Research Methods Flashcards
1
Q
What is psychology?
A
Psychology is the study of the brain and behaviour.
2
Q
What is procedural memory?
A
The memory for the performance of particular types of actions and is typically accessed below the level of conscious awareness.
3
Q
What should your aims always start with?
A
“To investigate…”
4
Q
What are the two types of alternative hypothesis?
A
Directional and non-directional
5
Q
What is a directional hypothesis (one-tailed)?
A
A hypothesis that states the way they predict the results will go.
6
Q
What is a non-directional hypothesis (two-tailed)?
A
A hypothesis that states there will be a difference, but not what the difference will be.
7
Q
When is the null hypothesis accepted?
A
This hypothesis is accepted if the results of the test are not significant, or there is no difference.
8
Q
What is the null hypothesis?
A
The hypothesis which states there will be no difference, or that any difference is down to chance.
9
Q
What is the independent variable?
A
The thing that is manipulated/changed
10
Q
What is the dependent variable?
A
The thing that is measured
11
Q
What are extraneous variables?
A
Anything that impacts the dependent variable which is not the independent variable.
12
Q
What is operationalization?
A
Explaining how the variables can be measured or controlled.
13
Q
What is the target population?
A
These are the people that the researcher is interested in.
14
Q
Why do we need to take a sample?
A
There are usually too many people in the target population to research them all.
15
Q
What is a sample?
A
The people the researcher actually selects/uses in their study.
16
Q
What is the sampling technique?
A
The way the participants are selected.
17
Q
What is a random sample?
A
Each participant has an equal change of selection. E.g. random name generator
18
Q
What is a opportunity sample?
A
Asking people who are available at that time to take part. E.g. a researcher may ask parents picking their children up from school.
19
Q
what is a volunteer sample?
A
The researcher advertises the study and people who see the advert may get in contact and volunteer
20
Q
What is a systematic sample?
A
When you select every nth name from a list.
21
Q
What is a stratified sample?
A
Selecting people from every portion of your population in the same proportions.
22
Q
What is the experimental method?
A
An experiment is an investigation in which the independent variable is manipulated in order to cause a change in the dependent variable.
23
Q
What is a laboratory experiment?
A
This type of experiment is conducted in a well controlled environment- not necessarily a lab- and therefore accurate measurements are possible.
24
Q
What are the strengths of a laboratory experiment?
A
- It is easier to replicate a laboratory experiment because a standardised procedure is used.
- They allow for precise control of extraneous and independent variable. This makes it possible to establish a cause and effect relationship.
25
What are the limitations of a laboratory experiment?
- The artificiality of the setting may produce unnatural behaviour that does not reflect real life- low ecological validity.
- Therefore hard to generalise to a real life setting
- Demand characteristics/experiment effects may bias the results.
26
What is a field experiment?
These experiments are done in the everyday environment of the participants. The experimenter still manipulates the independent variable, but in a real life setting.
27
What are the strengths of a field experiment?
- Natural environment leads to higher ecological validity
| - less likelihood of demand characteristics affecting the results, as participants may not know they are being studied.
28
What are the limitations of a field experiment?
- Less control over extraneous variables
| - Difficult to replicate the study
29
What are natural experiments?
Experiments conducted in the everyday environment of the participants but the independent variable is not manipulated but occurs naturally in real life.
30
What are the strengths of natural experiments?
- high ecological validity
- less likelihood of demand characteristics as they might not know they are being studied
- Can be used in situations where it would be ethically unacceptable to manipulate the independent variable
31
What are the limitations of natural experiments?
- Potentially more expensive and more time consuming
- No control over extraneous variables
- Very difficult to replicate
32
What is ecological validity?
The degree to which an investigation represents real life experiences.
33
What are experimenter effects?
These are the ways that the experimenter can actually influence the participant through their appearance and behaviour.
34
What are demand characteristics?
The clues in an experiment that lead the participants to think they know what the researcher is looking for.
35
What are confounding variables?
Variables that have affected the results, apart from the independent variable. This could be an extraneous variable that has not been controlled.
36
What is correlation?
A statistical technique used to quantify the strength of the relationship between two variables.
37
What is a correlation coefficient?
A mathematical measure of the degree of relatedness between sets of data.
38
What is the range of the correlation coefficient?
It have a value between -1 to 1
39
What does a correlation coefficient of 1 mean?
A perfect positive correlation with all points on the same line.
40
What does a correlation coefficient close to 1 suggest?
A strong positive correlation.
41
What does a correlation coefficient of 0 mean?
No correlation
42
What does a correlation coefficient of -1 mean?
A perfect negative correlation with all points on a straight line
43
What does a correlation coefficient close to -1 suggest?
A strong negative relationship
44
What are the strengths of using correlation coefficient?
- Calculates the strength of a relationship between variables
- Useful as a pointer for further, more detailed research
45
What are the limitations of using a correlation coefficient?
- Cannot assume cause and effect as a strong correlation between variables may be misleading.
- A lack of correlation might not mean a lack of relationship, as it could be non-linear.
46
What does a correlation coefficient around 0 suggest?
It may disguise a non-linear relationship
47
What are naturalistic observations?
Watching the behaviour of humans or animals in a natural environment. The variables are not manipulated- the experimenter remains inconspicuous.
48
What is a structured observation?
The researcher determines precisely what behaviours are to be observed and uses a standardised checklist to record the frequency with which they are observed within a specific time frame
49
What is time sampling?
Observations may be made at regular time intervals
50
What is event sampling?
Keeping a tally chat or each time a type of behaviour occurs
51
What is point sampling?
Focusing on one individual at a time for a set period of time.
52
What are unstructured observations?
Record everything that happens.
53
What are the strengths of naturalistic observation?
- High ecological validity
- Allows studying of animals that cannot be observed in captivity
- Can study situations that can't be artificially set up
54
What are the limitations of naturalistic observation?
- Observer may affect behaviour if detected
- Difficult to replicate
- Often a need for more than one observer
55
Why would you use closed questions in questionnaires?
To generate data for easy analysis.
56
Why would you use open questions in questionnaires?
For more detailed and invidual answers
57
What should you do in a questionnaire?
- Keep it clear & easy to understand
- Ask purposeful questions to get relevant information
- Pre-code closed questions for quick analysis of answers
- Carry out a pilot study first and make changes if need
- Use attitude scales to test the strength of feeling.
58
What are the strengths of questionnaires?
- Can test many people quickly
- Easy to generate quantative date and easy to analyse
- Collects large amount of date about people's thoughts and behaviour
- Convenient, as a researcher does not have to be present.
- Can quickly show changes in attitudes or behaviour before and after specific events
59
What are the limitations of questionnaires?
- social desirability bias
- May not tell the truth, particularly on sensitive issues
- Postal surveys may have a low response rate
- Difficult to phrase questions clearly
- May obtain different interpretations of questions
60
What are interviews?
They are face to face conversations. These can be unstructured, or structured. Structured interviews use pre-determined questions. They are recorded for later, in- depth analysis.
61
What are the strengths of interviews?
- Detailed information can be obtained and avoids oversimplifying complex issues
- Greater attention to individuals, important in clinical psychology
- Unstructured, casual interviews may encourage openness in answers.
62
What are the limitations of interviews?
- Difficult to analyse if unstructured and qualitative in nature
- Time consuming and expensive
- Possible interviewer effects
63
What are case studies?
They are in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community. Typically data is gathered from a variety of sources and by using several different research methods.
64
What are the strengths of case studies?
- Provides detailed (rich qualitative) information.
- provides insight for future research
- permits investigation of otherwise impractical or unethical situations.
65
What are the limitations of case studies?
- Can't generalise the results to the wider population
- Researchers own subjective feeling may influence the case study
- Difficult to replicate
- Time consuming
66
What does validity mean?
Whether your experiment actually measures what you're planning to measure
67
What does reliability mean?
How consistent the results are
68
What is correlation?
Where two things are measured in order to identify if there is a relationship between the two
69
What is a positive correlation?
When one variable goes up, so does the other.
70
What is a negative correlation?
Where one variable goes up, the other goes down.
71
What does it mean if there is no-correlation?
When there is no apparent link between variables.
72
What letter represents the correlation coefficient?
R
73
What does the correlation coefficient tell us?
How strong the correlation is.
74
The further....the weaker the correlation?
The spread from the line of best fit
75
What are the strengths of analysing correlation?
- Very visual
- statistically precise
- very replicable and therefore reliable
- line of best fit controls for outliners
- exploratory data is useful for further research
76
What are the weaknesses of analysing correlation?
- Can't assume correlation equals causation so it can be misleading
- Requires specialist software for a very accurate reading
- Anomalies can throw things off.
77
What is a field experiment?
A field experiment is when it takes place in the natural environment of the participant like a Quasi experiment, but the independent variable is manipulated.
78
What are self-report techniques?
Both questionnaires and interviews are types of self-report methods. This is because the participant reports their own thoughts and feelings about a particular matter,
79
What are open questions?
The participant can give any answer they wish.
80
What are closed questions?
There are a set number of responses which the participant selects from.
81
What is a livert scale?
When there are a number of responses to a question with often demonstrates a degree of agreement.
82
What are the strengths of a case study?
- detailed & insightful, particularly with multiple sources
- Useful for unique or individual cases & diagnoses
- Can be used to inform future research
- Can investigate cases that we would never be ethically able to manipulate
83
What are the weaknesses of a case study?
- Can't generalise
- Very time-consuming
- Non-scientific method (interview etc.) may lead to bias/false results, or unreliable sources
- difficult to interpret
- important to retain ethical boundaries
- may not be enough sources
- demand characteristics
84
What does reliability mean?
How consistent the results are and whether you can repeat the experiment to get the same results
85
What is correlation?
When co-variables are measured for a relationship
86
What is an experimental design?
It is how psychologists organise their groups of participants. It is different from experimental methods.
87
What are order effects?
The participant learning tasks or getting tired as a result of repeating an experiment under different independent variable conditions.
88
What is a pilot study used to test for?
- To test the design
- the measures used
- test for reliability, as opposed to retesting
- test to ensure all the ethical issues have been dealt with.
89
What is a quasi experiment?
An experiment which takes place in the natural environment of the participant, with a naturally occurring independent variable.
90
What is ethics?
' the consideration of what is acceptable or right behaviour in the pursuit of a personal or scientific goal.'
91
What did the concentration camps result in?
The Nuremberg Code of Ethics
92
What are the main ethical issues that have to be accounted for?
- Informed consent
- Right to withdraw
- Deception
- Confidentiality
- Protection of participant
93
What is inter-rater reliability?
Whether the observers are scoring in the same way.
94
How can you check reliability?
Conduct the test again and see if you get the same results.
- Conduct a spearmans Rho test comparing the scores (if there is no correlation between the observers than it is not consistent so not reliable etc.)
95
How can you improve inter-rater reliability?
If observers are scoring differently, go back and operationalize observation categories until they all get the same.
96
What is a correlation coefficient?
A numerical value that represents the relationship of correlation between two variables.
97
When do you draw a bar chart?
If there is an independent variable.
98
How do you draw a bar chart?
Put the independent variable on the X axis and the dependent variable on the Y axis
99
When do you draw a scatter graph?
If there is no independent variable and they are measuring two co-variables.
100
What is qualitative data?
Any data that is not in numerical form.
101
What do qualitative methods include?
Interviews (semi-structured and unstructured), questionnaires (open questions), focus groups, personal accounts, observations etc.
102
Why do we use qualitative date?
- Quantitative date does not produce a true understanding of people
- more valid
- the aim is to understand individuals rather than generalise to the population
103
What is content analysis?
The method which transfers qualitative data into quantitative data in order to be able to analyse it.
104
How is content analysis performed?
1. Transcribe data.
2. Break down into themes (thematic analysis)
3. Combine themes into larger categories- operationalize those categories
4. Content analysis- Tally
5. Conclusions drawn and new themes produced
105
What are the strengths of content analysis?
- If done correctly, allows us to make qualitative date quantitative
- More detailed
- More Valid
- Good exploratory research
Represents the complexity of human behaviour
106
What are the weaknesses of content analysis?
- Very time consuming
- difficult to draw conclusions
- subjective/ human errors
- the possible diversity of results can make it difficult to analyse
- Cannot generalise to the population
107
What are the measures of central tendency or dispersion?
mean, mode, median, range, standard deviation
108
When is it good to use the mean?
- As a standard average
- When there is a long list
- When there is a small range
109
When is it not good to use the mean?
- When there are anomalous results
110
When is it good to use the mode?
- When you are trying to find the most common answer
111
When is it not good to use the mode?
- If there is more than one mode
| - If there are no repeated values
112
When is it good to use the median?
- When there is an outliner and you want something to represent the majority of the data
113
When is it not good to use the median?
- It could be misleading as it would not tell us all the extreme values
114
When is it good to use the range?
- When you want to find the difference between the lowest and highest value
115
When is it not good to use the range?
- When there are anomalous results
116
What is the advantage of quantitative data?
Can be demonstrated in a graph, to show causal relationships
117
What is the disadvantage of quantitative data?
Answers which are too specific might not provide an accurate representation.
118
What is standard deviation?
The average distance of data points from the mean
119
Why is standard deviation useful?
Because it informs us about how clustered the data in our results is.
120
How do you interpret standard deviation?
The larger the standard deviation, the more dispersed our data is.
The smaller the standard deviation, the more clustered our data is.
121
What is replicability?
whether a procedure of a study can be repeat easily.
122
What is reductionism?
If an explanation of behaviour reduces the behaviour to just one factor and ignores all others. It is overly simplistic. (all explanations are reductionist in one way or another)
123
What is eternal validity/ population validity?
When the sample used was very specific in age, gender, occupation, experiences or abilities, because the more specific the people are the more likely they are to have unique characteristics that make them un-representative of the general population.
124
What is ethnocentric?
If the findings/theory are based on 'norms', values and practices which apply more to western countries than they do to non-western countries, and assume that non-western countries are the same.
125
What is extrapolation?
When a study uses animals as participations, and tries to apply the finding to humans.
126
What is applicability?
Whether the findings or theory have practical value and usefulness in the 'real world'
127
What is mundane realism?
Mundane realism refers to a task that would be carried out naturally, in a natural environment. If a study is artificial it lacks mundane realism.
128
What does the BPS ethical guidelines say about deception?
Internal deception of the participants should be avoided whenever possible. Participants should never be deliberately misled without strong scientific justification.
129
What does the BPS ethical guidelines say about informed consent?
The researcher should inform the participants of the objectives of the research and of all the aspects that might reasonably interfere with their willingness to participate. If children than are involved, their parents/guardians must be fully informed of the procedures of the research and consent.
130
What does the BPS ethical guidelines say about protection of participants?
Researchers have a primary responsibility to protect participants from harm, both physical and psychological. Participants should not be exposed to any risks that are greater than they would encounter in everyday life.
131
What does the BPS ethical guidelines say about debriefing?
When any participant knows they have been involved in a piece of research, they should be provided with any information necessary to complete their understanding of the research they have been involved in at the end. The researcher should discuss the participant's experiences with them and must try to deal with any negative effects of the research, and if necessary, arrange for support.
132
What does the BPS ethical guidelines say about the right to withdraw?
Every participant has the right to withdraw from research at any time, regardless of having received payment. They also have the right to withdraw their data from being used in the research.
133
What is a questionnaire?
When the responses are written down by the participant. It is designed to collect information about a topic or topics.
134
What is an interview?
Where the participant gives a verbal response which is then recorded by the interviewer.
135
What are the advantages of questionnaires?
- Closed questions produce quantitative data which is easier to analyse
- Open questions produce qualitative data which can provide unexpected answers and rich detail allowing researchers to gain new insights.
- East to repeat
- May feel more able to reveal person information as opposed to face-to-face
- They are a flexible and can be tailored to the needs of the researcher
136
What are the disadvantages of questionnaires?
- Closed questions could result in respondents being forced to select answers which doesn't reflect their true opinion- low validity
- Open questions are harder to analyse, difficult to draw conclusions.
- Social desirability bias
- May be leading questions
- Potential sample bias as only certain types of people return questionnaires
- Might not have sufficient insight into their own behaviour
- Questions can be interpreted differently
- If the questions are too vague the results may be meaningless- random answers, blank answers
137
What is a structured interview?
An interview where the interviewer comes in with a set amount of pre-determined questions that they don't deviate from.
138
What is an unstructured interview?
When the interviewer asks any questions, not following a set script.
139
What are the strengths of an unstructured interview?
- More detail
- In depth qualitative data can be collected
- Information can be accessed that might not be revealed by using predetermined questions
140
What are the strengths of a structured interview?
- Requires less interviewing skill
- Easier to analyse
- Standardised so easily repeatable
- Quantitative data can also be collected
141
What is interviewer bias?
When the interviewer's own opinions may influence the interviewee.
142
What are the weakness of unstructured interviews?
- Interviewer bias is a particular issue as questions are made up on the spot
- Reliability affected, if the same interviewer is behaving differently on different occasions
- Reliability affected, if different interviewers ask different questions, or phrase questions differently
- Questions interpreted differently
143
What are the weakness of structured interviews?
- Reliability affected, if the same interviewer is behaving differently on different occasions
- green spoon effect
- Questions interpreted differently
- Answers may be restricted by the questions asked
144
What is the validity of questionnaires and interviews concerned with?
The way in which the findings can be generalised to other situations and people.
145
How can be make a questionnaire and interview more representative?
By ensuring we choose a more representative sample.
146
What could leading questions result in?
The participants answering in a way that is not reflective of their real point of view.
147
How can leading questions be minimised?
- Leading questions can be identified and eradicated using a pilot study to highlight any potential problems
- A double blind technique, where the person asking the questions does not know the aim of the study
148
What is social desirability bias?
Where the participants selects an answer which portrayed them in a good light rather than those that reflect the truth.
149
How can the level of social desirability be assessed?
Using a lie scale. A number of questions are added to the questionnaire as "truth-detectors." A person who is telling the truth should give a predictable answer. People who lie on a high proportion of these questions may also be lying in other answers.
150
How does reliability relate to questionnaires?
reliability refers to how consistent a test is within itself. This issue will not be relevant for all questionnaires as some may be measuring more than one thing.
151
How does reliability relate to interviews?
The consistency of the test within itself, which might not be relevant to all interviews as some may be measuring more than one thing. But also inter-interviewer reliability.
152
How can inter-interviewer reliability be established?
By comparing the results of two interviewers and seeing how similar they are. This is calculated by correlating the results of two or more interviews. Generally, if there is more than 80% agreement between the interviewers, the data has inter-interviewer reliability.
153
What will help content analysis?
A coding system, for example using words such as "hit, themes such as "anti-social behaviour, and feelings such as "fear, stress."
154
What does all psychological research have to be carried out in line with?
The code of ethics, published by the British Psychology society.
155
What are the nine ethical issues?
-consent
-deception
-debriefing
-withdrawal
-confidentiality
-protection of participants
(camels dance daily with confident pride)
156
What is a pilot study?
A small scale study conducted on a small sample before the main study in order to test the proposed methodology and to iron out any possible problems. May also help to identify ethical issues.
157
What are correlational methods?
A study which measures the relationship between two variables.
158
What is an aim?
A general statement of why the study is being carried out.
159
What is an hypothesis?
- a clear statement
- a prediction
- Testable; worded so IV & DV are clear
- Formulated at the beginning of the research process
160
How do psychologists start?
With a theory which is a general idea about a specific behaviour and then develop a hypothesis which makes the theory testable.
161
What is a non-directional hypothesis?
It states that there will be a difference between results, but not what that difference will be.
162
What is a directional hypothesis?
States that there will be a difference between the two results and predicts the difference.
163
When is a directional hypothesis given?
When past research has indicated the probable direction of the results
164
When is a non-directional hypothesis given?
When there has not been any research in the area, or there is conflicting research.
165
What is the difference between experimental hypothesis and a alternative hypothesis?
The term experimental hypothesis should only be used when using the experimental method, otherwise the term alternative hypothesis should be used.
166
What is a null hypothesis?
It predicts that any differences or similarities between the sets of results in an experiment are due to chance alone.
167
Why must a null hypothesis be written?
Psychologists must accept that we can never rule out the possibility that any results gained in an investigation may be simply due to chance. It is therefore necessary to have a null hypothesis alongside the main hypothesis in order to make the scientific prediction complete.
168
What is operationalize?
To define a concept or variable so that it can be measured and/or expressed quantitatively or qualitatively
169
What is operationalization?
The process of putting something into operation; also the process of expressing something in operational terms.
170
What needs to happen when planning an observation?
You need to operationally define key terms (make clear statements about how to measure or classify what is being studied.)
171
When are correlational studies often used?
When it would be inappropriate or ethically unacceptable to use an experimental design.
172
What are overt/disclosed observations?
Where the people under observation are aware they are being observed and have given their consent for such an observation.
173
What are covert/undisclosed observations?
Where the people under observation are unaware that they are being observed.
174
What are demand characteristics?
Features of the experiment which help participants work out what is expected of them and lead them to behave in certain predictable ways, thus acting as a confounding variable.
175
How can demand characteristics be reduced?
- By using independent group designs
- Using experimental realism, so the participant's attention will be taken up by their interest in the experimental procedures
- Single blind design where participants do not know whether they are the experimental condition or the control condition
176
What are experimenter bias/investigator effects?
The effect that the experimenter's expectations have on participants and thus upon the results as participants are prone to be influenced by the experimenter's expectations.
177
How can experimenter bias/investigator effects be reduced?
By using a double blind design where the experimenter is not aware of the experimental hypothesis
Or a single blind design when the participants are aware of which condition they are in but the researcher is not
178
How does counterbalancing work?
We can remove the bias caused by creating order effects in each condition, thus balancing the order effects, by making half the participants do condition A than B, and the other half do condition B than A, which will counter out the bias.
179
What is nominal data?
It is used when categorising something. Named categories are established by the researcher and an item is counted when it falls into this category. The data cannot fit into more than one of the categories.
180
What is ordinal data?
This is when the data is ranked so that it is possible so see the order of scores in relation to one another.
181
What is interval data?
This is a more sophisticated level of data. It not only gives the rank order of scores but also details the precise intervals between scores.
182
When should you use histograms?
These use bars which touch and are used with interval data only. The data is continuous as it all measures the same thing.
183
When should you use bar charts?
These use bars which do not touch and can be used with all types of data. The data usually represents different categories.
184
When should you use frequency polygons?
These use lines and are used to compare sets of scores (interval data). They are used for the same data as a hisograms.
185
When should you use scattergraphs/scattergrams?
These use dots and are used with correlations.
186
What are measures of central tendency used for?
To represent a set of numbers by providing the most typical (central) value.
187
What is a behaviour checklist/categories?
The set of component behaviours in recording data from observation. Sometimes each behaviour is given a code to make recording easier and then the method is called a coding system.
188
What are unstructured observations?
When data is recorded continuously- every instance of the behaviour seen or heard by the observer is recorded in as much detail as possible.
189
What are independent groups? (experimental design)
A separate group of participants for each condition of the independent variable.
190
What are the advantages of independent groups?
- Reduces demand characteristics
| - Avoids order effects
191
What are the disadvantages of independent groups?
- Individual difference
| - extraneous variables
192
What are matched groups? (experimental design)
A separate group of participants for each condition of the independent variable but they are fitted for certain characteristics.
193
What are the advantages of matched groups?
- reduces individual differences
- reduces demand characteristics
- No order effects
194
What are the disadvantages of matched groups?
- Individual differences are never completely controlled for
195
What are repeated measures (experimental design)?
Every participant completes all conditions.
196
What are the advantages of repeated measures?
- no individual differences
197
What are the disadvantages of repeated measures?
- order effects
- extraneous variables e.g. mood
- demand characteristics
- cannot be used if the independent variable is gender, age etc.
198
What is a variable?
A measurable characteristic or value that can differ from one person to another or have multiple values.
199
What are theories?
A theory consists of complex sets of interrelated statements of hypothesis that, when take together, offer a way of explaining observed phenomena.
200
What is internal validity?
If it is testing what it sets out to test; the outcome of the results of the variables that are manipulated in the study.
201
What is external validity?
The extent to which findings can be generalised to settings other than the research setting. This includes population validity and ecological validity.
202
What is population validity?
Whether the findings can be generalised to other people
203
What is ecological validity?
Whether the results can be generalised to other settings
204
What is face validity?
This is the most basic method of assessing validity and quite simply involves an 'eyeball test'. That is, does the test look as if it is measuring what it is supposed to measure?
205
What is concurrent validity?
This method of assessing validity involves comparing the results yielded by a new test with those from an older test known to have good validity.
206
What is predictive validity?
The method of assessing validity, through the ability of the test to predict performance on future test. If it can do this then the test is said to have good predictive validity.
207
What are the tree methods of assessing validity?
- Face Validity
- Concurrent Validity
- predictive validity
208
What are the two types of extraneous variables?
- Situational variables
| - Participant variables
209
What are situational variables?
These are the variables connected with the research situation. For example, temperature, instructions, time of day and lighting, materials used in the investigation.
210
How can situational variables be controlled?
Through standardisation, that is ensuring that the only thing that differs between the two conditions is the independent variable.
211
What are participant variables?
Those variables that are connected with the research participant. For example, intelligence, age, gender and personality.
212
How are participant variables controlled?
Through the experimental design, such as the matched pairs design, where participants in one condition are matched with similar participants in other condition. Randomly assigning participants to conditions also helps to control participant variables by reducing bias.
213
How can demand characteristics be controlled?
Single blind technique
214
How can investigator effects be controlled?
Double blind technique
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What is a single blind technique?
A procedure in an experiment where the participants do not know the hypothesis and do not know which condition they are in.
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What is a double blind technique?
A procedure in an experiment where neither the participants nor the research assistant know the hypothesis or the condition that the participants are in. This involves a research assistant carrying out the data collection on behalf of the experimenter.
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How does random sampling affect population validity?
this is a representative sample and has high population validity.
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How does opportunity sampling affect population validity?
High chance that the sample will be biased leading to low population validity
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How does volunteer sampling affect population validity?
Research has found that a particular type of person is likely to volunteer for research; thus this type of sample has a very high chance of bias. This means that we cannot generalise this to the target population leading to low population validity.
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What are ethical issues?
These occur when there is a dilemma between what the researcher wants to do in order to conduct the research and the rights and dignity of the participants.
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What does the BPS guidelines say about observation research?
They must protect the privacy and psychological well-being of those observed. Where consent has not been obtained, privacy is important. Participants should not be observed in situations where they would not normally expect others to observe their behaviour.
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What does the BPS guidelines say about giving advice?
Sometimes during the course or research, physical or psychological problems are identified, and/or participants solicit advice from the researcher. Great care must be taken in this situation. If you are unqualified to give help, then an appropriate source of professional advice should be suggested. If you are unsure about what such a source may be, say so, and do not be tempted to offer any advice yourself.
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What does the BPS guidelines say about colleagues?
You are responsible for the ethical conduct of your own research and that of your colleagues. Where you feel a colleague may be following an unethical procedure, than you should raise your concern with them, and encourage them to re-evaluate their actions.
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What are the three main types of ethical issues?
- deception
- informed consent
- protection of participants
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Why is deception an ethical issue?
- because it prevents the participant from giving informed consent and the participant may find themselves in research against their wishes
- participants may start to become distrustful of psychologists in the future.
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Why is informed consent an ethical issue?
- The participant may find themselves take part in research against their wishes
- if they haven't be fully informed about the aims of the study
- if they haven't given consent
- participants may start to become distrustful of psychologists in future.
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Why is protection of participants an ethical issue?
- Participants have the right not to be harmed as a result of participating in a piece of psychological. The participant should leave the research the same as when they entered it. If they are harmed they may suffer long-term effects which could impact on their future lives.
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How can the ethical issue of deception be dealt with?
- Debriefing; where on completion of the research the true aim of the research is revealed. The aim is to restore the participant to the state they were in prior to the research.
- Retrospective informed consent; once the true nature of the research has been revealed the participant should be given the right to withdraw their data.
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How are the ethical issue of informed consent dealt with?
- Prior general consent:
- Presumptive consent:
- For children as participants get the consent of parents/guardians.
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What is prior general consent?
This solution involves obtaining the prior consent of participants to be involved in research that involves deception. If the participant agrees that they would not object to being deceived in future research studies, then in later studies where they participate it is assumed that they have agreed to being deceived.
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What is presumptive consent?
This involves taking a random sample of the population and introducing them to the research, including any deception involved. If they agree that they would have still given their consent to the research then we can generalise from this and assume that the remainder of the general population would also have agree.
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How can the ethical issue of protection of participants be dealt with?
- Participants should be reminded of their right to withdraw
- The researcher is responsible for terminating any research that results in psychological or physical harm that is higher than expected.
- debriefing.
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What should a pilot study do?
This should be designed to test the reliability of the data collection tool and the researcher should make any necessary changes before carrying out their full investigation.
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What is a control group?
This is the group of participants who do not receive the experimental treatment or condition so that they can act as a comparison to the participants who do.
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What three key features need to be established in a true experiment?
- Manipulation of an independent variable
- Randomisation- A true experiment requires that participants are randomly allocated to conditions or that the participants take part in each condition of the independent variable.
- Control; efforts are made to control all variables other than the IV and the DV
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What is mundane realism?
The extent to which a study matches the real-world situation to which it will be applied.
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What is experimental design?
The method of control imposed by the experimenter to control for participant variables. This is one of the major methods employed in an experiment to control extraneous variables.
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What is a repeated measures design?
Evert participant will take part in both conditions of the independent variable, in effect each participant acts as their own control.
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What is an independent group design?
The participants take part in either the control of the experimental condition.
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What is a matched pairs design?
Each participant in one of the experimental conditions is matched as closely as possible with a participant in the other conditions. When the matching pairs have been established they are randomly allocated to one of other of the conditions.
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When should the repeated measures design be used?
When there is only a small number of participants- the same participants can be used for both conditions.
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What are the advantages of the repeated measure design?
- Participant variables are eliminated
| - uses fewer participants
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What are the disadvantages of the repeated measure design?
- Order effects can occur
- Increased chance of demand characteristics
- Cannot use the same stimulus materials
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What controls could be used for the repeated measures design?
- Order effects can be controlled through counterbalancing.
| - Demand characteristics can be reduced by using a single blind technique.
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When should independent groups design be used?
- This design is not affected as much by the number of participants, although in a small sample there's a risk that any differences between conditions could be due to individual differences of participants.
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What are the advantages of independent groups design?
- No order effects
- Reduced chance of demand characteristics
- Can use the same stimulus material
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What are the disadvantages of independent group design?
- Least effective design for controlling participant variables
- More participants required
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What controls should be in place for the independent group design?
Absolutely crucial that participants are randomly allocated to the different conditions.
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When should a matched pairs design be used?
When you have a lot of time, money and participants as they need to be carefully matched
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What are the advantages of a matched pairs design?
- No order effects
| - Good attempt at controlling participant variables
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What are the disadvantages of the matched pairs design?
- Difficult to match participants exactly
| - more participants required
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What controls can be implemented in a matched pairs design?
Monozygotic twins (identical) provide researches with a very close match for participant variables.
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What are order effects?
A confounding effect that can occur when a repeated measures design is employed. If the participants always complete one condition first, by the time they get to the second condition they may experience order effects, such as practice, boredom, and fatigue. This could then affect their performance in the second condition.
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What is counterbalancing?
The method used to balance order effects in the repeated measures design. Half the participants would complete the experiment in one sequence- for example, condition A first followed by condition B. The other half would do condition B first followed by condition A.
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What is observer bias?
This happens when an observer makes their own particular interpretation of the behaviour they observe.
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What is participant observation?
This requires the researcher to actually join the group or take part in the situation they are studying
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What is non-participant observation?
This is based on observation made from a distance or from 'outside' the group or situation being studied.
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What is a disclosed observation?
An observation in which the participants are aware that they are being observed. This is also known as overt observation.
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What is an undisclosed observation?
An observation in which the participants are not aware that they are being observed. This is also known as covert observation.
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What is a structured observation?
Before the research begins the researcher determines precisely what behaviours are to be observed and will use a standardised checklist to record the frequency with which those behaviours are observed within a specified time period.
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What are naturalistic observations?
When the researcher observes naturally occurring behaviour. This type of observation cannot happen in a true experiment where the researcher manipulates the independent variable to observe the effect on the dependent variable.
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What is a controlled observation?
Where the researcher attempts to control certain variables. Control of the environment can be achieved by carrying out an observation in a laboratory.
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What is an unstructured observation?
The researcher uses direct observation to record behaviour as they occur; there is no predetermined plan about what will be observed.
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What is a inter-observer reliability?
The extent to which a data collection tool used by a group of observers produces similar data.
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What strategies can increase the reliability of observational research?
- use of double blind techniques: the researcher and the person completing the search should be unaware of the hypothesis.
- clear definitions of concepts and terms
- A pilot study
- More than one observer so inter-observer reliability can be measured.
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What are the advantages of a naturalistic observation?
- High levels of ecological validity
| - Participants may be unaware that they are being observed and therefore they may behave more naturally
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What are the disadvantages of a naturalistic observation?
- No control over extraneous variables
| - Ethical issues if the participant is unaware they are being observered
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What are the advantages of a controlled observation?
- Higher levels of control over extraneous variablse
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What are the disadvantages of a controlled observation?
- Participants may be affected by the fact that they know they are being observed
- Behaviour may not be natural; this lowers the ecological validity of the research
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What are the advantages of participant observation?
- Very high ecological validity
- Rich qualitative data can be yielded by the research
- easier to understand what the observees' behaviour actually means
- A relationship based on trust can be established between those being observed and the observer
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What are the disadvantages of participant observation?
- Researcher has to rely on memory which is unreliable
- Observer may become too emotionally involved with the observees,meaning that observations can become subjective rather than objective
- The presence of the observer may change the group dynamics
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What are the advantages of non-participant observation?
- Observers may not realise that they are being observed, meaning that behaviour may not be changed by the presence of the behaviour
- The observer may be more objective as they are less likely to become emotionally involved with the participants
- Observer can record their observations as they occur making them more reliable in terms of memory
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What are the disadvantages of non-participant observation?
- The actual meaning of the behaviour may not be so clear from a distance
- a relationship is not formed between the observer and the observee with the consequence that there may be less trust
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What are the advantages of disclosed observation?
- Reduction of ethical issues, as the observee knows they are being observed and as such have given consent
- increases the trust between researches and the public
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What are the disadvantages of disclosed observation?
Increase in reactivity as the observee may change their behaviour as they know they are being observed. There will be an increase in demand characteristics.
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What are the advantages of undisclosed observation?
- Reduction of reactivity as the participant does not realise they are being observed, meaning that there are less demand charateristics
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What are the disadvantages of undisclosed observations?
- Ethical issues raised
| - When the observee realises that they have been observed they may come to distrust psychologists in the future.
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What is social desirability?
The tendency of humans to present themselves in the best possible light. Responses to questionnaires may be influenced by this tendency. There is a difference between what people say they do and what in fact they do.
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What are common features in case studies?
- The method is descriptive. The method allows for the collection of qualitative data that is rich in detail.
- The research is often very focused on a particular aspect of behaviour. This is known as a narrow focus in reasearch.
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What are the advantages of using the mean?
The mean is the most sensitive measure of central tendency, taking all scores into account.
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What are the disadvantages of using the mean?
The mean can be distorted by extreme scores with the consequence that it becomes unrepresentative of the data.
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What is the advantages of using the median?
- The median is unaffected by extreme scores, this in a date set where extreme scores exist this would be a more appropriate measure of central tendency than the mean.
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What are the disadvantages of using the median?
Unlike the mean, the median only takes one or two scores into account- the middle value(s)
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What are the advantages of using the mode?
Similar to the median, the mode is unaffected by extreme scores.
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What are the disadvantages of using the mode?
Can be affected dramatically by the change in one score, making it an unrepresentative measure.
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When should the range be used?
When you wish to make a basic measure of the variation within the data and the data is consistent. If there are extreme scores the range in inappropriate as it will be a distorted measure of variation.
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What are the advantages of range?
Easy to calculate
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What are the disadvantages of range?
The range can be easily distorted by extreme scores
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When should standard deviation be used?
When you wish to make a very sensitive measure of dispersion.
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What are the advantages of standard deviation?
- Takes account of all scores
| - it is a sensitive measure of dispersion
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What are the disadvantages of standard deviation?
-More difficult to calculate compared to the range.
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What is content analysis?
An analytical approach based on the coding and quantification of various elements in any kind of text in any medium. It involves establishing categories and counting the number of instances when these categories are utilised within a text. At the most basic level, the main purpose of the method is to locate the nature of the relative patterns within and between sets of data.
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What is coding?
The procedure employed to transform raw data into a format that can be used for data analysis purposes. This is necessary to allow the conversion of qualitative data to quantitative data. Coding qualitative data involves identifying recurrent words, concepts or themes.
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What is pure qualitative analysis?
This approach rejects the conversion of qualitative data to quantitative data and presents the findings of the research in a purely verbal form. Analysis attempts to organise the data not by reducing them to a number but by identifying and categorising recurrent themes
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What is the process of pure qualitative analysis?
- The data collected being transcribed
- Once transcribed the data would be read through repeatedly in an effort to identify recurrent themes.
- All data is read and re-read until all emerging themes have been identified that account for all data colllected.
