

When the participants are unaware that they are being watched

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32
Q

What is an Overt Observation?

A

Participants are aware thay are being watched

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33
Q

What is Event Sampling?

A

Keeping count of each time a particular behaviour occurs

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34
Q

What is Time Sampling?

A

The observer decides on a time interval and notes any behaviours observed in that time

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35
Q

Evaluate Covert Observations

A

+ reduced demand chracteristics
+ increased ecological validity
- don’t have informed consent

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36
Q

Evaluate Overt Observations

A

+ consensual
- increases demand characterstics
- lacks ecological validity

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37
Q

What is a Participant Observation?

A

Researcher is part of the action that they are observing

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38
Q

Evaluate Participant Observations

A

+ more natural arrangement
- researcher bias
- difficult to take notes

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39
Q

Evaluate Structured Observations

A

+ Quantitative data
- difficult to pick behaviour to record beforehand
- researcher bias

40
Q

Evaluate Unstructured Observations

A

+ Quantitative and Qualitative data
+ can record behaviours seen

41
Q

What is Self Report?

A

Studies that involve asking participants questions eg. interview or questionnaire

42
Q

What are open questions?

A

Questions that allow ppts to elaborate on their answers

43
Q

What are closed questions?

A

Questions where a ppt must choose from a list of options

44
Q

What are Contingent Questions?

A

Questions that depend on the answer of the preceding question

45
Q

What is Likert Scaling?

A

when ppts are asked to rate their opinion of a statement on a given scale

46
Q

Evaluate Interviews

A

+ high validity
+ can see body language
+ can elaborate on question
- difficult and time consuming
- smaller sample size
- may misjudge body language
- semand characteristics
- researcher bias
- social desirability

47
Q

Evaluate Questionnaires

A

+ quick and easy
+ high relibility
+ ethical
+ can gather large amounts of data
+ easy to analyse
+ can as a range of people
- low validity, demand characteristics
- use of jargan can be diffucult to understand
- leading questions can lead to bias
- social desirability
- order effects
- can’t control sample

48
Q

What is a Structured interview?

A

When the researcher has a list of questions to ask

49
Q

What is an Unstructured Interview?

A

When the researcher thinks of the questions during the interview

50
Q

Evaluate Structured Interviews

A

+ remove researcher bias
+ want specific information
+ reliable
+ as valid as possible
-

51
Q

Evaluate Unstructured Interviews

A

+ flexibility
+ ask follow up questions
- hard to repeat
- researcher bias
- difficult to analyse data
- demand characteristics

52
Q

What are correlations?

A

a relationship between 2 cofounding variables

53
Q

Evaluate Correlations

A

+ useful starting point for further research
- doesn’t show causation
- may not be valid if method of measurement is poor

54
Q

What is Random Sampling?

A

all members of the target population stand an equal chance of being selected

55
Q

Evaluate Random Sampling

A

+ very little bias
- difficult to get a list of people
- doesn’t guarantee representative sample
- might not give consent

56
Q

What is Stratified Sampling?

A

the target population is divided into sub-sets eg. age, gender, and a random sample is taken from the sub-sets

57
Q

Evaluate Stratified Sampling

A

+ ensures representative sample
- time consuming
- difficulty manipulating list
- doesn’t always represent differences

58
Q

What is Opportunity Sampling?

A

involves selecting anyone who is available from the target population

59
Q

Evaluate Opportunity Sampling

A

+ easy and quick
- researcher bias
- not representitive

60
Q

What is Self-Selected Sampling?

A

Participants volunteer

61
Q

Evaluate Self-Selected Sampling

A

+ no consent issues
+ will engage better
- demand characteristics
- may not be representative
- volunteer bias

62
Q

What is Systematic Sampling?

A

Participants are selected from a list at fixed intervals

63
Q

Evaluate Systematic Sampling

A

+ reduces researcher bias
- might as well do random sampling
- more time consuming
- may say no

64
Q

What is Snowball Sampling?

A

when the word is passed on, often used when trying to access a hidden population eg. drug users

65
Q

Evaluate Snowball Sampling

A

+ representative
+ get access to population
+ minimal researcher involvement
- could be dangerous
- difficult to access
- no control or guarantee

66
Q

What is reliability?

A

consistency of the test

67
Q

What is inter-rater reliability?

A

the reliability between 2+ observers/experimenters, must be 80% concordance

68
Q

What is Face Validity?

A

whether something looks okay and if common sense tells us the test would work

69
Q

What is Predictive Validity?

A

predicts the future performance with some accuracy

70
Q

What is Concurrent Validity?

A

compares two methods of testing to see if results are comparable

71
Q

What is Ecological Validity?

A

whether the findings of the research can be generalised further than the lab

72
Q

What is Temporal Validity?

A

whether the change in time may change the results if the experiment was done now

73
Q

What is Primary Data?

A

Data collected directly by the researcher

74
Q

What is Secondary Data?

A

Data that already exists but is then analysed by the researcher

75
Q

Evaluate the use of Primary Data

A

+ more accurate
+ reliable
- time consuming

76
Q

Evaluate the use of Secondary Data

A

+ easier
- less accurate

77
Q

What is a Meta-analysis?

A

Involved combining primary and secondary data to come to an overall conclusion

78
Q

What is Quantitative Data?

A

Numbers

79
Q

What is Qualitative Data?

A

Description

80
Q

What is Ordinal Data?

A

scores that can be placed in rank order

81
Q

What is Nominal Data?

A

frequency eg. %

82
Q

What is mode?

A

the most frequently occuring value

83
Q

What is median?

A

the middle value

84
Q

What is mean?

A

the arithmetic average

85
Q

Evaluate mean

A

+ most sensitive
+ includes all data
- one value could distort it
- may not be representative

86
Q

Evaluate median

A

+ ignores anomalies
+ focuses on middle value
- not all scores included
- doesn’t use anomalies

87
Q

Evaluate mode

A

+ useful in nominal data
+ simplistic
- may be multiple modes

88
Q

What is range?

A

a simple measure of dispersion

89
Q

What is standard deviation?

A

a measure of how far on average each score is from the mean

90
Q

What are the characteristics of a Gaussian Curve/Normal Distribution Curve/Bell-shaped Curve?

A
  • bell-shaped
  • symmetric
  • mean, median, mode all fall at same center point
  • 2 tails never touch x axis
91
Q

What else can curves on a graph be other than a gaussian curve?

A

positively or negatively skewed
bi-modal

92
Q

What are the 6 ethical guidelines?

A
  • informed consent
  • deception
  • protection from harm
  • right to withdraw
  • debriefing
93
Q

What is peer review?

A

the evaluation of work by one or more people of similar competence to the producers of work

94
Q

What is a type 1 erroe?

A

False positive- from not being cautious enough

95
Q

What is a type 2 error?

A

False negative- from being overly cautious

96
Q

Describe how to carry out a Sign test

A

AQA A Level Psychology (7 decks)

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