experiments, self-reports, case studies, aims and hypothesis Flashcards
What is the independent variable? (IV)
the variable that psychologists manipulate or change
What is the dependent variable? (DV)
the variable that psychologists measure. It’s always hoped that the IV is directly affecting the DV
What are the two IV conditions?
experimental condition and control condition
what is the control condition?
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
what is the experimental condition?
an IV condition, which is exposed to all of the experiment and the one variable being tested
what are the three kinds of experiments?
laboratory, field, and natural
What are the two strengths of laboratory experiments?
They have high levels of standardisation so they can be replicated to test for reliability.
They have high levels of control
what are the three weaknesses of laboratory experiments?
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.
what is a field experiment?
they take place in participants’ own natural environment
what are the two strengths of a field experiment?
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
what are the two weaknesses of a field experiment?
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.
what are the two strengths of a natural experiment?
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
what are the two weaknesses of a natural experiment?
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.
explain the validity of laboratory experiments
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.
explain the validity of field experiments
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.
explain the validity of natural experiments
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
explain the reliability of laboratory experiments
there are high levels of reliability as controls and standardised procedures allow for full replication.
explain the reliability of field experiments
medium levels of reliability as some elements of the study are controlled with some standardised procedures; however full replication may be difficult.
explain the reliability of natural experiments
low levels of reliability as there are hardly any controls or standardisation, which makes replication difficult.
explain the ethics of laboratory experiments
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.
explain the ethics of field experiments
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.)
explain the ethics of natural experiments
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.)
what are the four kinds of questionnaires?
likert scales
rating scales
open-ended questions
closed questions
what is a likert scale?
it uses statements that participants read, then state whether they “strongly agree”, “disagree” etc
what is a rating scale?
questions or statements where the participant gives an answer in the form of a number
what are the two strengths of questionnaires?
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
what are the two weaknesses of questionnaires?
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.
what are the three types of interviews?
structured
unstructured
semi-structured
what are structured interviews?
structured interviews have a set order of questions and each participant are asked the questions in the set order
what are unstructured interviews?
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.
what are semi-structured interviews?
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.
what is the strength of interviews?
if the interview has a lot of open questions the participants will reveal more
what is the weakness of interviews?
participants may be less likely to give truthful answers as they are face to face and may not want to be judged.
what is a case study, word for word, according to Shaugnessy and Zechmeister (1997)?
a case study is “…an intensive description and analysis of a single individual”
who came up with the definition of a case study, and when?
Shaugnessy and Zechmeister (1997)
is a case study a research method?
no, they simply use other research methods in a quest for drawing a conclusion.
are variables controlled or altered in case studies?
no
what is a case study?
case studies are simply in-depth detailed analyses of individuals or close-knit groups of people.
where does a laboratory experiment take place?
in a situation of environment that is artificial to participants
what level of control do researchers have over variables in laboratory experiments?
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
is a standardised procedure necessary in laboratory experiments, and why?
there is usually an attempt for standardised procedures, as this makes it easier to replicate the experiment for reliability
do laboratory experiments have ecological validity?
since they take place in an artificial setting, they may lack ecological validity.
do laboratory experiments have mundane realism?
in many experiments, participants take part in tasks that are nothing like real-life, so it can lack mundane realism.
explain the concept of demand characteristics in laboratory experiments
participants know they are in an experiment so they may respond to demand characteristics as something about the set-up indicates the aim.
do field experiments have ecological validity?
they have high ecological validity.
is the behaviour likely to be natural in a field experiment?
Behaviour is more likely to be natural and valid as the participant does not know they are in an experiment
explain the situational variables in a field experiment
sometimes it is difficult to know if it is IV affecting the DV - it could be an uncontrolled variable causing the DV to change.
are field experiments ethical?
as participants do not know they are taking part in a study, there are issues with breaking ethical guidelines.
where does a natural experiment take place?
they usually take place in a real-life situation (eg. workplace or a hospital)
what kind of IV’s do researchers use in natural experiments?
a pre-existing or naturally occurring IV
can researchers always manipulate the IV’s in a natural experiment?
there are certain instances where researchers cannot manipulate the IV
do natural experiments have ecological validity?
The study has high ecological validity
how valid is participants behaviour in a natural experiment?
Since the participants are usually unaware that they are
in a study, their behaviour is more likely to be natural
how much control do researchers have on variables in natural experiments?
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.
is it difficult to replicate a natural experiment?
it can be difficult to replicate the study for reliability, as it is naturally occurring.
what makes a questionnaire better than interviews in terms of reliability?
participants may be more likely to reveal truthful answers as it does not involve talking face to face.
how are questionnaires representative and generalised?
a large sample of participants can answer the questionnaire in a short time span, which increases the representativeness and generalisability of the findings
how can the answers to questionnaires be influenced to decrease validity?
participants may give socially desirable answers as they want to look good, which lowers the validity of the findings
why is it not a good idea to have many closed questions on questionnaires?
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.
in what form are interview answers given?
responses are in spoken form
how many main types of interviews are there?
three
what does correlation mean?
the relationship between two measured variables.
what are correlational designs?
they look for relationships between the measures collected from other research methods
how many categories of correlational designs are there?
three
name the categories of correlational design
positive correlation
negative correlation
no correlation
what does positive correlation mean?
if one variable increases, the second variable is also likely to increase
what does negative correlation mean?
if one measured variable increases, the other measured variable will decrease
what does no correlation mean?
refers to the situation where no definite trend occurs and the two measured variables do not appear to be related to each other.
what are the two strengths of correlations?
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.
what are the two weaknesses of correlations?
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.
what does the aim mean?
a statement or question that tells people what the purpose of the study is.
what is a hypothesis?
it predicts the findings of a study
when is a hypothesis written?
before the study
what are the two kinds of hypothesis?
directional or non-directional
what is an alternative name for a directional hypothesis?
one-tailed
what is an alternative name for a non-directional hypothesis?
two-tailed
what is a directional hypothesis?
it predicts a significant difference or correlation and also the direction of results
what is a non-directional hypothesis?
it predicts a difference of correlation but not the expected direction of results
what is an inferential statistical test?
it calculates how far the actual findings have deviated from chance
when is a null hypothesis necessary?
if you are going to use an inferential statistical test to examine whether you have found a significant difference or correlation
what is internal validity?
it refers to whether it is the IV directly affecting the DV (and not some other variable/s)
what is external validity?
it refers to the extent to which the findings can be applied to real-life settings and other people outside the study
what is the experimental design?
it refers to how they allocate participants to the varying conditions of the experiment
what are independent measures?
when a participant only takes part in one level of the IV
when must an independent measure be used?
if the IV is naturally occurring
how are participants allocated to a level of the IV in a true independent measures design?
randomly
what are the two strengths of independent measures?
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.
what are the two weaknesses of independent measures?
participant variables could affect the DV instead of the IV.
more participants are required
what are repeated measures?
when a participant takes part in all of the levels of the IV
when should a repeated measure not be used?
if the IV is naturally occurring
what are the two strengths of repeated measures?
it eliminates any effect of participant variables.
fewer participants are needed
what are the two weaknesses of repeated measures?
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.
give an example of an order effect
practice effect: participants get better at a task when they complete a similar one or the task for the second time
