week 1

Question 1

what is research

Answer 1

the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way to generate new concepts, methodologies, inventions and understandings

Question 2

objectives of psychological research

Answer 2

describe
explain
predict

Question 3

approaches to psychological research

Answer 3

inductive methods
deductive methods

Question 4

what is the aim of inductive methods

Answer 4

aim to generate new theories/ideas
eg. by observing or looking for patterns in the things around us

Question 5

what is the aim of deductive methods

Answer 5

aim to test theories, and establish whether they are valid or not

Question 6

what do deductive methods have the potential to do

Answer 6

disprove a particular postulate or proposition

Question 7

what is a theory

Answer 7

a broad statement about reality
(a statement on cause and effect)

Question 8

what is the independent variable

Answer 8

the causes in our theory

Question 9

what is the dependent variable

Answer 9

the effects in our theory

Question 10

how do we test a theory

Answer 10

you cant so therefore you test a hypothesis that should be true if the theory was true

Question 11

what does a good theory help to generate

Answer 11

hypotheses

Question 12

criteria for good research problems

Answer 12

variables should express a clear relationship
stated in question form
capable of empirical testing

Question 13

what is operationalisation

Answer 13

turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations

Question 14

what is a variable

Answer 14

something that varies/ takes on different values or categories
eg. gender, anxiety levels, IQ scores, on/off

Question 15

what are categorical variables

Answer 15

varies by type or kind
eg. gender, religion, university course etc.

Question 16

what type of measurement are categorical variables

Answer 16

nominal

Question 17

what is a continuous variable

Answer 17

varies by degree or amount
eg. reaction time, height, age, anxiety level

Question 18

what type of measurement is a continuous variable

Answer 18

interval/ration measurement

Question 19

common pitfalls in research

Answer 19

extraneous variables
confounding variables

Question 20

what is an extraneous variable

Answer 20

variables that compete with the IV in explaining the outcome or DV
(can also be called nuisance variable)

Question 21

what is a confounding variable

Answer 21

a variable that is systematically related to both the IV and the DV in your study, in such a way that any change in the DV cannot be directly attributed to the IV

Question 22

what does confounding do

Answer 22

reduces internal validity

Question 23

what is causation

Answer 23

a condition in which one event (the cause) generates another event (the effect)

Question 24

criteria for identifying a causal relation

Answer 24

cause (IV) must be related to the effect (DV)
changes in the IV must precede changes in DV
no other plausible explanation must exist for the effect

Question 25

a well designed and appropriately controlled and conducted experiment can

Answer 25

allow inferences about causality

Question 26

an experiment should be

Answer 26

carefully designed
rigorously controlled
replicable
ethical

Question 27

disadvantages of the experimental approach

Answer 27

Does not test the effects of non-manipulated variables
artificiality or generalizability

Question 28

what is Artificiality or Generalizability

Answer 28

refers to potential problems in generalizing findings from laboratory settings to the “real world”

Question 29

what is a hypothesis

Answer 29

an interrogative sentence that states the relationship between two or more variables or the key research question