Unit 2 Research Methods

Question 1

Define ‘aims’

Answer 1

What the researcher intends to find out in a study

Question 2

Define ‘Confounding variables’

Answer 2

Variable which varies systematically with the independent variable that may effect the result of the dependant variable which thereby confounds the results

Question 3

Define ‘debrief’

Answer 3

Inform participants of the true nature of the study and restore them to the same state they were at the start of the study

Question 4

Define ‘ethical issues’

Answer 4

Concerning questions of right and wrong. arising in research where there are conflicting set of values between researchers and participants which concerns the goals, procedures or outcomes of a research study

Question 5

Define ‘experiment’

Answer 5

Research method where casual conclusions can be drawn because and independent variable has directly been manipulated to observe the effects it has on the dependant variable

Question 6

Define ‘operationalise’

Answer 6

Ensuring all variables are in a form that can be easily tested

Question 7

Define ‘standardised procedures’

Answer 7

Set of procedures which are the same for all participants in order to be able to repeat the study

Question 8

Define ‘valid consent’

Answer 8

Participants must be given comprehensive information concerning the nature and purpose of the research and their role in it, in order to make informed decisions on whether to participate

Question 9

Define ‘control’

Answer 9

The extent to which any variable is held constant

Question 10

Define ‘external validity’

Answer 10

The degree to which the research findings can be generalised to other settings e.g (ecological, population, historical validity)

Question 11

Define ‘Extraneous variables’

Answer 11

do not vary systematically with the IV and therefore does not act as a alternative IV but may have an effect of the DV.

Question 12

Define ‘mundane realism’

Answer 12

Refers to how a study mirrors the real world.

Question 13

Define ‘validity’

Answer 13

whether an observed effect is a genuine one.

Question 14

Define ‘internal validity’

Answer 14

The degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors.

Question 15

Difference between directional and non-directional hypothesis?

Answer 15

Directional states the expected direction of the results whereas non-directional will state there is a difference between two conditions but does not state the direction of the difference.

Question 16

Define ‘null hypothesis’

Answer 16

Assumption of no relationship between the variables studied

Question 17

What is a confederate?

Answer 17

A person who is not a real participant and has been instructed to behave in a certain way by the investigator

Question 18

What is a pilot study?

Answer 18

Small-scale trail run of a study to test any aspects of the design in order to make improvements

Question 19

Describe what repeated measures design are and what are the disadvantages and how may the investigator deal with it

Answer 19

Repeated measures= all participants experience each level of the IV

Disadvantage:
1. Order effect (participants may do better because they have already practised or they may be bored due to repetition)
2. Participants may guess the purpose of the experiment which may affect their behaviour in the second round

Dealing:

Use of counterbalancing or a cover story can be presented to avoid participants from guessing the aims

Question 20

Describe independent group design and what the disadvantages are and how they are dealt with:

Answer 20

Independent group design= Participants are placed in separate groups and each group does one level of the IV

Disadvantage:
1. participant variables cannot be controlled
2. more participants needed

Dealing:
Randomly allocate participants to conditions

Question 21

Describe Matches pairs design and what are the disadvantages and how are these dealt with:

Answer 21

Matches pairs= pairs of participants are matched in terms of key variables, they then are allocated to separate conditions

Disadvantage=
1. very time consuming and difficult to match key variables
2. Not possible to control all variables because you can only match on variables known to be relevant

dealing:
Conduct a pilot study, restrict number of variables needed to match

Question 22

Define what is meant by ‘laboratory’

Answer 22

An environment which is controlled by the researcher, allowing them to control extraneous variables.

Question 23

Evaluate research conducted in a laboratory:

Answer 23

Advantages->
-Easier to control confounding and extraneous variables.
-can be easily repeated by other experimenters

Disadvantages->
-Participants may display artificial behaviour as they are more aware of research being done
-Some research cannot be conducted in a lab cuz of its nature of behaviour

Question 24

Evaluate research conducted in a field:

Answer 24

Advantages->
-Minimise the artificial nature as they may behave more naturally around a familiar environment
-Allows behaviour to be examined in a huge range of contexts

disadvantages->
- Difficult to control cofounding variables and extraneous variables
- It is difficult for researchers to utilise equipment that isn’t portable like brain scanning machines

Question 25

Evaluate research conducted online:

Answer 25

Advantages-> -Allows access to a large group of participants helping to reduce cultural bias - it is cost effective and data analysis may be faster disadvantages-> -Methods are limited e.g questionnaire and surveys -Ethical issues like consent and risk of harm may be hard to deal with as the researcher cannot fully observe whether the participant understands

Question 26

Describe the two different types of Quasi-experiments:

Answer 26

Natural experiments-> its conducted when its not possible for the experimenter to deliberately manipulate the IV but rather take advantage of an opportunity where the IV changes (Charlton et al) Difference studies-> the IV doesn't vary at all- it is a condition that exists. (Sheridan and King)

Question 27

Evaluate Quasi-experiment:

Answer 27

Manipulation of IV-> lack of control as we cannot say for certain that the IV had an effect on the DV and it may be because of cofounding variables making it hard to draw casual conclusions Random allocation-> it is not possible to randomly allocate people in a natural experiment which means there may be bias Unique characteristics-> participants may have unique characteristics meaning that findings cannot be generalised to other groups of people

Question 28

Describe two threats to validity:

Answer 28

Demand characteristics= A cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of the study which changes their behaviour Researcher bias= Anything that an investigator does that has an effect on the performance of the participant in the study which acts as a extraneous variable

Question 29

What is Opportunity sampling? Describe the advantages and disadvantages with it:

Answer 29

= Recruit those who are most convenient or available + > You can use the first suitable participant taking less time to locate the sample - >Biased as the sample is drawn from a small part of the target population

Question 30

What is Random sampling? Describe the advantages and disadvantages with it:

Answer 30

= each item in a target population has equal chance of being selected + > Unbiased - > Need to have a list of all people in target population and contact which may take a lot of time

Question 31

What is snowball sampling? Describe the advantages and disadvantages:

Answer 31

= referrals from initial participants to generate additional participants + > locate groups of people who are difficult to access - >Not likely to be a good cross section from the population

Question 32

What is self-selected sampling? Describe the advantages and disadvantages:

Answer 32

= sample which relies on volunteers to make up the sample + > Variety of people, more representative and less bias - > volunteer bias

Question 33

What is stratified and quota sampling? Describe advantages and disadvantages:

Answer 33

= strat, sample produced by identifying subgroups according to their frequency and randomly selecting from subgroups. quota, the same but not random + >More representative - > very time consuming identifying subgroups then contacting them

Question 34

What is systematic sampling? Describe advantages and disadvantages:

Answer 34

= sample obtained by selecting every nth person + > Unbiased - > not truly random unless you select a number using a random method then go from there

Question 35

What are 5 ethical issues?

Answer 35

Valid consent, Deception, risk of harm, confidentiality, privacy

Question 36

Give 5 strategies to deal with ethical issues:

Answer 36

1. Ethical guidelines 2. Right to withdraw 3. Debriefing 4. Ethics committees 5. Punishment

Question 37

Describe the two types of observations:

Answer 37

Participant= the observer is a part of the group being observed non participant= merely watching the behaviour of others

Question 38

Describe two main ways to structure observation:

Answer 38

Behavioural categories= dividing a target behaviour into a subset of specific and operationalised behaviours Sampling procedures= event sampling and time sampling

Question 39

Evaluate observational techniques:

Answer 39

Observational studies in general-> - Observer bias - more than one may reduce this - don't provide info on how they think/feel Participants and non-participants-> - participant observation may provide a special insight - participant observation introduces social desirability bias as they will alter their behaviour as they know the researcher is there - non-participant may introduce covert observation which has ethical issues Sampling procedures-> - more manageable - however, observer may miss times to record event sampling/time

Question 40

Evaluation of self-report techniques:

Answer 40

Self report-> +allows insight into what people thing and feel - Social desirability Questionnaire-> + can be distributed to a large number of people quickly and cost effectively + reduce social desirability - only filled by people who can read and write and willing to spend time filling them in meaning the sample is likely to be biased structured interview-> +easily repeated as its standardised -interviewer bias semi-structured interview-> +more detail can be obtained giving deeper insights -takes the interviewer having more skill and training may be expensive

Question 41

Explain the reliability of observations: and dealing with issues:

Answer 41

Extent to which two or more observers agree is called inter-rater reliability, if there is more than 80% agreement on the observations, it has inter-rater reliability. dealing with issues= to improve reliability, observers should be trained in the use of a behaviour checklist.

Question 42

Explain the reliability of self-reports and dealing with issues:

Answer 42

Internal reliability (measure of the extent to which something is consistent within itself) External reliability (measure of consistency over several different occasions) Dealing= with internal reliability, questions can be removed to see if the split in half test returns a high reliability. with external reliability, questions can be rewritten to minimise confusion.

Question 43

What are the advantages and disadvantages of correlation studies?

Answer 43

Disadvantages-> -people jump to casual conclusions and misinterpret it which means that people will design programmes on false premises -This means people fail to consider intervening variables - may lack internal or external validity Advantages-> - If a correlation is significant then further investigation is justified. if its not significant you can rule it out.