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Psychology - research methods > Experimental Methods > Flashcards

Experimental Methods Flashcards

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1
Q

what is a laboratory experiment?

A
  • highly controlled environment
  • researcher deliberately manipulates the independent variable to investigate the effect on the dependent variable
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2
Q

what is the environment like in a lab experiment?

A
  • highly controlled environment
  • artificial environment
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3
Q

within a lab experiment is:
- there random allocation of groups?
- the researcher able to manipulate the IV?
- there control over variables?

A
  • yes
  • yes
  • yes
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4
Q

why is high internal validity a strength in a lab experiment?

A
  • high control over the environment
  • able to reduce the risk of extraneous variables
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5
Q

why is replication a strength in a lab experiment?

A

enables the research to be repeated to explore the reliability of the findings

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6
Q

why are casual effects a strength in a lab experiment?

A

due to the high controlled environment, able to establish whether one variable actually causes an effect on another variable

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7
Q

what are the strengths of a lab experiment?

A
  • high internal validity
  • replication
  • casual effects
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8
Q

how does a lab experiment lack ecological validity?

A

the environment the research is investigating is artificial, findings cannot be generalised for real-life behaviour

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9
Q

why is demand characteristics a weakness within a lab experiment?

A

participants are aware that they are being researched, may change their normal behaviour for the experiment

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10
Q

why is deception a weakness within a lab experiment?

A

participants are not typically aware they are being researched/ are often ‘deceived’ about the aims of the research until the end of the study

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11
Q

what are the weaknesses of a lab experiment?

A
  • lacks ecological validity
  • demand characteristics
  • deception
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12
Q

what is an example of a lab experiment?

A

peterson and peterson STM study

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13
Q

what is a field experiment?

A

typically conducted in a participants natural/ ordinary environment

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14
Q

what happens to the independent variable within a field experiment?

A

directly manipulated by researcher

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15
Q

are the participants aware they are participating in a field experiment?

A

no - this enables their behaviour to be seen as more natural

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16
Q

why can the participants being unaware of their participation in a field experiment be a problem?

A

may be difficult to control extraneous and confounding environment

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17
Q

why is lack of demand characteristics a strength for a field experiment?

A

participants are not likely to know they are being researched so aren’t likely to guess meaning of the research - natural behaviour

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18
Q

why is ecological validity a strength for a field experiment?

A

more natural environments than lab experiment, more likely to reflect real life environments

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19
Q

why are casual relationships a strength within a field experiment?

A

able to manipulate the independent variable and record the dependent variable to identify cause and effect relationships

20
Q

what are the strengths of a field experiment?

A
  • less demand characteristics
  • ecological validity
  • casual relationships
21
Q

why is less control a weakness for field experiments?

A

less control over extraneous variables which may affect the results of the research

22
Q

why are ethical issues a weakness for field experiments?

A

is participants are not aware they are being researched it may be difficult to debrief them - may cause participants distress

23
Q

what are the weaknesses of field experiments?

A
  • less control over extraneous variables
  • ethical issues
24
Q

what is an example of a field experiment?

A

teacher deliberately collapses in canteen - investigates students responses

25
Q

what is a natural experiment?

A

independent variable is not directly manipulated by researcher, but researcher takes advantage of naturally occurring independent variable

26
Q

when are natural experiments typically used?

A

where independent variable cannot be directly manipulated due to ethical/ practical reasons
- DV may be testes in a lab

27
Q

can participants be randomly assigned to conditions in a field experiment?

A

no - and there is no direct manipulation of independent variable

28
Q

within a field experiment, can:
- researcher manipulate IV?
- random allocation of groups occur?
- control over variables?

A
  • no
  • no
  • no
29
Q

why is a field experiment ethical/ why is it a strength?

A

some variables would not be possible to directly manipulate unless they were naturally occurring

30
Q

why is demand characteristics a strength for a natural experiment?

A

participants are not aware they are in a research study and are unlikely to behave differently

31
Q

why is high ecological validity a strength for a natural experiment?

A

less artificial than laboratory experiment as consists of naturally occurring variables so the findings can be generalised into different settings

32
Q

why is ‘no cause and effect’ relationship a weakness for a natural experiment?

A

not able to manipulate the independent variable and other variables could influence the findings, meaning casual relationships can be established indefinitely

33
Q

why is deception (ethical issues) a weakness for a natural experiment?

A

often used and no consent can be made

34
Q

what are the strengths for natural experiments?

A
  • ethical
  • demand characteristics
  • high ecological validity
35
Q

what are the weaknesses for natural experiments?

A
  • no cause and effect relationship
  • deception (ethical issue)
  • confidentiality
36
Q

why is confidentiality a weakness for a natural experiment?

A

can lead to the participants being identifiable

37
Q

what is example of a natural experiment?

A

the effect of COVID-19 impacting students level of support

38
Q

what is a quasi experiment?

A

an ‘almost experiment’

39
Q

why is a quasi experiment an ‘almost experiment’?

A

because the independent variable is not something that ‘varies’ but instead something that exists

40
Q

why does the researcher use random allocation of conditions in a quasi experiment?

A

because the IV is a feature of the participants e.g. gender, age, personality etc.

41
Q

within a quasi experiment, can:
- researcher manipulate IV?
- random allocation of groups occur?
- control over variables?

A
  • no
  • no
  • no
42
Q

why is high ecological validity a strength for a quasi experiment?

A

less artificial than laboratory experiment as consists of naturally occurring variables so the findings can be generalised into different settings

43
Q

why is ‘no cause and effect relationship’ a weakness for for a quasi?

A
  • not able to manipulate the IV
  • other variables could influence findings
44
Q

why is random allocation a weakness for quasi?

A

there may be other variables that change with the IV that were not controlled
- lack of availability to use random allocations suggest that the research may be at risk of uncontrolled confounding variables

45
Q

what is a strength of quasi experiment?

A

high ecological validity

46
Q

what are weaknesses of quasi experiment?

A
  • no cause and effect relationship
  • random allocation
47
Q

what is ecological validity?

A

a measure of how test performance predicts behaviour in real world settings

Psychology - research methods (16 decks)

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