Chapter 1: Research Methods Part 2

Question 1

What is primary data?

Answer 1

Data collected directly by the researcher (or through others) for their own purpose, usually to test a hypothesis.

Question 2

What is secondary data?

Answer 2

Data that has been collected by someone other than the original user for their own purpose.

Question 3

What is qualitative data?

Answer 3

Info about the ‘qualities’ or characteristics of what is being studied.

Question 4

What is quantitative data?

Answer 4

Numerical info on the ‘quantity’ or amount of what is being studied.
-How much of something there is

Question 5

Give some examples of descriptive statistics:

Answer 5

• Tables
• Graphs
• Percentages
• Means
• Standard deviation

Question 6

What are inferential statistics used for?

Answer 6

Interpreting and giving meaning to statistics.

Question 7

What is a generalisation?

Answer 7

A decision or judgment about how widely the findings of a research study can be applied, particularly to other members of the population from which the sample was drawn.

Question 8

What is reliability?

Answer 8

The extent to which the results obtained from a research study are consistent, dependable and stable.

Question 9

What is validity?

Answer 9

The extent to which the research study and its procedures measure what the research intended to measure.
-External or internal

Question 10

What is internal validity?

Answer 10

The extent to which the results obtained for a study are actually due to the variable(s) that was tested or measured and not due to some other factor.

Question 11

What is external validity?

Answer 11

The extent to which the results obtained for a study can be generalised to the population from which the sample was drawn or to other people in other settings and over time.

Question 12

What are ethics?

Answer 12

Standards that guide individuals to identify good, desirable or acceptable conduct.

Question 13

What is confidentiality?

Answer 13

The obligation of the researcher not to use or disclose private info for any purpose other than that for which ti was given to them.

Question 14

What is voluntary participation?

Answer 14

The reseacher must ensure participants voluntarily consent to be involved in a study.

Question 15

What are withdrawal rights?

Answer 15

Participants have an unconditional right to opt out of a study at any time without giving a reason for doing so.

Question 16

What is informed consent?

Answer 16

Consent is a voluntary choice for participants and must be based on sufficient info and adequate understanding of both the proposed research and the consequences of participation in it.

Question 17

What is deception?

Answer 17

Occurs when participants are deliberately misled or not fully informed about the aim or some other aspect of the research.

Question 18

What is debriefing?

Answer 18

Involved clarifying each participant’s understanding of the nature of the research as soon as possible after it has been conducted.

Question 19

What is an experiment used to test?

Answer 19

Is used to test a cause-effect relationship between variables under controlled conditions.

Question 20

What does the operationalisation of a variable mean?

Answer 20

The variable is defined and stated in terms that show how it was measured.
-Defining the variable in a way that describes how it will be used or quantified.
Eg. Age - operalisation as age in total months

Question 21

What is the difference between the experimental condition and the control condition?

Answer 21

In the experimental condition, the IV is present, whereas in the control condition the IV is absent.

Question 22

What is the purpose of the control condition in an experiment?

Answer 22

Provides a standard comparison for the experimental condition in which the IV is present.
-Without a control condition, it would not be possible to determine the influence of an independent variable

Question 23

List the different types of variables that can be identified as extraneous or potential confounding variables in an experiment:

Answer 23

• Individual participant differences
• The use of non-standardised instructions and procedures
• Order effects
• Placebo effects
• Experimenter effects

Question 24

What are individual participant differences? Give some examples:

Answer 24

Differences in personal characteristics and experiences of the individual participants in an experiment.
Eg. Age, intelligence, sex, motivation

Question 25

What does the use of non-standardised procedures refer to?

Answer 25

A way of controlling variables that may arise in research in order to minimise any differences among participants that might occur within the experiment itself.

Question 26

What do standardised procedures refer to?

Answer 26

The techniques used for making observations and measuring responses which are identical for all individual participants, where all participants are treated in the same way, as appropriate to the experimental condition they have been assigned.