CHP1: Science skills and research methods (A-D) Flashcards
What are the steps involved in psychological research?
Identify the research problem, construct a research hypothesis, design a method, collect data, analyse data, interpret data, and report;
Aim
A statement outlining the purpose of the study.
Hypothesis
A testable prediction about the outcome of an experiment which is written as a statement and includes the variables being tested.
Operational hypothesis
Is a research hypothesis that states how the variables being studies will be manipulated and measured.
Population
The group of people of interest to an experiment, to which the results of the experiment are generalised to (drawn conclusions about).
Independent variable (IV)
The variable the experimenter manipulates in order to observe the effect on the dependent variable (think: what are the two groups being tested).
Dependent variable (DV)
The variable that is being measured to test the effects of the independent variable (think: what is being measured).
Operationalisation
The process of defining the variables in terms of how they will be either manipulated or measured in an experiment.
How do you operationalise the independent variable?
Think: What is each group doing or not doing.
How do you operationalise the dependent variable?
Think: What is actually being measured and in what units (e.g. percentage, average, centimetres etc).
Experiment
A study conducted in a carefully controlled environment to measure the cause-and-effect relationship between variables.
Self-report
A participant’s subjective account of an experience through the conduction of questionaries, interviews, or a rating scale.
Questionnaire
A list of questions that participants can respond to in a variety of formats.
Interview
A type of questionnaire that is usually conducted verbally, involving the researcher asking participants questions and recording their responses. Interviews can be structured (involving a set of predetermined questions) or free form (researcher may change/ adapt/ add questions during the interview).
Rating scale
A form of questionnaire, self-reporting in which participants give their numerical score on a scale to indicate their response to a set of questions.
Observational studies
A type of study in which data is collected through careful monitoring and recording of participants behaviour.
Case studies
An in-depth study focusing on one person or a few individuals looking at the variables relevant to the study in detail. Usually used when large sample sizes are not obtainable or the phenomena being studied is rare and difficult to replicate. Data can be collected in many formats including subjective self-reports, objective quantitative data, interviews, medical records and observations.
Longitudinal studies
A study that gathers data from the same participant over an extended time period in order to see differences or changes in specific variables over time. Participants are followed up after specific time intervals.
Cross-sectional studies
When data is collected from participants from different segments of the population (pre-existing cohorts) to represent a ‘snapshot in time’ through testing different variables in a population.
Likert scale
The Likert scale asks participants to respond to statements with ‘strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree or strongly agree’ and assigns a numerical value (such as a value of 1-5) for each of these responses in order to obtain quantitative data that can be easily measured and compared.
Control group
The group used as a basis for comparison as the participants are not exposed to the experimental condition(s), the independent variable.
Experimental group
The group within an experiment that is exposed to the experimental conditions, the independent variable.
Independent group design (between-group design)
Participants are split into two or more groups typically a control group and an experimental group(s) with every member of the sample randomly allocated to either the controlled or experimental group.
Repeated measures design (within-group design)
The same participants are used in every condition of the experiment.
Matched participants design
Participants are paired based upon relevant characteristics and then one member of the pair is randomly allocated to be tested in either the controlled or experimental group.
Sample
A subset of the population, commonly referred to as the research participant.
Representative sample
A subset of a population that seeks to accurately reflect the characteristics of the larger group.
Sampling
The process through which the participants for a study are selected from the population of interest.
Convenience sampling
When a sample is selected using the quickest and easiest means possible, selecting people who are readily available from the population.
Random sampling
When every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.
Stratified sampling
When the population is divided into groups based on characteristics relevant to the study. The researcher then selects a sample from each of the groups in the same proportion that they occur in the population.
Random stratified sampling
Take the population and divide it into strata (groups of similar people). Within each stratum, we take a random sample. Then a combination of all the samples are what makes your stratified random sample.
Allocation
The process of assigning participants to conditions in the experiment for research.
Random allocation
When every member of the sample has an equal chance of being assigned to each condition in an experiment.
Extraneous variables
Variables other than the independent variable that may produce unwanted results in an experiment.
Confounding variables
Variables that were not controlled for and did have an effect on the experimental conditions.
