research methods (y2) Flashcards
(49 cards)
what is a correlation?
investigate an association between 2 variables
what is a correlation coefficient?
A number between -1 and +1 that represents the direction and strength of a relationship between co variables
What is a strong correlation and weak?
strong is closer to -1 or +1 and weak is closer to 0
What is a case study?
Involve analysis of unusual individuals, events, groups and institution
What is a content analysis?
A research technique that enables the indirect study of behaviour by examining communications that people produce
What is the initial stage of content analysis and what does it consist of?
Coding - data is analysed and categorised into meaningful units
What is thematic analysis?
A theme is identified which is a idea, explicit or implicit thing that is recurrent
Is thematic analysis more quantitative or qualitative?
qualitative as they are more descriptive
a03 - case studies?
STRENGTH
- rich detail insight that shed light on atypical forms of behaviour
- eg HM as it demonstrated memory processing
LIMITATIONS
- generalizations is hard when using a small sample size
- based on subjective selection and interpretation
- personal accounts from ppts and their family/friends may have inaccuracy
A03 - content analysis
STRENGTHS
- circumnavigate all of the ethical issues normally associated with psychological research
- things such as adverts, fims already exists in the personal domain
- high in external validity
LIMITATIONS
- people tend to be studied indirectly as part of content analysis so communications that occurred are analyze outside of context within it occurred
- researcher may attribute opinions that were not there originally
- lack of objectivity
what is reliability?
how consistent a measurement is and the results that come from it
What are the two ways of assessing reliability?
Test-Retest
Inter observer reliability
What is test retest
- Administer same test to the same person on different occasions
- If it is reliable then results should be similar each time they are administered
- Must be sufficient time between test-retest so they cannot recall answers
- Two sets of scores would be correlated
What is inter-observer reliability?
The extent to which there is agreement between 2 or more observers involved in observations of a business, measured by correlating the observations of 2 or more observers.
How do you establish inter observer reliability ?
- involve a small scale trial run
- check that observers are applying behavioural categories in the same way
- data should be correlated to assess its reliability
How do you measure reliability?
Correlation Coefficient which should exceed +80 for reliability
how do you improve reliability in questionnaires?
- test retest
- comparing two sets of data produces a correlation exceeding +80
- if the correlation is lower the items may be deselected
- replace open questions with fixed questions
how do you improve reliability in interviews?
- same interviewer
- interviews must be properly trained
- use structured interviews
how do you improve reliability in observations?
- behavioural categories have been properly operationalised to reduce subjectivity and overlapping
how do you improve reliability in experiments?
standardised procedures
what is validity?
the extent to which an observed effect is genuine and if the researcher has managed to measure what they were looking to measure
what is the two types of validity and differences?
internal - whether the effects observed in an experiment are due to IV manipulation or some other factor
external - whether factors can be generalised to outside and if any factors can influence findings
what is a threat to internal validity?
demand characteristics
what is ecological validity?
generalising the findings from a study to other settings
