Research methods test

Question 1

what are order effects

Answer 1

order of the conditions having effect on participants behaviour

Question 2

what are types of order effects

Answer 2

practice effects
boredom and fatigue
carryover effects

Question 3

what are practice effects

Answer 3

warm up/ improve their performance overtime. In reaction time studies eg participants usually respond faster as a result of practice with task

Question 4

how is boredom and fatigue an order effects

Answer 4

perform differently due to this lengthy task and respective

Question 5

what are carryover effects

Answer 5

when the effect of an experimental conditions carries over, influencing performance in a subsequent condition. The effects are more likely when the experimental conditions follow eachother quickly

Question 6

how can practice effects be reduced

Answer 6

by providing a warm up exercise before the experiment begins

Question 7

how can fatigue effects can reduced

Answer 7

by shortening procedures and making the task more interesting

Question 8

how can carryover effects can be reduced

Answer 8

can be reduced by increasing the amount of time between conditions

Question 9

what is counter balancing

Answer 9

Counterbalancing is a technique used to deal with order effects when using a repeated measures design. With counterbalancing, the participant sample is divided in half, with one half completing the two conditions in one order and the other half completing the conditions in the reverse order.

Question 10

what is a null hypothesis

Answer 10

states that there is no relationship between the two variables being studied (one variable does not affect the other). It states results are due to chance and are not significant in terms of supporting the idea being investigated.

Question 11

what is a research/experimental hypothesis

Answer 11

predicts a significant effect of an IV on a DV (ie an experiment), or an significant relationship between variables (ie correlation study)

Question 12

what is a directional hypothesis

Answer 12

predicting a direction of the predicted results Key words higher, lower, more, less, increase, decrease, positive, and negative.

Question 13

what is a non directional hypothesis

Answer 13

research hypothesis do not predict a direction so instead would simply predict “significant differences” or “significant relationship”

Question 14

what are controlled observations

Answer 14

• some variables are regulated by the researcher, reducing the ‘naturalness’ of the behaviour being studies
• likley to know they are being studied =demand characteristics - lacks ecological validity may take place in a lab

Question 15

what are naturalistic observations

Answer 15

• natural environment - high in ecological validity
• behaviour is not controlled - people behave freely
• less likely to know they are being observed
• the researcher does not intefere
• lack of control leaves room for confounding variables

Question 16

what are confounding variables

Answer 16

any variables, other than the IV, that may have affected the DV so we cannot be sure of the true source of changes to the DV. Confounding variables vary systematically with the IV

Question 17

What are extraneous variables

Answer 17

any variable, other than the independent variable that may have an effect on the DV if its not controlled. EVs are essentially nuisance variables that do no vary systematically with the IV

Question 18

what are participant observations and evaluation

Answer 18

observations made by someone who is participants in the activity being observed
+ may provide special insight
- objectivity may be affected (could be bias)

Question 19

what are non participant observations and evaluation

Answer 19

researchers do not become actively involved observer is separate from the being observed and listens and watches
+ likely to be more objective as they are not part of the group being observed
- may lose details/ insight

Question 20

what are overt observations and evaluation

Answer 20

participants are aware that they are being observed
- knowing they are being observed may alter behaviour
+ ethical

Question 21

what are covert observations and evaluation

Answer 21

participants are not aware that they are being observed
- unethical = no informed consent, invasion of privacy
+ less likely demand characteristics, behave normally

Question 22

inter observer reliability

Answer 22

there is two or more observers and how much agreement there is between them calculated

• the two observers must be consistent in their judgement - rule of thumb agreements should be higher than 80% (r=0.8)
• this will make the data more objective and there will be less risk of observer bias

Question 23

evaluation of unstructured observation

Answer 23

• involves the researchers recording the most eye catching or noticeable behaviours which might not be the most relevant or important behaviours to record and is highly subjective
  + provide rich information and can be used as a pilot study to see what kind of behaviours can be recorded in the structured system

Question 24

what does the researcher do in a structured interview to organise recordings of behaviour

Answer 24

1. behavioural categories
2. sampling (time and event)
   generally provide quantitative data

Question 25

behavioural categories

Answer 25

• operationalisation (breaking the behaviour being studied into set of components)
• be objective (no inferences made about the behaviour, just simply recording)
• cover all possible components
• be mutually exclusive (no overlapping, you shoudnt have to mark two categories at the same time)

Question 26

event sampling and evaluation

Answer 26

recording the amount of times something happens

- if too many observations happen at once may be difficult to record everything

Question 27

time sampling and evaluation

Answer 27

recording behaviours in a given time frame eg what someone is doing every 30 seconds
- some behaviours would be missed and therefore observation may not be representative

Question 28

evaluation of naturalistic observation

Answer 28

+ high external validity

- low control

Question 29

evaluations of controlled observation

Answer 29

+ high control

- low external validity

Question 30

what is a hypothesis

Answer 30

a precise testable statement of what the researchers expect to find

Question 31

when do psychologists use directional hypothesis

Answer 31

there is previous research (theory/studies) suggests the findings will go in a particular direction

Question 32

when do psychologists use non directional hypothesis

Answer 32

when there is no previous research (theory/ studies) suggesting the findings will go in a particular direction

Question 33

what are A03 for observational techniques

Answer 33

• time consuming, may require possible training for observers
• researchers bias (they know the aim) so need trained observer otherwise this will reduce the validity