Definitions Flashcards
What is the DV?
Variable that is measured
What is the IV?
Variable that is manipulated
What is an Independent Measures Design?
Different participants are used for each level of the IV
What is a Repeated Measures Design?
Each participants participates in every level of the IV
What is a Match Pairs Design?
Participants are arranged into pairs. Pairs are similar in ways that are important to study.
What is a single blind test?
Participants unaware of the level of IV in which they are performing
What is a double blinds test?
Neither the researcher or participants are aware of which condition they are in
What is researcher effect?
Negative influence researchers can have on a study by their presence
What is a participant variable?
Individual differences between P’s that could affect their response
What is a situational variable?
factors in the environment surrounding P’s that can affect their performance on the DV
What is practise effect?
Participants performance improves because they experience the experimental task more than once
What is fatigue effect?
Participants performance declines because they have experienced an experimental task more than once
What is counterbalancing?
Overcomes order effect. (ABBA design)
What is a quasi experiment?
Makes use of existing changes in situations to create the IV & then measures the DV. IV can’t be manipulated
What is a field experiment?
Researcher manipulates IV & measures DV in natural setting
What is a lab experiment?
Conducted in artificial environment in which experimenter manipulates IV & measures changes in DV whilst controlling extraneous variables
What is a snap shot study?
Many cohorts, over short period of time & one set of data
What is a longitudinal study?
One cohort, over a period of time & more than set of data
What is mundane realism?
Extent to which an experimental task relates to real life
What is experimental realism?
Extent to which experiment is real to P’s
What is generalisability?
Extent to which findings from one situation or sample will apply to other situations or people
What are demand characteristics?
Participants change their behaviour in order to fit in with what they think researchers want because they have worker out what the researcher wants
What is observer effect?
Influence that the presence of an observer can have on P’s in a situation
What is a participant observation?
Participant’s behaviour is recorded by a researcher who is engaged with them
What is a non-participant observation?
Participant’s behaviour is recorded by a researcher who is not engaged with them (overt/covert)
What is an overt observation?
Research in which the role of the observer is known to the participant
What is a covert observation?
Participants unaware that they are being watched. (participant/non-participant)
What is observer bias?
Tendency of an observer to record behaviours that they believe should/will occur
What is instantaneous scan sampling?
Only action being performed at the start of each pre-set interval is recorded
What is predominant activity sampling?
Observer watches throughout the interval & records the behaviour that is performed the most during the time
What is one zero sampling?
Researcher would record whether behaviour occurred within the time period
What is a controlled observation?
Behaviour seen is recorded by the researcher in situations in which there has been manipulation
What is a naturalistic observation?
Behaviours seen in the P’s normal environment are recorded without interference from the researcher
What is an unstructured observation?
Observer records a non-specific, wide range of behaviours
What is a structured observation?
Observer records a specified range of behaviours in pre-defined & pre-decided categories
What are behavioural categories?
Operationally defined units of events used in a structured observation to break a continuous stream of activity
What is a coding frame?
System of differentiating behaviours to be recorded in an observation which uses abbreviations to represent different behavioural categories.
What is inter-observer reliability?
Extent to which 2 observers will produce the same records when they watch the same event
What is event sampling?
Uses a checklist of possible activities, which are tailed as they occur
What is time sampling?
Uses a limited list of possible activities. The occurrences of these activities is recorded in relation to short, specified time intervals
What is social desirability?
Participants tend to respond in ways that they think reflect what is acceptable in society rather than what they want the usually/want to do
What is quantitative data?
Quantity of a psychological measure (numbers)
What is qualitative data?
Quality of a psychological characteristics (words)
What is a self-report method?
Obtain data by asking participants about themselves
What is a questionnaire?
Written questions
What is an interview?
Participants reply verbally to questions asked by interviewer
What is a pilot study?
Small-scale trial run of a method to identify & resolve any problems with the procedure
What is a Likert scale?
Measures attitudes using a statement to which P’s respond by choosing an option (Strongly agree to Strongly disagree)
What are closed questions?
Offers small number of explicitly stated alternative responses & no opportunity to expand on answers (quantitative data)
What are open questions?
Allows P’s to give full & detailed answers in their own words (qualitative data)
What is a structured interview?
Asks predominantly closed questions in a fixed order. Questions are scripted = standardised
What is a semi-structured interview?
Uses a fixed list of open & closed questions. Interviewer can introduce additional questions if required
What is an unstructured interview?
Starts with standard question but from there questions depend on the respondent’s answer. There may be a list of topics for the interviewer to cover
What is test-retest?
When you use same test twice
What is slit-half reliability?
When you compares 2 halves of a test
What is internal reliability?
The consistency of a measure gained through standardisation
What is external reliability?
Likely to get similar results if repeated in the same conditions
What is validity?
Extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure
What is external validity?
Extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other people/situations
What is ecological validity?
Extent to which conclusions can be generalised to other situations
What is face validity?
Extent to which a procedure appears to test what it claims to
What is criterion validity?
Extent to which a measure is related to an outcome
What is concurrent validity?
Extent to which 2 or more studies have the same results
What is construct validity?
Extent to which a measurement tool actually measures the psychological concept being studied
What is cause and effect?
A manipulation of the IV is responsible for a change in the DV
What is a positive correlation?
Relationship between 2 variables such that an increase in one causes an increase in another
What is a negative correlation?
Relationship between 2 variables such that an increase in one causes a decrease in another
What are extraneous variables?
Factor that can affect the outcome of an investigation other than those being tested
What are confounding variables?
Factor that confuses (confounds) the results because it acts the effect of the IV on the DV.
What is induction?
Uses observations to generate testable hypotheses which are developed into theories
What is deduction?
Develops hypotheses from theories, then tests the hypotheses with observations
What is falsification?
Ability to demonstrate that something is not the case
What is subjectivity?
Taking a biased personal viewpoint that may be influence by one’s own beliefs and will therefore differ between researchers
What is objectivity?
Taking an unbiased external perspective that is not affected by an individual or personal viewpoint and will therefore be consistent between researchers
What is researcher bias?
Unconscious tendency of the researcher to act in ways that alter the results
What is an alternate hypothesis?
Testable statement predicting that there will be a relationship between variables
What is a two-tailed hypothesis?
Statement predicting how one variable will be related to another
What is a one-tailed hypothesis?
Statement predicting the direction of a relationship between variables
What is a null hypothesis?
Testable statement saying that any difference is due to chance
What is nominal data?
Data as totals of named categories that are unrelated
What is ordinal data?
Data as points along a scale, such that the points fall in order BUT don’t have equal gaps between them
What is interval data?
Data as points on a scale that has equal gaps between the points
What is opportunity sampling?
Participants chosen because they are available at the time
What is self-selected sampling?
Participants invited to participate
What is snowball sampling?
Small number of participants contact more participants
What is random sampling?
Members of population are allocated numbers & a fixed amount of these are selected in an unbiased way
What is satisfied sampling?
All types of members of the population are represented by deliberately selecting P’s from all strata
What is primary data?
Collect yourself
What is secondary data?
Someone else collects it & you use it
What are measures of central tendency?
Average score from a data set
What is the mode?
Measure of CT worked out as the most frequent score in a set of results (any data & CT for nominal data)
What is the median?
Measure of CT worked out as the middle score in the list when data is ranked. If 2 numbers are in the middle, they are added together & divided by 2 (used with nominal & ordinal data)
What is the mean?
Measure of CT worked out by adding up all the scores & diving it by the number of scores (used with interval data)
What is the range?
Measure of dispersion based on the biggest & smallest values in a data set ( + 1)
What is variance?
Measure of dispersion that calculates the average difference between each score. Bigger value = greater dispersion
What is standard deviation?
Measure of dispersion that calculates the average difference between each score & the mean. Bigger value = greater dispersion
What is a type 1 error?
Alternate hypotheses is accepted when in fact results are due to chance
What is a type 2 error?
Null hypotheses is accepted but results are not due chance therefore suggesting that there is no difference
What are the key ethics that one should consider?
Privacy
Assent = continuously ask child if they want to participate
Deception = P’s not deliberately misinformed about the aims
Debrief = full explanation of aims & potential consequences of the study given to P’s after procedure
Informed consent = enough info about a study to know whether to agree to participate
Withdrawal = P’s should be aware that they can remove themselves & their data from the study
Avoiding harm of participants = P’s not put at any greater physical/psychological risk
Confidentiality = Individuals’ results & info kept safe & not be given to anyone outside study
What are the key features of the Harvard method?
BOOK
Author, (year); Title, location, publisher
JOURNAL
Author; (year), Title, Journal Title, volume number, (issue number), page number
