research methods part 2 Flashcards
(117 cards)
1
Q
what 2 things do psychological investigations need to work ?
A
people
animals
2
Q
what is a population ?
A
a group of people who are the focus of the researchers interest
a sample is taken from this
3
Q
what is a sample ?
A
a group of people who take part in a research study
it is drawn from the target population
they try to make the sample represent the target population
4
Q
what do they tend to want to do with the findings ?
A
generalise the findings to the wider population
5
Q
why do they use sampling techniques ?
A
as isn’t possible to test everyone in the target population
want a technique to represent the population as a whole
6
Q
is is difficult to get a truly representative sample ?
A
yes
7
Q
what are the 5 types of sampling ?
A
random
systematic
stratified
opportunity
volunteer
8
Q
what is random sampling ?
A
a sample in every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen
9
Q
what are examples of random sampling of how it may be done ?
A
get a list of everyone in population
give all a number
add into a random computer generator
randomly generate the amount u want in ur sample
or
write names on lollypop sticks
10
Q
what are strengths of random sampling ?
A
-free from researcher bias
- more representative of target population
11
Q
what are weaknesses of random sampling ?
A
-complete list of target population is difficult to obtains
- people selected may refuse to take part
12
Q
what is systematic sampling ?
A
sampling frame is made
an organised list of the people in the target population
13
Q
what is an example of systematic sampling and how it may be done ?
A
every nth term number of the target population is selected
14
Q
what are the strength of systematic sampling ?
A
-avoids researcher bias
-fairly representative
15
Q
what are the weaknesses of systematic sampling ?
A
can take time to conduct
16
Q
what is stratified sampling ?
A
it is sophisticated form of sampling
hardly ever used
sample is a direct reflection of the sub-groups in the population
17
Q
what is an example of stratified sampling or how it may be done ?
A
identify the strata that makes up the population
the proportion needed for sampling to be representative are worked out
18
Q
what are the strengths of stratified sampling ?
A
-avoids researcher bias
- representative sample
19
Q
what are the weaknesses stratified sampling ?
A
identified strata cant reflect all the ways the people are different
20
Q
what is opportunity sampling ?
A
most used
consists of taking the sample from people who are available at the time of the study is carried out and fit the criteria
21
Q
what is an example of opportunity sampling and how it is done ?
A
approach people in public and ask if they are willing
22
Q
what is a strength of opportunity sampling ?
A
convenient as saves time
23
Q
what are the weakness of opportunity sampling ?
A
-unrepresentative sample
-researcher has complete control over the selection
24
Q
what is volunteer sampling ?
A
also known as selected sampling
consists of pps becoming part of a study because they volunteer when asked or in response to an advert
25
what is an example of volunteer sampling and how it is done ?
place an advert or newspaper, magazine or on a notice board asking people to volunteer
26
what is a strength of volunteer sampling ?
easy as least time consuming out of
27
what is a weakness of volunteer sampling ?
volunteer bias as asking for volunteers tends to attract a particular type of people
28
what are observations ?
they allow researches to observe individuals behaviour, in a number of different settings
29
what is a natural observation ?
it is carried out in an everyday setting
observer doesn’t interfere or change any variables
just observe the behaviour in question
30
what is a controlled observation ?
certain variables have been controlled by the observer
controlled conditions
31
what is a covert observation ?
observing people without them knowing
this is to avoid them changing their behaviour
32
what is an overt observation ?
pps are aware they are being observed
this can lead to demand characteristics
33
what is a participant observation ?
observations are made by a person who has become part of the group being observed
34
what is a non-participant observation ?
the observer is separate from the groups being observed and doesn’t become involved
35
what is a strength of naturalistic observation ?
high external validity
- as findings can be generalised
36
what is a weakness of naturalistic observations ?
lack of control over the research
- so can’t replicate the findings
37
what is a strength to controlled observation?
extraneous variables
- maybe less of a factor so replication if the observation becomes easier
38
what is a weaknesses of a controlled observation ?
can’t be readily applied to real life
39
what is a strength for covert observations ?
behaviour is natural
- increases validity
40
what is a weaknesses of covert observation ?
ethics
- as people may not of wanted to be observed
41
what is a strength of overt observation ?
more ethically acceptable
- as the pps are aware
42
what is a weakness of overt observation ?
knowledge of knowing so significant influence on characteristics
43
what is a strength of participant observation ?
increased insight
- as the researcher experience it in the same way
- increases validity
44
what is a weakness of pps observation ?
they can identify w the pps too much so be objective
- may forget there the researcher and be naive
45
what is a strength of non pps observation ?
maintains an objective psychology logical distance
- less danger of nativity
46
what is a weakness of non pps observation ?
lose the valuable insights
- researcher is too far removed from the ppl there studying
47
what is unstructured observation ?
simply write down everything they see
- gives lots of rich, detailed information
- only possible with small groups of pps
48
what is a more structured approach ?
researcher quantify a their observations
- they produce a pre-determined list of catergories
49
when should target behaviour be decided ?
decided and defined before the study takes place
50
why must behavioural categories be clearly defined ?
as often more than one researcher
- need to make sure all identifying the same thing
51
why is it better to have more than one observer ?
one in their own may miss some important details
and may end up with biased observations if not
52
what way should data me recorded ?
objectively and unbiased
53
why do observers need to be trained beforehand ?
to ensure that they have inter rater reliability
54
what does training the observers include ?
- should be familiar w the behavioural categories
- do a pilot study to check the categories are appropriate/ not missing anything/ clearly defined
- compare the data they have found and discuss any differences in interpretation
- do the real observation
- analyse the data and correlate the findings to get a final figure
55
what is continuous recording ?
a feature of instructed observations where detailed notes are recorded
really difficult to do and rarely practical
56
what is event sampling ?
counting the number of times a certain number behaviour (events) occurs in a target individual (s)
57
what is time sampling ?
recording behaviours in a given time frame
58
what is strength of structured observation ?
- make recording of data easier and more systematic
- produces quantitive data and this makes data easier to analyse and compare
59
what is a weakness of structured observations ?
the observation can loose some ‘meaning’ if all we have are numbers
60
what is a strength of u structured observation ?
produce qualitative data so the data is rich and detailed
61
what is a weakness of unstructured observations ?
-qualitative data is harder to record and analyse
- lack of behavioural categories mean some important ones may be missed
62
what is a strength of behavioural categories ?
makes data more structured and objective
63
what are weaknesses of behavioural categories ?
- isn't always easy to make them measurable
- some categories can be unexpected so can be missed off
- categories need to be distinctive and not overlap at all
64
what is strength for event sampling ?
useful if the behaviour doesn't happen very often
65
what is a strength to time sampling ?
reduces the number of observations that need to be done
66
what is a weaknesses to time sampling ?
might result in an unrepresentative observations
67
what is a questionnaires ?
- a type of self-report technique
-they involve respondent answering a set of written questions about something that the psychologist is interested in
- mixture of open and closed questions
68
what is an open question ?
cant be answered with yes or no or statically
long response
69
what is a close question ?
a question that can be answered w a yes or no
short response
70
what variable may questionnaires be used to assess ?
dependent variables
71
what principles need to be followed for good questionnaires ?
- not ambiguous or worded in a confusing way (no jargon)
- shouldn’t be biased or using emotive language
- no leading questions
- usually do a pilot study first
- don’t use double negatives
72
what is an interview ?
involve direct verbal questioning of the pps by the researcher
- they ask pps face to face
- vary in the amount of structure
73
what are the different types of structures in interviews ?
structured
unstructured
semi- structured
74
what is structured interviews ?
-have set or pre- determined questions
- used same questions for all pps
- don’t change along the way
75
what is an unstructured interviews ?
- have less structure
- new questions developed as the interview questioning
- researcher asks questions depending on answers
- a bit like a conversation
76
what is a semi- structured interview ?
- many interviews tend too
- bit like a job interview
- set questions
- but interviewee can ask questions if they wish and it's appropriate
77
what principles do good interviews follow ?
- us a interview schedule
- try to avoid interviewer bias
- decide if group or one-to-one interview
-start w neutral questions to build up rapport
-remember ethical issues
78
what are strengths of questionnaires ?
- cost effective-gather large amount quickly
- researcher doesn't need to be involved during completion
- straight forward to analyse if closed questions used-as fixed answers so easy to compare
- easy to replicate as a standard set of questions-as standard questions
79
what are weaknesses of questionnaires ?
- answers may not always be truthful- as keen to show themselves in a positive light
- often produce response bias
80
what is an interview schedule ?
the list of questions that are going to be asked
81
what is a strength for structured interviews ?
easy to replicate as standard set of questions
82
what is a weakness of structured interviews ?
- cant deviate from the questions
so if researcher interested in a response cant find out more about
83
what are strengths for unstructured interviews ?
- more flexible so can gain insight to interviewees mind
-produce qualitative data so more rich detail
84
what are weaknesses for unstructured interviews ?
- analysing data is difficult and time consuming as takes to long to go through all responses
-risk of social desirability bias but interviewer should but smart to build a honest rapport
85
what is a strength for semi- structured interviews ?
more flexible than structured so allows for exploration in answers
86
what is a weaknesses for semi-structured interviews ?
can be difficult to analyse due to the range of questions included
87
what is response bias ?
respondents tend to answer in a similar way
88
what is social desirability bias ?
respondents are keen to show themselves in a positive light so they lie in their answers
89
what does a correlation illustrate ?
the direction and strength of a relationship between 2 or more co-variables
90
what is a co-variable ?
a thing being measured
91
what is a positive correlation ?
when high values of one variable are associated with high values of the other
eg) hotter weather is more ice cream sold
92
what is a negative correlation ?
this is when high values of one variable are associated with low valuables of another
eg) hotter weather means less hot drinks
93
what is a no correlation ?
there is no relationship between the 2 variables
eg) the number of freckles you have and shoe size
94
what are the strengths of correlation ?
- give precise and quantifiable measure of how things are related
- can asses patterns
- quick and economical as don't need to manipulate variables
- can involve using secondary data
-can be used when it would be impractical or ethical to manipulate the variable
- can be repeated again to check reliability
95
what is the weaknesses of correlations ?
- no manipulation of variables so cant say 1 variable caused the other so cant establish the effect
- cant establish direction of causality
- may be other variables intervening that can affect the results
96
what does correlation coefficient mean ?
97
what does intervening variables mean ?
- sometimes known as the 3rd variable
- variables that aren't being studied
- can come between the variables being studied
98
why cant correlations have a casual relationship ?
- but correlations cant establish them as there isn't a IV
- as there are 2 co-variables
- experiments have an IV and a DV
99
what is a casual relationship ?
having a cause and a effect
100
what is quantitative data ?
data in form of numbers
- this is particularly useful for measuring the strengths of relationship between various factors
101
what is are advantages of quantitative data ?
- broader study as involves greater number of pps
- research can be replicated as standard
- easily analysed and applied with other studies
- personal bias easily avoided
102
what are the disadvantages of quantitative data ?
- results are limited as provide numerical descriptions not detailed
- allows for pre set answers so wont reflect pps actual feelings
103
what is qualitative data ?
all data that isn't in a form of numbers
- type of data which often provided richer and more in depth picture of social life than quan
104
what are the advantages of qualitative data ?
- depth and detail so deeper recording of attitudes, feelings and behaviours
- can create a detailed picture as why ppl act certain ways
- created openness encouraging people to expand on their responses so can open topics that weren't initially covered
105
what are the disadvantages of of qualitative data ?
- fewer ppl in the study as more time consuming
- less easy to generalise as smaller sample size
-dependent on skills of the researcher as they conduct it eg) interviews
106
what is primary data ?
information that wasn't present before the research began
- been generated by the researcher
107
what is an advantage for primary data ?
- can conduct research in the way it is needed specifically for the topic to be studied
108
what are the disadvantage of primary data ?
- take time to produce
-usually only a small sample so difficult to generalise
109
what is secondary data ?
refers to data that already exists
110
what are the advantages of secondary data ?
- qual sec sources are very useful at providing rich detail
- cheap
- easy to access
111
what are the disadvantages of secondary data ?
- need to approach w caution
- can be issues w the authenticity, credibility and representativeness
112
what is meta- analysis ?
- uses secondary data
- process where a large number of studies that have all investigated the same research topics using the methods are combined
eg) strange situation by von Ijendoorm and kroonberg
113
what is a quan. approach on meta-analysis ?
perform a statistical analysis of the combined data
114
what is a qual. approach to meta-analysis ?
just discuss findings and conclusions
115
what are the advantages of meta-analysis ?
- allow us to view data with much more confidence
-as can be applied across a wider population
116
what are the disadvantages of meta-analysis ?
publication bias
- only the studies that support the hypothesis are looked at and the rest are left out
117
what is publication bias ?
selective publication of research studies based on their results
