2. Research Methods In Psychology Flashcards
What is psychological science for the practitioner?
Evidence based practice should be based on the best available research evidence
Why should researchers and practitioners join together?
To ensure that research available on psychological practice is both clinically relevant and internally valid
What are three dangers of misinformed practice?
Hysteria
Bettleheims theory of autism
Frontal lobotomy
What is critical thinking?
Making a decision based on evaluation and observation of specific issues
What must a good research consist of?
A theory
That is a theory?
A theory is a systematic way of organising and explaining observations; different schools of thought promote different theories which can lead to new testable predictions
What is a hypothesis
A tentative belief or prediction about the way two or mor variables interact and impact each other
What must a good theory contain?
Fits known facts
Makes new testable predictions
Is falsifiable
What are the steps to designing research in psychology?
Choose a research design
Choose a sample
Choose data collecting techniques (operationalising variables)
Controlling sources of bias
What is a naturalistic observation?
Where the researcher carefully observes behaviour without intervening
Participant observation where the researcher is also a participant
What are the advantages of the naturalistic observation?
In depth observation of behaviour in natural setting, not contrived
Can provide new insights
What are the disadvantages of the naturalistic observation?
Reactivity: difficult to remain unobtrusive
What is a case study?
An in depth investigation of an individual person or situation using interview, direct observation, records, psychological tests
What are the advantages of a case study?
Can provide rich and compelling data to support a theory
What are the disadvantages of a case study?
Not Representative of general population
Subjectivity: investigators see what they expect to see
What is a survey?
Use of questionnaires or interviews to gather information About specific aspects of behaviour
What are the advantages of a survey?
Provides data on difficult to observe behaviour
And data from a large sample
What are the disadvantages of a survey?
Self report data can be unreliable. Intentional description, social desirability, response sets, reliance on memory
What is a correlational research
Looking for relationships among variables
What are the advantages of a correlational study?
Useful for studying variables that the researcher can’t manipulate (personality, intelligence, age and sex)
What are the disadvantages of a correlational study?
Although it demonstrate that a relationship exists. It cannot determine causality
What is an experiment research?
To establish causation where the researcher manipulates variables
What is an independent variable?
The variable that is manipulated
What is a dependent variable?
The variable that is measured
What is a sample?
The person or things we test the hypothesis on
What is a population?
The entire group of people we are interested in studying
What is a sample?
A subset of the population selected for the study
What is random sampling?
Each member of the population is equally likely to be included in the experiment
What is a representative sample
Possesses the important characteristics of the population in the same proportions
What is reliability?
Whether the measure produces a consistent result
What is validity
Whether it measures what it’s supposed to measure
What are the three techniques to determine the reliability of a measure?
Test-retest reliability
Internal consistency
Inter-rater reliability
What is the test retest reliability technique?
Whether the test gives similar values if the same participant takes it two or more times
What is the internal consistency technique?
Different items that measure the same variable should produce similar answers and be consistent
What is the inter rater reliability technique?
Two testers who rate the same person on the same variable should give similar ratings on the participant
What it correlational coefficient?
Measures the strength of a relationship between 2 variables.
What is a positive correlation?
People with high scores on one variable tend to have higher scores in the other
What is a negative correlation?
People with high scores on one variable are likely to have low scores on the other variable
What does it mean when there is no correlation?
A high score on one dimension predicts nothing about a persons score on the other dimension
What are the basic elements of an experiment?
A hypothesis
Manipulation of independent variables (random assignment and holding all other variables constant)
Measurement of the dependent variable
Eliminating sources of bias/alternative explanations of results
Conclusion
How does an experimenter hold other variables constant?
With an experimental group, control group or with random assignment
What is an experimental group?
Exposed to the experimental conditions
What is a control group?
They are not exposed to the experimental condition, but other treated identically to the experimental group
What is random assignment?
Where participants are equal ally likely to be in either the control or experimental group
What is participant bias?
The tendency for people who know they are participants on a study to behaved in a way other than they normally would. E.g. The Hawthorne effect
What is self presentation?
The demand of characteristics and the placebo effect
What is the demand of characteristics?
Participants respond in the way they think the experimenter wands them to respond
What is the placebo effect?
Participants condition improves because they believe the procedures will help them.
What is an experimenter bias?
The tendency of experimenters to let their expectancies alter the way they treat their participants.
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
A false definition of a situation that evokes behaviour that, in turn, makes the false conception become true
What is a single blind study?
A technique to control bias that either the experiment or participant is unaware of the purpose of the study
What is a double blind study?
Where both the experimenter and the participant are blind to the purpose of the study
What is in the code of ethics in psychological research?
Informed consent Maintain participant welfare Voluntary participation Ensure confidentiality Avoid deception Fair and humane treatment of animals Gain appropriate ethics approval
What is a theoretic framework?
Systematic way of organising and explaining observations
Hypothesis that flows from the theory or form an important question
What is a standardised prosecute?
Procedure that is the same for all participants except where variation is introduced to test a hypothesis
What is generalizabity?
Sample that is representative of the population.
procedure that is sensible and relevant to circumstances outside the laboratory
What is an objective measurement?
Measures that are reliable (that produces consistent results)
Measures that are valid ( that assess the dimensions they purport to assess)
What is psychological science for the scientist?
Understanding human and animal behaviour, thoughts and feelings
