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Psychology (AS Level) > experiments, self-reports, case studies, aims and hypothesis > Flashcards

experiments, self-reports, case studies, aims and hypothesis Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the independent variable? (IV)

A

the variable that psychologists manipulate or change

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2
Q

What is the dependent variable? (DV)

A

the variable that psychologists measure. It’s always hoped that the IV is directly affecting the DV

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3
Q

What are the two IV conditions?

A

experimental condition and control condition

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4
Q

what is the control condition?

A

it is an IV condition, which is exposed to all of the experiment but not what is being changed or tested. It is used as a comparison group

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5
Q

what is the experimental condition?

A

an IV condition, which is exposed to all of the experiment and the one variable being tested

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6
Q

what are the three kinds of experiments?

A

laboratory, field, and natural

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7
Q

What are the two strengths of laboratory experiments?

A

They have high levels of standardisation so they can be replicated to test for reliability.
They have high levels of control

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8
Q

what are the three weaknesses of laboratory experiments?

A

since they take place in an artificial setting, they may lack ecological validity.
in many experiments, participants take part in tasks that are nothing like real-life, so it can lack mundane realism.
participants know they are in an experiment so they may respond to demand characteristics as something about the set-up indicates the aim.

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9
Q

what is a field experiment?

A

they take place in participants’ own natural environment

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10
Q

what are the two strengths of a field experiment?

A

they have high ecological validity.

Behaviour is more likely to be natural and valid as the participant does not know they are in an experiment

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11
Q

what are the two weaknesses of a field experiment?

A

situational variables can be difficult to control, sometimes it is difficult to know if it is IV affecting the DV - it could be an uncontrolled variable causing the DV to change.
as participants do not know they are taking part in a study, there are issues with breaking ethical guidelines.

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12
Q

what are the two strengths of a natural experiment?

A

The study has high ecological validity
Since the participants are usually unaware that they are
in a study, their behaviour is more likely to be natural

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13
Q

what are the two weaknesses of a natural experiment?

A

It can be difficult to know whether the IV has caused an effect on the DV due to lack of controls. Therefore, it is difficult to establish a cause-effect relationship.
it can be difficult to replicate the study for reliability, as it is naturally occurring.

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14
Q

explain the validity of laboratory experiments

A

They have high internal validity because of the controls in place. However, the external validity is low as it may be difficult to apply the findings to a real-life situation.

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15
Q

explain the validity of field experiments

A

they have lower internal validity as researchers can control some variables but not all. there is stronger external validity due to the “field” setting of the study.

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16
Q

explain the validity of natural experiments

A

they have low internal validity as there is no control of extraneous variables. There is high external validity as the experiment’s take place in the participants’ natural environment

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17
Q

explain the reliability of laboratory experiments

A

there are high levels of reliability as controls and standardised procedures allow for full replication.

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18
Q

explain the reliability of field experiments

A

medium levels of reliability as some elements of the study are controlled with some standardised procedures; however full replication may be difficult.

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19
Q

explain the reliability of natural experiments

A

low levels of reliability as there are hardly any controls or standardisation, which makes replication difficult.

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20
Q

explain the ethics of laboratory experiments

A

it is usually easy to gain informed consent. deception can be dealt with if participants are given a full debrief. participants know they are in a study so they can withdraw at any time.

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21
Q

explain the ethics of field experiments

A

it is not always possible to gain informed consent. Participants may not know they are part of a study which can make debriefing difficult or impossible. (also the participants do not know they are in a study so their right to withdraw is invalidated.)

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22
Q

explain the ethics of natural experiments

A

there are several ethical issues. informed consent can be difficult to obtain. Participants may not know they are part of a study which can make debriefing difficult or impossible. (also the participants do not know they are in a study so their right to withdraw is invalidated.)

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23
Q

what are the four kinds of questionnaires?

A

likert scales
rating scales
open-ended questions
closed questions

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24
Q

what is a likert scale?

A

it uses statements that participants read, then state whether they “strongly agree”, “disagree” etc

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25
Q

what is a rating scale?

A

questions or statements where the participant gives an answer in the form of a number

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26
Q

what are the two strengths of questionnaires?

A

participants may be more likely to reveal truthful answers as it does not involve talking face to face.
a large sample of participants can answer the questionnaire in a short time span, which increases the representativeness and generalisability of the findings

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27
Q

what are the two weaknesses of questionnaires?

A

participants may give socially desirable answers as they want to look good, which lowers the validity of the findings
if the questionnaire has a lot of closed questions the participant may be forced into choosing as answer that does not reflect their true opinion.

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28
Q

what are the three types of interviews?

A

structured
unstructured
semi-structured

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29
Q

what are structured interviews?

A

structured interviews have a set order of questions and each participant are asked the questions in the set order

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30
Q

what are unstructured interviews?

A

they have a theme or topic that needs to be discussed, the interviewer may have an initial question to begin the interview but each subsequent question is based on the response given.

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31
Q

what are semi-structured interviews?

A

they contain certain questions that participants must be asked, those questions are asked in the order the interviewer chooses and the interviewer can ask other questions to clarify a participants response.

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32
Q

what is the strength of interviews?

A

if the interview has a lot of open questions the participants will reveal more

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33
Q

what is the weakness of interviews?

A

participants may be less likely to give truthful answers as they are face to face and may not want to be judged.

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34
Q

what is a case study, word for word, according to Shaugnessy and Zechmeister (1997)?

A

a case study is “…an intensive description and analysis of a single individual”

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35
Q

who came up with the definition of a case study, and when?

A

Shaugnessy and Zechmeister (1997)

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36
Q

is a case study a research method?

A

no, they simply use other research methods in a quest for drawing a conclusion.

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37
Q

are variables controlled or altered in case studies?

A

no

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38
Q

what is a case study?

A

case studies are simply in-depth detailed analyses of individuals or close-knit groups of people.

39
Q

where does a laboratory experiment take place?

A

in a situation of environment that is artificial to participants

40
Q

what level of control do researchers have over variables in laboratory experiments?

A

there is a high level of control as researchers attempt to control as many variables as possible to make sure that it is the IV affecting the DV

41
Q

is a standardised procedure necessary in laboratory experiments, and why?

A

there is usually an attempt for standardised procedures, as this makes it easier to replicate the experiment for reliability

42
Q

do laboratory experiments have ecological validity?

A

since they take place in an artificial setting, they may lack ecological validity.

43
Q

do laboratory experiments have mundane realism?

A

in many experiments, participants take part in tasks that are nothing like real-life, so it can lack mundane realism.

44
Q

explain the concept of demand characteristics in laboratory experiments

A

participants know they are in an experiment so they may respond to demand characteristics as something about the set-up indicates the aim.

45
Q

do field experiments have ecological validity?

A

they have high ecological validity.

46
Q

is the behaviour likely to be natural in a field experiment?

A

Behaviour is more likely to be natural and valid as the participant does not know they are in an experiment

47
Q

explain the situational variables in a field experiment

A

sometimes it is difficult to know if it is IV affecting the DV - it could be an uncontrolled variable causing the DV to change.

48
Q

are field experiments ethical?

A

as participants do not know they are taking part in a study, there are issues with breaking ethical guidelines.

49
Q

where does a natural experiment take place?

A

they usually take place in a real-life situation (eg. workplace or a hospital)

50
Q

what kind of IV’s do researchers use in natural experiments?

A

a pre-existing or naturally occurring IV

51
Q

can researchers always manipulate the IV’s in a natural experiment?

A

there are certain instances where researchers cannot manipulate the IV

52
Q

do natural experiments have ecological validity?

A

The study has high ecological validity

53
Q

how valid is participants behaviour in a natural experiment?

A

Since the participants are usually unaware that they are

in a study, their behaviour is more likely to be natural

54
Q

how much control do researchers have on variables in natural experiments?

A

It can be difficult to know whether the IV has caused an effect on the DV due to lack of controls. Therefore, it is difficult to establish a cause-effect relationship.

55
Q

is it difficult to replicate a natural experiment?

A

it can be difficult to replicate the study for reliability, as it is naturally occurring.

56
Q

what makes a questionnaire better than interviews in terms of reliability?

A

participants may be more likely to reveal truthful answers as it does not involve talking face to face.

57
Q

how are questionnaires representative and generalised?

A

a large sample of participants can answer the questionnaire in a short time span, which increases the representativeness and generalisability of the findings

58
Q

how can the answers to questionnaires be influenced to decrease validity?

A

participants may give socially desirable answers as they want to look good, which lowers the validity of the findings

59
Q

why is it not a good idea to have many closed questions on questionnaires?

A

if the questionnaire has a lot of closed questions the participant may be forced into choosing as answer that does not reflect their true opinion.

60
Q

in what form are interview answers given?

A

responses are in spoken form

61
Q

how many main types of interviews are there?

A

three

62
Q

what does correlation mean?

A

the relationship between two measured variables.

63
Q

what are correlational designs?

A

they look for relationships between the measures collected from other research methods

64
Q

how many categories of correlational designs are there?

A

three

65
Q

name the categories of correlational design

A

positive correlation
negative correlation
no correlation

66
Q

what does positive correlation mean?

A

if one variable increases, the second variable is also likely to increase

67
Q

what does negative correlation mean?

A

if one measured variable increases, the other measured variable will decrease

68
Q

what does no correlation mean?

A

refers to the situation where no definite trend occurs and the two measured variables do not appear to be related to each other.

69
Q

what are the two strengths of correlations?

A

correlations are good for showing the relationship between two variables.
correlations do not require any manipulation. so correlations can be used where experiments are either unethical or impractical.

70
Q

what are the two weaknesses of correlations?

A

there are issues of causality. if a correlation is reported in a study, researchers do not know if variable A is causing a change in variable B or vice versa. there could also be a third variable causing changes in A and B that has not been measured.
correlations are restricted to research where measurements are quantitative so cannot be used to investigate why behaviours are occurring.

71
Q

what does the aim mean?

A

a statement or question that tells people what the purpose of the study is.

72
Q

what is a hypothesis?

A

it predicts the findings of a study

73
Q

when is a hypothesis written?

A

before the study

74
Q

what are the two kinds of hypothesis?

A

directional or non-directional

75
Q

what is an alternative name for a directional hypothesis?

A

one-tailed

76
Q

what is an alternative name for a non-directional hypothesis?

A

two-tailed

77
Q

what is a directional hypothesis?

A

it predicts a significant difference or correlation and also the direction of results

78
Q

what is a non-directional hypothesis?

A

it predicts a difference of correlation but not the expected direction of results

79
Q

what is an inferential statistical test?

A

it calculates how far the actual findings have deviated from chance

80
Q

when is a null hypothesis necessary?

A

if you are going to use an inferential statistical test to examine whether you have found a significant difference or correlation

81
Q

what is internal validity?

A

it refers to whether it is the IV directly affecting the DV (and not some other variable/s)

82
Q

what is external validity?

A

it refers to the extent to which the findings can be applied to real-life settings and other people outside the study

83
Q

what is the experimental design?

A

it refers to how they allocate participants to the varying conditions of the experiment

84
Q

what are independent measures?

A

when a participant only takes part in one level of the IV

85
Q

when must an independent measure be used?

A

if the IV is naturally occurring

86
Q

how are participants allocated to a level of the IV in a true independent measures design?

A

randomly

87
Q

what are the two strengths of independent measures?

A

reduced likely hood of demand characteristics, since participants are only in one condition and therefore less likely to guess the aim.
there are no order effects.

88
Q

what are the two weaknesses of independent measures?

A

participant variables could affect the DV instead of the IV.

more participants are required

89
Q

what are repeated measures?

A

when a participant takes part in all of the levels of the IV

90
Q

when should a repeated measure not be used?

A

if the IV is naturally occurring

91
Q

what are the two strengths of repeated measures?

A

it eliminates any effect of participant variables.

fewer participants are needed

92
Q

what are the two weaknesses of repeated measures?

A

there is a chance of demand characteristics, as participants may work out the aim of the study.
order effects can affect the findings of the study and reduce its validity.

93
Q

give an example of an order effect

A

practice effect: participants get better at a task when they complete a similar one or the task for the second time

Psychology (AS Level) (5 decks)

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