experimental design

Question 1

what is data?

Answer 1

information/measurements gathered during the course of a study

Question 2

what is data analysis?

Answer 2

interpretation of data allows the research psychologist to draw conclusions about the event under study

Question 3

what is qualitative data

Answer 3

language-based data collected through interviews, open questions and content analysis. Focus is on non-numerical data e.g. verbal reports

it explores how an individual subjectively perceives and gives meaning to their social reality e.g. through observations and case studies

Question 4

strengths of qualitative data

Answer 4

• allows researchers to develop insights into nature of subjective experiences, opinions and feelings
• get a real feel for emotions, in pps own languages
• subjective input from pp
• meanings emerge from words

Question 5

weaknesses of qualitative data

Answer 5

• time consuming to analyse
• subjective interpretations by researchers, researcher bias in interpretation of themes and content
• not often replicable

Question 6

what is quantitative data?

Answer 6

this data involves the process of objectively collecting and analysing numerical data to describe, predict, or control variables of interest

the focus is on numerical data, such as experiments and some questionnaires, surveys

Question 7

strengths of quantitative data

Answer 7

• gives objective numerical data
• easy to compare findings and draw conclusions e.g. cause and effect in well controlled experiments
• attempts to generalise to wider populations
• can predict trends and patterns
• easily presented in graphical form
• often replication is possible

Question 8

weaknesses of quantitative data

Answer 8

• fails to capture totality of human experience and essence of what it is to be human
• methods limit possible ways in which a research participant can react
• no real detail or personal insight
• often data is artificial settings

Question 9

how is an experiment conducted

Answer 9

1. causal observation about one feature of the world e.g. people imitate violence on TV
2. those observations form a theory
3. theories will produce a number of further expectations which is stated as a hypothesis
4. the experiment sets out to support/challenge this hypothesis and make a causal link

Question 10

what is triangulation?

Answer 10

a combination of both qualitative and quantitative studies

Question 11

what is an experimental degin?

Answer 11

the way in which participants are allocated to conditions

Question 12

what is the independent variable?

Answer 12

variable that is changed

Question 13

what is the dependent variable

Answer 13

the variable that is measured

Question 14

what is the controlled variable

Answer 14

the one that stays the same

Question 15

what are extraneous variables?

Answer 15

variables that have the potential to affect the results e.g. time of day/mood

Question 16

what are confounding variables?

Answer 16

extraneous variables that are uncontrolled and so affect results

Question 17

what is independent groups design?

Answer 17

• different groups in each condition
• pps likely to be randomly allocated to each condition
  e. g. Baddeley

Question 18

advantages of independent groups

Answer 18

• no order effects
• demand characteristics less likely
• pps not lost between trials
• saves time and effort
• can be used when measures inappropriate (e.g. looking at gender differences)

Question 19

disadvantages of independent groups

Answer 19

• may be individual differences between pps

- you need more participants to get the same amount of data which can be costly

Question 20

what are order effects

Answer 20

pps performance in condition may be affected by the order in which they are performed e.g. performance improves

Question 21

what is a matched pairs design

Answer 21

• each pp only in one condition
• pps in two groups are matched on a relevant condition that you want to measure (intelligence, gender, age)
• different pps in each condition matched on important variables

Question 22

advantages of matched pairs

Answer 22

no order effects - different pps in each condition
controls for some individual differences
less likely to show demand characteristics

Question 23

disadvantages of matched pairs condition

Answer 23

difficult to do
time consuming
difficult to find pps who match
need a large group of pps
identical twins best - many differences taken care of

Question 24

what is a repeated measures design?

Answer 24

each participant appears in both conditions

e.g. all pps asked to do without music then with

Question 25

advantages of repeated measures

Answer 25

individual differences taken care of - tested against themselves
requires fewer pps but gather more data

Question 26

disadvantages of repeated measures design

Answer 26

• demand characteristics
• can’t be used in studies where pps in one condition has large effects on response in the other or where pps are likely to guess the purpose of the study
• order effects - can be reduced by counterbalancing

Question 27

what is counterbalancing

Answer 27

involves ensuring that each condition is equally likely to be first or second
one half in AB condition
one half in BA condition

Question 28

what is a control group?

Answer 28

where one group is used to provide baseline info

• one group receives the experimental treatment (manipulation of IV)
• the control group acts as a comparison to the experimental group to study the effects