Research Methods Flashcards
(196 cards)
1
Q
What is the purpose of Lab experiment?
A
To investigate causal relationships between and IV and DV under controlled conditions. Participants are aware they are taking part in the study but they may not be aware of the true aims of the study.
2
Q
What role does the experimenter play in a lab experiment?
A
- The researcher directly manipulates the IV
- The experimenter/researcher measures the effect of the manipulation on the IV using the DV
3
Q
What is experimental control in a lab experiment?
A
- All other variables must be controlled (kept constant), this control allows us to assume that the only variable affecting the DV is the IV.
- Because the lab experiment is highly controlled cause and effect can be established.
4
Q
What are the strenghts of a lab experiment?
A
- Well-controlled. Extraneous/confounding variables are minimized, thus there is higher internal validity.
- Can be easily replicated demonstrating external validity.
5
Q
What are the limitations of a laboratory experiment?
A
- Artificial, a contrived situation- participants may know that they are being studied, materials may lack mundane realism, the environment may be unfamiliar. Therefore, participants may not behave naturally leading to lower ecological validity.
- Demand characteristics may be a problem.
6
Q
What is the scientific method?
A
- Observe behavior
- Propose a theory
- Develop testable hypothesis
- Design a study to test the hypothesis
- Draw conclusions
7
Q
What is a field experiment?
A
To investigate causal relationships between an IV and DV in more natural surroundings. As with the lab experiment, the IV is still deliberately manipulated by the researcher and the researcher measures the DV. Participants are usually not aware that they are participating in an experiment so their behavior may be more natural.
8
Q
What are the strengths of a field experiment?
A
- Less artificial, usually higher mundane realism (mundane realism refers to how a study mirrors the real word), and higher ecological validity.
- Participants are usually not aware of being studied.
9
Q
What are the limitations of a field experiment?
A
- Less control of extraneous/confounding variables reduces internal validity.
- More time-consuming and thus more expensive.
10
Q
What is a natural experiment?
A
To investigate relationships between and IV and DV in situations IV cannot be directly manipulated for practical or ethical reasons. The IV varies ‘naturally’ whether or not the researcher was interested. The researcher records the effect of the IV on a dependent variable. The DV may be tested in a lab.
11
Q
What are the strengths of a natural experiment?
A
- Allows research were IV cannot be manipulated for ethical reasons.
- Enables psychologists to study ‘real’ problems such as the effects of a disaster or health (increased mundane realism ad ecological validity).
12
Q
What are the limitations of a natural experiment?
A
- Cannot demonstrate causal relationships because IV not directly manipulated.
- Randomly allocation not possible, therefore there may be confounding variables that can’t be controlled, a threat to internal validity.
-
13
Q
What is a Quasi-experiment?
A
The IV is naturally occurring and the DV may be measured in a lab. The IV is simply a difference between people that exists..
14
Q
What are the strengths of a Quasi-experiment?
A
Allows comparison between different types of people.
15
Q
What are the limitations of a Quasi-experiment?
A
- Participants may be aware of being studied, reducing internal validity.
- The DV variable may be a fairly artificial task, reducing ecological validity.
- Lack of control of the IV - reduces the ability to draw conclusions.
16
Q
What is an independent variable?
A
Some event that is directly manipulated by an experimenter in order to test its effect on another variable (the dependent variable).
17
Q
What is a dependent variable?
A
The dependent variable is the variable that is measured/tested or observed.
18
Q
What does it mean to operationalize a variable/hypothesis?
A
Define the variable/hypothesis precisely.
19
Q
What is internal validity?
A
-Internal validity is concerned with what goes on inside the study.
Meaning:
- Whether it is actually the IV that produces a change in the DV.
- Whether the researcher tested what she/he intended to test.
- Whether the study passes mundane realism.
20
Q
How can internal validity be improved?
A
Internal validity can be improved by controlling as many relevant confounding and extraneous variables as possible.
21
Q
What is an extraneous variable?
A
Extraneous variables do not vary systematically with the IV but may have an effect on the DV. They are nuisance variables which make it more difficult to detect a significant effect.
22
Q
What is a confounding variable?
A
This is a variable that is not the IV but varies systematically with IV. Changes in the DV may be due to the confounding variable rather than the IV making the outcome meaningless.
23
Q
What is external Validity?
A
External Validity is the degree to which research findings can be generalized.
Population validity: can the results be generalized to other groups of people besides those who took part in the study?
Temporal validity: Can the results be generalized to the past or future?
Ecological validity: Can the results be generalized to other settings beyond the experimental setting, particular everyday settings?
24
Q
Why is it difficult to conduct observations?
A
It is difficult because:
- It is difficult to work out what to record and what not to record.
- It is difficult to record everything that is happening.
25
What is an unstructured observation?
The researcher records all relevant behaviour but has no system.
26
What is a structured observation?
Structured interviews fall into two categories:
a) Behavioural categories - what is needed is operationalisation. This involves dividing a target behaviour into a subset of behaviours, by breaking things down into a behavioural checklist.
b) Sampling procedures - Event sampling means counting the number of times behaviours occur. Time sampling means recording behaviours in a given time frame e.g every 15mins .
27
What is observer bias?
Observer bias is when what someone observes is affected by their expectations. This can affect internal validity.
28
What is reliability in terms of observations?
Observations should be consistent, to be reliable an observation must have high inter-observer reliability.
A general rule is that if the total number of agreements divided by the total number of observations is more than 80% then the data has a high inter-observer reliability.
29
What is inter-observer reliability?
- Inter-observer reliability is the extent to which there is an agreement between 2 or more observers.
- IT checks if the observation is reliable.
- Researchers (observers), agree on the meaning of each category by operationalizing
- separately record observations
- Plot on scattergraph, if reliable should have a positive correlation.
30
What is a naturalistic observation?
Naturalistic observation is an observation carried out in an everyday setting, In which the investigator does not interfere in any way but merely observes the behavior (s) in question.
31
Give one strength and Limitation of a naturalistic observation.
Strength: Realism and natural behavior. The researcher can observe behaviour. The researcher can observe behaviour, which occurs, in a natural setting. Likely to have high ecological validity.
Limitations: Lack of control of variables cause and effect relationships cannot be established. They do not tell us why the behaviour takes place.
32
What is a controlled observation?
Observe behavior but under conditions where certain variables have been organised by the researcher.
33
Give one strength and one limitation of a controlled observation.
Strength: Due to control, the observer can focus on particular aspects of behavior.
Limitation Disturbing natural settings. This means that the setting is no longer natural. Observations of back validity.
34
What is an overt observation?
In both a natural and controlled observation the people being observed may know that their behaviour is being observed.
35
Give one strength and one limitation of an overt observation.
Strength: More ethical as participants know they are being observed.
Limitations: Likely to have an effect on the naturalness of participant's behavior.
36
What is a covert observation?
In both a natural and controlled observation the people being observed may not know that their behavior is being observed.
37
Give one strength and one limitation of a covert observation.
Strength: Participant is unaware of being observed and thus their behaviour is more natural.
Limitation: Ethical issue - it is acceptable to observe people in a public place as long as the behaviors being observed are not private ones.
38
What is Non-participant observation?
The observer, observes from a distance and does not interact with the people being observed.
39
Give one strength and one limitation of a non-participant observation.
Strength: Observations are likely to be more objective because they are not part of the group being observed.
Limitation: may not gain special insights into behavior which can be gained from participant observation.
40
What is a participant observation?
A particpant observation is an observation made by someone who is also participating in the observed, which may affect their objectivity.
41
Give on strength and one limitation of a participant observation.
Strength: May provide special insights into behaviour from the inside that may not otherwise be gained.
Limitations:
- Participant observations is more likely to be overt and thus have issues of participant awareness.
- If it is covert then there are ethical issues
-
42
What is a self-report technique?
A self-report technique is the reporting of what you think and feel.
43
What is a questionnaire?
A questionnaire is a set of written questions which is designed to collect information about a topic or topics.
44
What does a question intend to do?
Questions aim to discover what people think and feel.
45
What is clarity?
Clarity is when questions are written clearly so that the respondent understands what they are being asked. This means there should be no ambiguity.
46
What reduces clarity?
Clarity is reduced with the use of double negatives. Which is where there are two negative words in a sentence e.g are you against banning capital punishment. It is also reduced via double-barreled questions such as 'Do you suffer from sickness and headaches?'.
47
What is bias in terms of questions?
Bias is when the question leads the respondent to be more likely to give a particular answer (as in a leading question).
48
What is analysis? (in terms of interviewing, discuss open and closed questions).
Questions need to be written in a way that they are easy to analyze. Open questions may be harder to analyze but give a more representative and accurate/insightful answer. Whereas closed questions are much easier to analyze but they may be forced to select answers that don't represent their thoughts and feelings.
49
What is an open question?
Open-ended questions invite respondents to provide their own answer rather than on provided, this typically produces qualitative data.
50
What is a closed question?
Closed questions have predetermined answers from which the respondent will select one, typically produces quantitative data.
51
How can demand characteristics be avoided in a questionnaire?
By using filler questions. Which are irrelevant questions that distract the respondent from the true aims/purpose of the survey.
52
Identify two strengths of a questionnaire.
- one designed and tested they can be easily distributed to large numbers of people cheaply and quickly.
- Respondents may feel more willing to reveal personal info.
53
Identify two limitations of questionnaires.
- Can take long to design.
- Can be biased as only those who can read and write and those who are willing to answer will answer the questionnaire.
54
What is a structured interview?
A structured interview has pre-determined questions, essentially making it a questionnaire that is delivered face to face (or over the telephone), with deviation from the original questions. It is conducted in real-time, the interviewer asks the questions and the interviewee replies.
55
What are the strengths of a structured interview?
- The interview can be easily repeated because the questions are standardized. meaning that answers from different people can be easily compared.
- Answers are easier to analyze - this is due to the fact that answers are predictable making them easier to analyze.
56
What are the limitations of a structured interview?
- The comparability may be a problem if the interviewer behaves differently on different occasions research like this has low reliability.
- The interviewer's expectation may influence the answers the interviewee gives (this is an investigator effect known as interviewer bias), all interviewers have to be skilled to prevents this as much as possible.
57
What are unstructured interviews?
New questions are developed during the course of the interview. The interviewer may begin with the general aims and some pre-determined questions but subsequent questions develop on the basis of given answers. Sometimes referred to as a clinical interview, as it's similar to when you go to see the doctor.
58
What are the strengths of an unstructured interview?
- Detailed information is obtained from respondents, as they can be more specific with questions.
- Gives a deeper insight into the thoughts and feelings of respondents which is commonly the overall aim of questions.
59
What are the limitations of an unstructured interview?
- They require more skill to conduct as the interviewer develops new questions on the spot.
- Unstructured interviews are more expensive as they require well trained or specialist interviewers.
60
Describe what is meant by 'recording the interview'
An interviewer may take notes during answers to document them, this may affect/interfere with their listening skills it may also make the interviewee feel a sense of evaluation because if a researcher does not take everything thing down they may feel as though what they said was not valuable.
61
Describe what is mean by 'The effect of the interviewer'
If the interviewer is interested their presence may increase the information given by the respondent, even in an unstructured interview, meaning that the interviewers need to be more aware of behavior that demonstrates interest.
- Non-verbal communication- things like sitting with arms crossed or frowning shows disinterest. But things, like nodding and leaning forward, encourages the respondent to speak.
- Listening skills - the interviewer needs to know when and how to speak. So that they don't interrupt often and include a range of encouraging comments.
62
What questioning skills are required in an unstructured interview?
There are special skills to be learned about what kind of following questions should be asked. It is important to be aware of previously asked questions, to avoid repetition. IT is also useful to avoid much probing, as its better to ask more focused questions - both for the interviewee and also, later, for analysis of the answers.
63
What is an aim?
A statement of the area or purpose of an investigation.
64
What is a hypothesis?
- A statement of what the researcher believes to be true
- It is a formal and testable statement of the relationship between variables.
65
What is a directional hypothesis?
A hypothesis that states the expected direction of results (one-tailed).
66
What is a Non-directional hypothesis?
A hypothesis that states that there is a difference between two conditions but does not state the direction of the difference (two-tailed).
67
In terms IV's, what should the hypothesis of a study include?
The hypothesis should reflect two different levels of the IV.
68
What does operationalizing a hypothesis mean?
It means writing the hypothesis in a testable form, meaning in a way that makes clear the specific way the experiment tests the hypothesis.
69
Name the 3 types of experimental design.
1. Repeated measures design
2. Independant groups design
3. Matched pairs design
70
What is a repeated measures design?
An experiment design where each participant takes part in every condition under test.
71
Name two strengths of a repeated measures design.
- Fewer participants are required.
- It eliminates participant variables i.e differences between participants e.g gender
72
What are the two limitations of a repeated measures design?
- The order of the conditions may affect performance (order effects), which can involve being less anxious on the second try or being more practiced. Others can do worse on their second attempt due to boredom effects.
- By doing the second test participants may guess the aims of the study (demand characteristics).
73
State 2 methods of dealing with the limitations of a repeated measures design
Counterbalancing:
- Method 1: AB or BA divide participants into two groups: in group 1 each participant does A then B and in group 2 each participant does B then A.
- Method 2: ABBA all participants take part in each condition twice: Trial 1 - condition A (morning), Trial 2 - condition B (afternoon), Trial 3 condition B (Afternoon), Trial 4 - condition A (morning). Then compare scores on trials 1 and 4 with 2 and 3.
74
What is the purpose of counterbalancing?
To control the impacts of order effects (practice, fatigue or boredom). This allows order effects to be evenly distributed across both conditions. Making the each condition of the IV occur as the first and the second task evenly.
75
What is an independent groups design?
Independent group design is where participants are placed into sperate groups. Each group does one level of the IV.
76
What are the strengths of an independent groups design?
- There are no order effects.
- Demand characteristics are less of a problem.
- The same test e.g word lists can be used in both conditions.
77
What are the limitations of an independent groups design?
- Participant variables
- It needs more participants compared to a repeated measures design to obtain the same amount of data.
78
What are the methods of dealing with the limitations of an independent groups design?
-Randomly allocating.
79
What is a matched pairs design?
Pairs of participants are matched in terms of key/relevant variables such as age and IQ. One member of each pair is allocated to one of the conditions under test and the other person is allocated to the other condition.
80
What are the strengths of a matched pairs design?
- There are no order effects.
- Participant variables are kept more constant between conditions.
81
What are the limitations of a matched pairs design?
- It is very time consuming and difficult to match participants on key variables.
- It is not possible to control all participant variables. You can only match on variables known to relevant.
82
What are the methods of dealing with the limitations of a matched pairs design?
- Restrict the number of variables to match on to make it easier.
- Conduct a pilot study to consider key variables that might be important when matching.
83
What is a participant variable?
Characteristics of a person e.g age, intelligence, experience, and gender.
- They only act as extraneous variables if an independent groups design is used.
- There are irrelevant participant variables which are variables that only have an effect in certain situations.
84
How can participant variables be controlled?
- Repeated measures design.
- Matched pairs design.
- Random allocation in an independent groups design.
85
What is a situational variable?
Features of research situation that may influence participants' behavior e.g time of day, temperature and noise.
86
How can situational variables be controlled?
By using a standardized procedure i.e all participants are tested at the same time, temperature, in the same room. So that the only variable that varies is the IV.
87
What are investigator/experimenter bias effects?
Anything that the investigator does that has an effect on a participant's performance in a study other than what was intended. Investigator effects may act as a confounding or extraneous variable. They are usually direct effects that come as a consequence of a poorly designed study.
88
What is an expectancy effect?
What the researcher expects to find in the investigation can be communicated to participants through subtle cues e.g smiling, nodding, frowning, etc. They may unconsciously encourage participants.
89
Explain the 3 types of investigator effects.
Indirect investigator effects:
1. investigator experimental design effect - e.g deliberately giving one group more time to complete a task to increase the chances of a noticeable effect.
2. Investigator loose procedure effect - Not clearly specifying the instructions or the procedure influencing the research.
3. Investigator fudging effect - The investigator deliberately fakes data.
90
How can investigator effects be controlled?
- Use standardized procedure
- Double-blind procedure - neither the participants nor the investigator knows the aims/hypothesis of the study.
91
What is a demand characteristic?
A cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of a study or helps participants work out what the researcher expects to find.
92
What is a cue in terms of demand characteristics?
A cue is anything that gives away the true aims of the study this can lead to bias as the participants may try harder or sabotage the experiment.
93
How can demand characteristics be controlled?
Single-blind procedure i.e the participant is not told the true aims of the study so they cannot seek cues about the true aims of the research.
94
What is participant reactivity/ participant effects?
This refers to the situation in which the independent variable has an effect on behavior because the participants know they are being studied.
95
How can participant reactivity be controlled?
Make the task have experimental realism i.e sufficiently engaging so that the participants pay attention to the task rather than the fact that they are being observed.
96
What is social desirability bias?
A tendency for respondents to answer questions in a way that will present them in a better light.
97
How can social desirability bias be controlled?
By ensuring the confidentiality of the participants.
98
What is a pilot study?
It is a small-scale trial run of a study to test any aspects of the design, with a view to making improvements. It allows the researcher to check standardized procedures and design before investigating time and money. Any problems can then be adjusted.
99
What can pilot study do in terms of impacting the validity of a study?
It can reduce sources of bias by identifying the participant and situational variables alongside participant reactivity.
100
What is randomization?
Its the use of chance in order to control for the effects of bias when designing materials and deciding the order of conditions. This is an attempt to deal with investigator effects.
101
What are ethics?
- Ethics are standards of conduct that distinguish between right and wrong.
- Set of moral principles used by a group of professionals.
102
What is an ethical issue?
An ethical issue is a conflict between the rights of the participants and the needs of the researcher to conduct meaningful research.
103
What is the ethical issue with informed consent?
Where from the researcher's point of view, informed consent will reveal the true aims of the study, which will lead to them guessing the aims and so they may change how they behave. From the participant's point of view they feel they should be told what they will be required to do so they can make an informed decision on whether they want to participate or not
104
What is the ethical issue of deception?
Where the researcher feels it's necessary to deceive participants about the true aims of the study so they do not alter their behavior. From the participant's point of view, deception is unethical as it means that they can not give informed consent and means that the researcher is untrustworthy.
105
What is the ethical issue of protection from harm?
From the researcher's point of view, important questions may cause some distress to participant, they also argue that its difficult to predict the outcome. From the participant's point of view, nothing should happen to them that causes harm. They believe they should leave in the same state in which they entered.
106
What is the ethical issue of having the right to withdraw?
From the researchers' point of view if some participants leave then those who don't will not be representative e.g they may be more obedient. From the participant's point of view they should have the right to withdraw at any given time.
107
What is the ethical issue of confidentiality?
From the researcher's point of view, this is difficult because they may want to publish the findings. From the participant's point of view, the data protection act makes confidentiality a legal right.
108
What is the ethical issue of privacy?
Where the researcher may find it difficult to avoid an invasion of privacy when studying participants without their awareness. From the participant's point of view people do not expect to be observed by others in certain situations e.g in their own homes.
109
Who controls the guidelines that psychologists must follow?
The British Psychological Society (BPS), They've produced a list of ethical guidelines to help psychologists know which behaviors are not acceptable and give guidance on how to resolves ethical dilemmas.
110
What 4 principles does the BPS 2009 Code Of Conduct identify?
1. Respect
2. Competence
3. Responsiblitiy
4. Intergrity
111
What is respect?
Psychologists should act with respect meaning they should respect the dignity of all persons e.g have a standard of privacy and confidentiality and informed consent for participants. Only use Deception when it is needed to protect the integrity of the research, participants should be aware at all times of the right to withdraw.
112
How can acceptability of deception be judged?
By considering whether the participants are likely to object or show unease when debriefed.
113
What is competence?
Psychologists should maintain high standards in their professional work.
114
What is responsibility?
Where psychologists have a responsibility to their clients, to the general public and the science of psychology. This includes protecting participants from physical and psychological harm - as well as debriefing at the conclusion of their participation.
115
What is integrity?
Where psychologists should be honest and accurate. This includes reporting the finding of any research accurately and acknowledging andy potential limitations. It also includes bringing an instance of misconduct by other psychologists to the attention of the (BPS).
116
What are the strengths of the (BPS) Code Of Conduct?
-The rules and sanctions approach of the BPS gives clarity to psychologists.
117
What are the limitations of the BPS's code of conduct?
- The guidelines are not law the BPS can only bar a person from practicing as a psychologist.
- Guidelines are quite general and aren't specific to certain studies, making them less useful and causes discussions about right and wrong.
- The guidelines absolve the searcher of any responsibility.
118
How can informed consent be dealt with?
- Participants are asked to formally indicate their agreement to participate and should be based on comprehensive information concerning the nature and purpose of the research and their role in it.
- Give presumptive consent
119
What is presumptive consent?
This can be done by asking a group of people whether they feel a planned study is acceptable. The researcher then presumes that the participants themselves would have said the same were they given the chance.
120
What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with informed consent?
- Participants may know the true aims of the study, invalidating the purpose of the study
- informed consent does not guarantee that the participants know what they're in for
- Presumptive consent is what people expect someone to thnk which can be different from actually experiencing it.
121
How can deception be dealt with?
- The need for deception should be approved by the ethics committee, weighing up benefits of the study against the costs for the participants.
- Participants should be fully debriefed after the study and offered the opportunity to withhold their data.
122
What is debriefing?
A method of dealing with deception is to debrief. It involves the researcher informing the participants of the true nature of the study. Participants discuss concerns and may withdraw their data if they wish to. A researcher also uses it as an opportunity to ask questions of their own.
123
What are the limitations with the methods of dealing with deception?
- Cost-benefit decisions are flawed because they involve subjective judgements, and the costs are not always apparent until after the study.
- Debriefing can't turn the clock back - a participant may feel embarrassed or have lowered self-esteem after the study.
124
What are the methods of dealing with The right to withdraw?
Participants should be informed at the beginning of the study that they have the right to withdraw.
125
What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with The right to withdraw?
- Participants may feel they shouldn't withdraw because it will spoil the study.
- I many studies participants are paid or rewarded in some way (e.g. university students may be given course credits), so they may not feel able to withdraw.
126
What are the methods of dealing with the Protection from harm?
- Avoid any risks greater than everyday life.
- Stop the study
127
What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with Protection from harm?
Researchers are not always able to accurately predict the risks of taking part in a study.
128
What are the methods of dealing with confidentiality?
Researchers should not record the names of any participants; they should use numbers or false names.
129
What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with confidentiality?
It is sometimes possible to work out who the participants were on the basis of the information that has been provided, for example, the geographical location of a school. In practice, therefore, confidentiality may not be possible.
130
What are the methods of dealing with privacy?
- Do not observe anyone without their informed consent unless it is in a public space.
- Participants may be asked to give their retrospective consent or withhold their data.
131
What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with privacy?
- There is no universal agreement about what constitutes a public place.
- Not everyone may feel this is acceptable, for example, lovers on a park bench.
132
What is an ethics committee?
Most institutions including universities have an ethics committee that reviews all proposed research. It consists of a group of individuals (typically researchers and administrators) whose role it is to protect the rights of participants in research studies. They weigh up the benefits of the research against the possible costs to the participants. They use a cost-benefit analysis.
133
What are the limitations with ethics committees?
It is difficult if not impossible to predict both prior and after a study the costs and benefits.
134
What is sampling?
It is a method used to select participants.
135
What is a target population?
A group of people that share a given set of characteristics about which the researcher wants to draw conclusions.
136
Why are target populations often too large to investigate?
- It would take too long.
- Cost too much.
- You might not be able to access all members of the target population.
- You need to select a sample.
137
What is a sample?
A sub-set of the population
138
What is a representative sample?
- Researchers want to generalize their findings from the sample to the target population.
- Therefore the sample must be representative.
- The more representative the sample the greater the population validity.
139
What is Random sampling?
Every person in the target population has an equal chance of being selected.
140
How do you obtain a random sample?
Random techniques: Draw numbers 'out of a hat' (or something similar), LORRWEt method/
1. Obtain a list of all the people in the population.
2. Put all the names in a lottery barrel or hat.
3. Select the number of names required.
141
What are the strengths of random sampling?
Potentially unbiased because all members of the target population have an equal chance of selection.
142
What are the limitations of Random sampling?
Does not guarantee that the sample will be representative of the whole population e.g you may obtain a biased sample e.g all males or females can be difficult to get a list of the whole population and to contact those selected.
143
What is opportunity sampling?
The researcher picks anyone who is available to take part.
144
How do you obtain an opportunity sample?
You approach anyone who is most convenient or most available.
145
What are the strengths of an opportunity sample?
Easy. Saves time and money.
146
What are the limitations of the opportunity sample?
- Biased because the sample is drawn from a small part of the population
- Ethical issue - As students may feel obliged to take part.
147
What is a volunteer sampling?
Participants self-select i.e they put themselves forward for inclusion.
148
How do you obtain a volunteer sample?
Advertise for volunteers. Put questionnaires in magazines/newspapers and ask people to send in their answers.
149
What are the strengths of a Volunteer Sample?
Gives access to a variety of participants e.g all people who attend a particular day nursery making the sample less biased and more representative.
150
What are the limitations of Volunteer Sampling?
- Volunteer bias-participants are usually more motivated than randomly selected participants.
- Only literate people may respond.
151
What is systematic sampling?
A sample obtained by using every nth person (where n is any number)
152
How do you obtain a systematic sample?
Use a predetermined system e.g. every 6th, 14th, 19th person in a phonebook.
153
What are the strengths of a systematic sample?
Unbiased because participants are selected using an objective system.
154
What are the limitations of systematic sampling?
Not truly unbiased unless you select a number using a random method and start with this person then select every nth person.
155
What is a stratified sample and how is one obtained?
Subgroups within a population are identified. Participants are obtained from each of the subgroups in proportion to their occurrence in the population. Selection from the subgroup is done using a random technique.
156
Give both methods of finding a stratified sample (mathematically).
Manual Method - Put male names in a hat, determine the proportion of males needed to mirror the number of males in the target population. Then find the proportion of the sample size that matches the proportion in which they occur in the target population, then draw out the names.
Random number table or computer method - do the same but name the people with a number and use a computer or table to select the sample.
157
What are the strengths of a stratified sample?
More representative than other methods because there is a proportional and randomly selected representation of sub-groups.
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What are the limitations of a stratified sample?
Time-consuming to identify subgroups and to randomly select.
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What is peer review?
Peer review is where psychologists work is held up for scrutiny and that any work that is flawed or fraudulent is detected and its results ignored,
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What is the process of peer review?
- Other psychologists check the research report before deciding whether it could be published
- Independent scrutiny by other psychologists working in a similar field.
- Work is considered in terms of validity, significance, and originality.
- Assessment of the appropriateness of the methods and designs used.
- Reviewer can accept the manuscript as it is, accept with revisions, suggest the author makes revisions and re-submits or reject without the possibility of re-submission.
- Editor makes the final decision whether to accept or reject the research report based on the reviewers' comments/recommendations.
- Research proposals are submitted to panel assessed for merit.
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What is the purpose of peer review?
- To ensure the quality and relevance of research
- To ensure the accuracy of the findings
- To evaluate proposed designs (aims, quality, and value of the research) for the research fundings.
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What are the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology's views on what purposes peer review should serve?
- Peer review helps with the allocation of research funding - research is paid for by the various government and charitable bodies. The overall budget for science research in the year 2015-16 was £5.8 billion. Money must be spent responsibly.
- Allows research to be published in academic journals and books. Scientists can share their results.
- University departments are expected to conduct research and this is asses in terms of quality (Research Excellence Framework, REF). Future funding for the department depends on receiving good ratings from the REF peer review.
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What are the strengths of the peer review process?
- It helps to ensure work is methodologically sound and valid. It helps to prevent plagiarism. It helps to ensure that published work is original, relevant interesting and will add to our body of scientific knowledge.
- Helps to prevent unjustified claims being made, use of experts in the same field hopes to identify errors before they appear in the public domain, helps prevent poor quality work from being published, helps university departments to be rated and funded.
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What are the weaknesses of the peer review process?
1. Finding an expert - if an appropriate expert isn't found they may pass poor research because they don't understand it.
2. Anonymity - By being anonymous reviewers can be honest and objective. However, by being anonymous reviewers may try to settle old scores or bury rival research. Research is conducted in a social world where people compete for research grants and jobs and make friends and enemies.
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What are some other weaknesses of peer-review?
1. Publication Bias - Journals prefer positive results possible because editors want to research that has important implications in order to increase the standing of their journal. This results in a bias in published research that in turn leads to a misperception of the true facts. Journals also avoid publishing straight replications of a study, a fundamental part of research validation. Journals seek eye-catching research.
2. Preserving the status quo - Peer review results in a preference for research that goes with existing theory rather than dissenting or unconventional work.
5. It cannot deal with already published research.
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What are some additional weaknesses of peer review?
- Publication bias towards prestigious departments/universities.
- It can be slow, expensive and time-consuming.
- Bias against research that fails to reject null hypotheses.
- Bias against replications.
- Reviewers in the same field may be tempted to delay/prevent publication of a rival's research (dangers of anonymity)
- Despite much success, the system may fail to prevent scientific fraud.
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What is the university research rating?
Universities conduct research to gain a university research rating. Which is assessed using the research excellence frame work. in order for the university to acquire future funding.
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What is Quantitative data?
Information that represents how much or how long, or how many etc. there are of something, i.e. a behaviour is measured in numbers or quantities.
The DV in an experiment in quantitative.
Closed questions in questionnaires collect quantitative data - numerical information about you age, how many hours you work in a week, how highly you rate different TV programmes etc.
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Give one strength and one limitation of quantitative data.
Strength: Easy to analyze so conclusions can be easily drawn.
Limitation: Oversimplify reality e.g. closed questions may force people to tick answers that do not really represent their feelings. Therefore the conclusions may be meaningless,
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What is Primary data?
Information observed or collected from first-hand experience. In psychological research, it is data collected by the researcher for the study currently being undertaken. The study might be an experiment, possibly with a questionnaire and. or an observational element measure the DV. Or the study could just involve a questionnaire and/or an observational element to measure the DV. The data collected would be specifically related to the aims and/or hypothesis of the study.
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Give one strength and one limitation of Primary data.
Strength: The researcher has great control over the data. The data collection can be designed so it fits the aims and hypothesis of the study.
Limitation: Very lengthy and therefore expensive process. Simply designing a study takes a lot of time and then time spent recruiting participants, conducting the study and analyzing the data.
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What is secondary data?
Information used in a research study that was collected by someone else or for a purpose other than the current one e.g. published data or data collected in the past. The researcher might use government statistics or use data held by an institution such as a hospital.
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Give one strength and one limitation of Secondary data.
Strength: It is simpler to just access someone else's data and cheaper because significantly less time and equipment is needed.
Limitation: The data may not fit the needs of the study.
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What is qualitative data?
Data that express what people think or feel. It is represented in words. If participants complete an interview or questionnaire using open questions then it will produce some qualitative data.
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How is qualitative data analyzed?
Content analysis - This involves establishing categories and counting the number of instances when these categories are utilized within a text.
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How is qualitative data presented?
- Later the behavioural categories or theme may be listed.
- Examples of behaviour within the category may be represented using quotes from participants or descriptions of typical behaviours in that category.
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What needs to be done in order to complete content analysis
You need to ask participants an open-ended question. Tucky and Brewer 2003 identified the following likely behavioural categories that may be identified from answers from participants.
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Give one strength and one limitation of qualitative data.
Strength: Rich detail. It gains access to thoughts and feelings. It represents the complexities of human behavior.
Limitation: More difficult to detect patterns and draw conclusions due to a large amount of data usually collected.
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What are the advantages of content analysis?
- High ecological validity because based on direct observations of what people actually do.
- Allows other researchers to replicate the findings and test for reliability.
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What are the disadvantages of Content analysis?
- Observer bias because different people may interpret the meaning of behavioural categories differently.
- Culturally biased because interpretation of verbal or written content is affected by language.
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What is a measure of dispersion?
A descriptive statistic that provides information about how spread out a set of data are. Tells us the extent to which scores in a given set of data are similar or very different from each other.
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What is the range? And state one advantage and disadvantage of it.
Definition: The range is the arithmetic distance between the top and bottom values in a set of data.
Strength: Easy to calculate.
Limitations: Affected by extreme values and fails to take account of distribution of numbers.
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What is standard deviation? And state advantage and one disadvantage.
Definition: It assesses the spread of data around the mean. It is a measure of the average distance between each data item above and below the mean.
Advantage: More precise measure of dispersion because all values are taken into account, meaning it is less affected by extreme scores.
Disadvantage: May hide some of the characteristics of the data e.g extreme values.
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What are the descriptive statistics?
These are methods of describing quantitative data.
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What is a measure of central tendency?
These are descriptive statistics. They inform us about the central (or middle) values for a set of data. They are averages - ways of calculating a typical value for a set of data. The average can be calculated in different ways, each one appropriate for a different situation.
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Give one strength and one limitation of the mean and discuss how it applies to levels of measurement.
Strength: The most sensitive measure of central tendency because it takes account of the exact distance between all values of all the data.
Limitation: Extreme score can give a misleading impression of central tendency.
Levels of measurement: The mean can only be used with ratio and interval data. It cannot be used with nominal data, it does not make sense to use it with discrete values e.g average children in a family.
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Give one strength and one limitation of the median and discuss how it applies to Levels of measurement.
Strength: It is not affected by extreme scores.
Limitation: It is misleading when the scores are clustered in low and high groups.
Levels of measurement: The median can be used with ratio, interval, and ordinal data. Not as sensitive as mean because the exact values are not reflected.
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Give one strength and limitation of the mode and discuss how it applies to levels of measurement.
Strength: It produces a figure that appears in the sequence.
Limitation: It is not a useful way of describing data when there are several modes.
Levels of measurement: can be used with nominal data (categorical data), and is the method that can be used with such data. It is useful for discrete data such as average number of children in a family.
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What is the correlation?
A correlation is used to analyze the association between two co-variables. A co-variable is continuous i.e. it is a variable that can take on any value within a certain range An example could be liking football on a scale of 1 to 10.
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What is the correlation coefficient?
A number between -1 and 1 that tells us how closely the co-variables ina correlational analysis are associated.
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What are the strengths of correlations?
Correlations are very useful when it would be unethical or impractical to use an experiment.
If a correlation is statistically significant then further investigation is justified. If a correlation is not significant you can probably rule out a causal relationship.
Procedures in a correlation can usually be easily repeated again, which means that the findings can be confirmed
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What are the Limitations of Correlations?
In contrast to an experiment, there is no deliberate change to the IV in order to observe the effect on the DV in a correlation. Therefore no conclusion can be made about one co-variable causing the other. In other words, cause and effect cannot be established in a correlation like it can be in a laboratory experiment.
As experiments, correlations may lack internal/external validity e.g method used to measure IQ may lack validity or the sample may lack generalisability.
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What types of data applies to Histograms and Bar charts?
Bar charts: Data in categories (nominal data), does not work with continuous data, does not work with individual scores.
Histogram: Works with continuous data, can also be used with individual scores and do not use with nominal data.
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PIE CHARTS, DATA DISTRIBUTIONS, AND THE SIGN TEST ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THESE FLASHCARDS BUT HAVE A POSSIBILITY OF COMING UP.
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