2.2 psychological research methods Flashcards
naturalistic observations
observing participants in real world contexts and taking a record of their behaviour
surveys/ questionnaires
involves having individuals provide answers to a series of questions
correlational reseach
provides a measure of the degree of association b/w two variables
positive correlations
when higher values on one variable tend to co-occur with higher values on another
negative correlation
when higher values on one variable tend to co-occur with lower values on another
positive correlations generate correlation co-efficients between
0 and +1
negative correlations generate correlation co-efficients between
0 and -1
strong correlations between variables (+ive or -ive) do not mean that there is a ________ ____________ b/w the two variables
causal relationship
causal direction problem
ex. if curly hair were positively correlated with more fun, we wouldn’t know whether :
1. curly hair causes more fun
2. having fun makes hair curly
third variable problem
maybe some other variable causes both curlier hair and a greater sense of fun, ex genes / pills
experiments
are uniquely designed to provide answers about the causal relationship b/w variables
-they allow this because they involve manipulation of one or more variables
random assignment to experimental conditions
helps to ensure that participants in te two groups are roughly equal on all other important characteristics
confounding variables
variables that differ b/w experimental conditions tother than the one that the experimenter seeks to manipulate (bad to have in an experiment)
independent variables
the variable or (s) being manipulated in an experiment
dependant variable
the variable or (s) being measured in an experiment
experimental condition
the one involving some active treatment, such as administration of a drug, providing some other type of therapy or curling their hair
control condition
the one involving no active treatment, but that is used as a basis for comparison, such as administration of a placebo, giving them some SHAM type of therapy, or playing with their hair without curling it
between-subjects design
when diff people participate in diff conditions of an experiment
within subjects design
when the same ppl each participant in all conditions of an experiment
statistics
descriptive statistics and inferential statistics
descriptive statistics
used as summarized data
- provide measure of frequency (distribution, skewed, non-skewed)
- provide measure of central tendency (Mean and median and mode)
- provide a measure of variability (standard deviation)
inferential statistics
used to draw conclusions about the data generated from a research study
statistical hypothesis testing-purpose of inferential statistics
-is used to draw conclusions about the diff they have observed b/w conditions of an experiment or about correlation they have observed b/w two variables
mean
arithmetic average of a group of scores
median
the middle highest value in a group of scores
mode
the most common value in a group of scores
standard deviation
-the amount that scores in a set that differ from one another
higher SD reflect scores that are more dispersed further away from the mean score
inferential statistics to be statistically significant
a difference b/w conditions or a correlation b/w variables must be substantially greater than the standard deviation of scores
-the same diff in scores may or may not be statistically significant, depending on the Standard deviation of scores
case studies
in-depth reports about specific cases
