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Psychology A-Level > Research Methods > Flashcards

Research Methods Flashcards

1
Q

What is the experimental method looking at primarily?

A

Cause and effect

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2
Q

What is the most scientific research method available to psychologists? Why?

A

The experimental method, because it is carried out with a high degree of objectivity and a lack of subjective bias, which makes its findings more valid than those of other research methods

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3
Q

What are the advantages of lab experiments? (5)

A
  • cause and effect relationship can be established
  • control over extraneous variables
  • controlled environment
  • experiments can be replicated
  • provides quantitative data
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4
Q

What are the disadvantages of lab experiments? (3)

A
  • low ecological validity
  • demand characteristics; if participants know they are being studied, it may affect the way they behave
  • may be affected by experimenter bias
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5
Q

What are the advantages of field experiments? (2)

A
  • less artificial therefore higher ecological validity

- easier to assume it’s how people would behave in real situations (thus avoids demand characteristics)

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6
Q

What are the disadvantages of field experiments? (4)

A
  • can be unethical, especially if participant consent is not gained
  • not possible to control all variables
  • difficult to replicate
  • time consuming and expensive
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7
Q

What are the advantages of quasi experiments? (3)

A
  • since quasi experiments are natural, findings in one may be applied to other subjects allowing for some generalisations
  • can be followed up in different environments
  • more ecologically valid
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8
Q

What are the disadvantages of quasi experiments? (2)

A
  • less control over variables

- harder to establish causal relationships, as the IV is not being directly manipulated by the researcher

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9
Q

What are demand characteristics?

A

They happen when a participant thinks about what is expected of them, and therefore they attempt to either achieve this expectation or confound it.

eg. social desirability bias

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10
Q

What is an extraneous variable?

A

A variable that might affect the DV if it is not controlled.

If it is NOT controlled it becomes a confounding variable.

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11
Q

How would you avoid demand characteristics in a study?

A

Single-blind control - the participants are not aware of the aims of the study

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12
Q

What are investigator effects? How can they be reduced?

A

When the investigator/researcher subconsciously impacts the results, through their gender/attitude/language/appearance, etc.

This can be reduced by using the same person for all participants

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13
Q

What is investigator bias?

A

When the researcher interprets the results to support their hypothesis i.e. seeing/hearing what they want to

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14
Q

How can investigator bias be reduced?

A

Double-blind control - the participants and experimenter both don’t know the aim of the experiment

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15
Q

What are the two types of hypothesis?

A

Alternative hypothesis
Null hypothesis - states that there is no difference or relationship between something

You either accept or reject the alternative/null hypotheses.

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16
Q

What are the two types of alternative hypothesis?

A

1-tailed (directional) - predicts the direction of the relationship
2-tailed (non-directional) - simply states that there will be a relationship

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17
Q

What are the 5 types of sampling?

A

opportunity - you use what is available to you
random - picking participants from a random generator
volunteer - people offer to do the study
systematic - takes every th person (e.g. every 4th)
stratified - the researcher selects people at random who have already been separated into different groups

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18
Q

What is repeated measures? What is the advantage?

A

Same participants are used for each condition of an experiment

  • individual differences are removed
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19
Q

What are the disadvantages of repeated measures? How do you deal with them?

A
  • it is not always feasible to use the same participants for each condition
  • order effects (participants become bored/tired, or anticipate the aim of the study)

You can deal with order effects using counterbalancing. The sample is split in half with one half completing the conditions in one order and the other half completing the conditions in the reverse order.

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20
Q

What is independent measures? What is an advantage and a disadvantage?

A

Different participants are used for each condition of an experiment

Advantage - order effects not an issue
Disadvantage - individual differences can be extraneous variables

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21
Q

What is a matched pairs design? What is an advantage and a disadvantage?

A

Two sets of similar participants are used for each condition of the experiment

Advantage - reduces individual differences in each condition
Disadvantage - difficult to match participants so exactly that it is still open to extraneous variables

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22
Q

What are the 4 levels of measurement?

A

Nominal - participants are categorised into groups
Ordinal - participants are ranked in order
Interval - clear intervals. can go below zero (e.g. temperature)
Ratio - clear intervals. can’t go below zero

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23
Q

What is an advantage and a disadvantage of using the mode as a measure of central tendency?

A

Advantage
- less likely to be distorted by extreme values

Disadvantage
- doesn’t use all the scores (hence can be unrepresentative of the data)

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24
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the median as a measure of central tendency?

A

Advantages

  • not affected by extreme scores
  • can be used with ordinal/interval/ratio data

Disadvantages
- not all scores used; can be unrepresentative of the data

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25
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the mean as a measure of central tendency?

A

Advantages

  • most accurate measure
  • uses all the data available

Disadvantages
- can be less useful if the scores are skewed

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26
Q

If there are outliers, which measure of central tendency would you use?

A

Median

27
Q

What does a graph of positively skewed data look like?

A

It has a long tail that extends to the right

28
Q

What is the probability value used in psychology that something has occurred by chance?

A

If your results come out as p=<0.05, then you can state that your results are significant and not simply due to chance.

If p=>0.05 then your results are not significant and you have to reject the alternative hypothesis

29
Q

What is the sign test used for?

A

It is used when looking for a difference e.g. in an experiment.
It is used in a repeated measures design, and we need nominal data for it

30
Q

What is the difference between experimental methods and experimental designs?

A

experimental methods - lab, quasi, field, natural

experimental designs - independent groups, repeated measures, matched pairs

31
Q

what are examples of the non-experimental method?

A
  • naturalistic observations
  • self-report techniques (questionnaires, interviews)
  • correlational studies
  • case studies
32
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of case studies?

A

Advantages

  • rich in details
  • sometimes the only possible method eg. Genie

Disadvantages

  • not representative of large population
  • researcher bias
33
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of self report? (questionnaires and interviews)

A

advantage
- participants can be asked about their thoughts and feelings, which can be more useful than simply observing behaviour

disadvantages

  • only helpful if participants are willing to disclose (honest) thoughts/feelings to the researcher
  • participants may try to give the ‘correct’ responses
34
Q

What type of data can questionnaires provide?

A

both

close-ended questionnaires- quantitative data
open-ended questionnaires- qualitative data

35
Q

What are the 3 types of interview?

A

structured, semi-structured, unstructured

36
Q

what are the strengths of unstructured interviews?

A
  • can provide rich and detailed information (more depth than questionnaires)
  • can help with complex or sensitive issues, as participants are more likely to relax and give better responses as the dialogue flows
37
Q

what are the strengths and weaknesses of observations?

A

strengths

  • see how people behave rather than how they say they behave
  • allows us to study variables it would be unethical to manipulate (e.g. behaviour in prisons)
  • useful as pilot

weaknesses

  • difficult to replicate
  • does not provide us with thoughts and feelings, only behaviour
  • can’t establish cause and effect
  • observer bias
  • observer effect
38
Q

what is a controlled observation, and its strengths and weaknesses?

A

a controlled observation usually takes place in a lab, and involves a situation being contrived by the researcher.

strengths

  • more control
  • easier to replicate
  • avoids ethical problems of consent

weaknesses

  • awareness of being observed may affect participants’ behaviour (demand characteristics)
  • low ecological validity
39
Q

What is the difference between covert and overt observations?

A

In covert observations, participants are not aware that they are being observed. This increases validity because there is less social desirability, however there are ethical issues with it.

In overt observations participants do know they are being observed, which reduces ethical issues but decreases validity due to demand characteristics

40
Q

what are the strengths and weaknesses of participant observations?

A

strengths

  • can be the only way to observe behaviour (cults/gangs)
  • greater accuracy and detail

weaknesses

  • harder to remain objective; could take on values of the group
  • can influence behaviour, reducing validity
  • ethical issues
41
Q

what are the strengths and weaknesses of non-participant observations?

A

strengths

  • easier to remain objective
  • no influence on behaviour
  • less ethical issues

weaknesses

  • can’t observe certain behaviour
  • less accuracy and detail
42
Q

What are the two types of sampling?

A

event sampling - every occurrence of behaviour

time sampling - behaviour is observed and recorded at specific time intervals

43
Q

what is an advantage and a disadvantage of time sampling?

A

+ it is more representative over time

  • can miss important events
44
Q

what is an advantage and 2 disadvantages of event sampling?

A

+ less likely to miss predefined events, which increases validity and reliability

  • can be hard if lots of behaviour occurs at once
  • can miss events not coded for
45
Q

What are correlations?

A

Correlations are a non-experimental method that can tell us if there is a relationship between two continuous variables

46
Q

what is the correlation coefficient?

A

a number which shows the strength and direction of a correlation

-1.0 strong negative correlation
-0.5
0.0 no correlation
+0.5
+1.0 strong positive correlation

47
Q

how do you write a hypothesis for a correlation?

A
  • predict a relationship, NOT a difference
  • say what kind of correlation is predicted, positive or negative

e.g. there will be a significant positive correlation between the amount of time spent revising and A-level grades

48
Q

what are the strengths and weaknesses of correlations?

A

strengths

  • do not require manipulation of variables
  • quick and easy way to see if there is a relationship between two variables that is worth exploring further
  • can describe the strength of a relationship

weaknesses

  • you have to try work out the relationship
  • it could be that a third unknown variable (a mediating variable) is causing both variables to change together
49
Q

How do you change qualitative data to quantitative data?

A

Content analysis

50
Q

How do you carry out content analysis?

A
  1. data is collected
  2. the researcher identifies coding units
  3. the data is analysed by applying coding units
  4. a tally is made of the number of times that a coding unit appears
51
Q

what is the strength and weakness of content analysis?

A

strength
- coding units are not open to interpretation, so it is a reliable way to analyse qualitative data

weakness
- causality cannot be established as it merely describes the data

52
Q

what is reliability?

A

the extent to which a test produces consistent findings every time it is done

53
Q

how do we assess reliability?

A

test-retest : administering the same test or questionnaire to the same person on different occasions

if the test is reliable then the results will be the same or very similar across times and occasions

54
Q

how do we assess reliability of observers?

A

inter-observer reliability: observations should be carried out in teams of at least two and they should compare their observations. observers should be watching the same events but making their observations independently.

55
Q

how do we improve reliability in observations?

A

by making sure that behavioural categories and properly operationalised, and that they do not overlap.

all possible behaviours should be covered on the checklist

56
Q

what are problems with internal validity?

A
  • investigator effects
  • demand characteristics
  • confounding variables
  • extraneous variables
  • poorly operationalised behavioural categories
57
Q

what are problems with external validity?

A
  • temporal validity (whether we can generalise the findings to other periods of time)
  • population validity (whether we can generalise the findings to other people)
  • ecological validity (whether we can generalise to other settings)
58
Q

what is validity?

A

the degree to which something measures what it claims to

59
Q

what are the 4 types of validity?

A
  • face validity (is it measuring what it says it’s measuring?)
  • temporal validity (how much will the findings stand the test of time?)
  • predictive validity (how well a test accurately predicts future behaviour)
  • concurrent validity (comparing the current method of measurement with a previously validated one on the same topic)
60
Q

how to improve validity in questionnaires?

A

revise the questions and re-check concurrent validity

61
Q

what are pilot studies?

A

small, trial versions of proposed studies to test their effectiveness and make improvements.
they are helpful in identifying potential issues early, which can be rectified before committing to a full investigation

62
Q

what is peer review?

A

other psychologists working in a similar field check a research report before deciding whether it could be published

they consider work in terms of its validity, significance and originality

63
Q

5 significant BPS guidelines

A
  • investigators have a responsibility to protect participants from physical and psychological harm
  • participants should be made aware that they can withdraw from an experiment at any time
  • experimental data should be confidential
  • participants should only be observed when they are in a place where they might expect to be observed by strangers
  • the researcher should avoid deceiving participants about the nature of the research unless there is no alternative
64
Q

how to write a debrief/consent form

A

in a consent form you should consider 1, 3, 4 and 5. in a debrief you should consider all.

  1. informed consent - understanding the aims of the study, what it will involve, and the time they will need to spend
  2. where to get help if affected by the issues raised
  3. thank you
  4. reassurance that the data will be kept confidential
  5. the right to withdraw at any time

Psychology A-Level (7 decks)

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