2 - Research methods Flashcards
Explain the difference between aims and hypotheses
Aims:
General statements about what researchers intend to study
Hypothesis:
A precise and testable statement about the relationship between variables.
Name 4 types of hypothesis
Null
alternative
directional
non-directional
Explain the difference between population and sample
Population:
The group of people you want to study
Sample:
The group of people actually used in the study
Name 5 sampling techniques
Random
systematic
stratified
volunteer
opportunity
Name 3 experimental designs
Independent measures
repeated measures
matched pairs
Name 3 types of experiments
Lab
field
natural
quasi
What is meant by operationalisation of variables
Ensuring variables are in a form that can be easily tested.
What extraneous variables would random allocation aim to control?
Participant variables
What extraneous variables would counterbalancing aim to control?
Order effects
What are demand characteristics?
Participant behaviour is altered to please the researcher or to influence the exp in a negative way
Give an example of investigator effects
Anything the investigator does that has an effect on the P’s performance other than what was intended
Name 3 ethical issues in the design and conduct of psychological studies
Confidentiality
informed consent, deception
protection from harm
right to withdraw
privacy
Explain how you might deal with the ethical issues
debriefing
following BPS ethical guidelines
submit proposal to an ethics committee
cost-benefit analysis
presumptive consent
Name 6 types of observations
Overt
covert
controlled
naturalistic
participant
non-participant
When designing a structured observation what 2 sampling methods could be used?
Time
event
Name 2 self-report techniques used in psychological investigations
Questionnaire
Interviews
Name two ways of assessing reliability
Test-retest
inter-rater reliability
Name 5 features of science
Objectivity
empirical methods
replicability
falsifiability
theory construction
hypothesis testing
paradigms & paradigm shifts
When reporting a psychological investigations, what are the 6 sections of a scientific report (in order)?
Abstract
introduction
methods
results
discussion
referencing
Explain what is meant by a meta-analysis
Looking at findings from a number of different studies to see an overall effect
Explain the difference between a correlation and an experiment
Experiments involve a direct manipulation of a variable correlations do not
Experiments can establish a causal relationship correlations cannot
How would you interpret a correlation coefficient of -0.8 ?
Strong Negative association
Name 5 descriptive statistics
Mean
median
mode
range
standard deviation
Name 3 types of distributions
Normal
positive skewed
negative skewed
