Component 1: Research Methods Flashcards
What are the features of scientific research and what do they mean?
Falsifiability - hypotheses can be proven to be right or wrong
Replicability - research should be easy to repeat and should provide the same results each time.
Objectivity - results and conclusions should not be open to subjective interpretation. Results should be quantitative.
What is the inductive (scientific) method?
- Make observations
- Produce a testable hypothesis that is operationalised
- Design a well-controlled study to test the hypothesis
- Draw conclusions - theory
- Propose theory
What is the deductive (unscientific) method?
- Propose theory
- Produce a testable hypothesis that is operationalised
- Design a well-controlled study to test the hypothesis
- Make observations
- Draw conclusions
What are the steps of planning research?
- Establish researsch aims
- Decide on research method
- Select participants
- Decide on the type of data to be collected
What is a target populations?
A group of people that share a set of characteristics about which a researcher wishes to draw conclusions. The target population is usually to large for everyone to be investigated, therfore a smallers sample is investigated.
What is a representative sample?
It is part of the target population which shares all of the important characteristics of the target population despite its smaller size.
What is a random sample?
This means that every person in the target population has an equal opportuniuty of being selected.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a random sample?
Advantage: It generates the most representative sample because it is unbiased.
Disadvantage: Difficult if not impossible to obtain, it is time consuming and it is costly.
What is self-select/volunteer sampling?
This is when participants select themselves, often through replying to and advertisement.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of self-select sampling?
Advantages: fairly easy to obtain as people put themselves forward which saves time and money and the exact criteria can be specified meaning only people who fit it will put themselves forward.
Disadvantages: Prone to response bias as only a certain type of people will respond, e.g more extroverted and therefore does not represent the whole target population.
What is opportunity sampling?
This involves the researcher selecting anyone who is available and willing to take part in research.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of opportunity sampling?
Advantages: Convenient as it is easy to gather large numbers of participants and it is less time consuming than other methods.
Disadvantages: Produces a very restricted, unrepresentative sample as all the participants usually come from one area.
What is snowball sampling?
This involves asking someone who fits the criteria to ask other people they know who also fit the criteria to contact the researcher.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of snowball sampling?
Advantages: Gather people who fit the criteria who you wouldn’t otherwise have had access to, e.g alcoholics
Disadvantages: Produces a restricted, unrepresentative sample as the participants are likely to come from one area.
What is quantitative data and what are the advantages and disadvantages?
This data is regarded as being more scientific as it is more objective. It uses numbers and figures which allows for easy comparisons to be made. However, it does not explain why behaviour occurs.
