Research Methods Flashcards
Reliability
If you repeat the experiment you get the same results
Validity
The true picture of what is being studied
Ethics
The morality of the study
3 example of ethics
Privacy of participant should not be invaded, sensitivities, physical social and mental well being should not be harmed, and consent.
Advantages of closed questionnaires
Quick to complete, quantitative data, easy to repeat, allow comparisons to be made
Disadvantages of closed questionnaires
The answers can’t be properly explained, no follow up questions can be asked to get more in depth data, participant may not agree with any answers in a question
What are closed questionnaires?
Very structured with the participant having a few set answers to choose from
What are open questionnaires?
Less structured, a set of questions with no set answers to choose from, usually interview rather than written questions
Advantages of open questionnaires
Participant can truly express their meaning with no set answers, provide richer data such as follow up questions and qualitative data
Disadvantages of open questionnaires
Qualitative data is hard to quantify and analyse and therefore harder to compare, possible misinterpretations
What are postal questionnaires?
Participant fills out themselves and returns by post or internet
Advantages of postal questionnaire
cheap, quick results, participants can respond whenever they want without an interviewer, and more likely to give personal/embarrassing responses in privacy, less risk of interviewer bias
interviewer bias
where the interviewer makes assumptions based on the participant and therefore misinterprets
disadvantages of postal questionnaires
low response rate due to no pressure to complete, more unemployed or elderly responses, did the correct person answer? and no chance of follow up questions and chance of misunderstanding
longitudinal survey
follow the development of the same subject over a long period of time
sample survey
selecting and studying a small proportion of total population
laboratory experiment
takes place in a controlled artificial setting
control group
the group will have no changes made to it, used to compare changes that occur within the experimental group
field experiment
takes place in the real world and the participants do not know they are being studied to increase validity. no control group
milgram
obedience experiment: (electric shock) aimed to see if people would inflict great harm on others simply because they are ordered to by someone in authority. 65% of volunteers did so
practical factors
time, money, danger, access, researchers personal characteristics, age of participants, etc
theoretical factors
validity, reliability, representative, theoretical perspective
structured interview
a list of standardised closed questions read out in the same way who then records the answers.
quantitative, objective, reliable, positivist
unstructured interview
more like a conversation, no set list of questions but a solid idea of aimed topics to ask. based on rapport, flexible, open-ended, free flowing, qualitative, subjective, interpretivist
