General Flashcards
what are the 4 types of experimental research methods?
laboratory experiment
field experiment
natural experiment
quasi experiment
what is a laboratory experiment?
an experiment conducted in a laboratory under highly controlled conditions
what is a field experiment?
an experiment conducted in the everyday and natural environment of the participant
the iv is still controlled
what is a natural experiment?
an experiment conducted in the everyday and natural environment of the participant
the iv is not controlled
what is a quasi experiment?
an experiment where the iv cannot be randomly assigned so participants are not randomly assigned either
give 4 advantages of a laboratory experiment
- easy to replicate and repeat in order to get reliable results
- high internal validity as variables can be controlled and monitored very precisely
- dependent variable can be measured accurately
- extraneous variable can be controlled and reduces the likeliness they’ll interfere with results
give 5 disadvantages of a laboratory experiment
- artificial setting of a laboratory may result in unnatural behaviour and demand characteristics that don’t reflect real life behaviour so results may be hard to generalise and not be entirely accurate
- low ecological validity which makes it hard to generalise findings into real life
- experimenter bias may interfere with results, investigator may give clues as to the research aims, etc
- possibly unethical due to deception or lack of informed consent
- can only use small samples, very hard to test across cultures and countries
give 3 advantages of a field experiment
- less likely for demand characteristics to be an issue as participants are less likely to behave a certain way due to natural surroundings - behaviour is more reflective of real life
- high ecological validity and therefore easier to generalise
- can use a much larger sample so results can be more easy to generalise and more representative of the whole population
give 3 disadvantages of a field experiment
- not all variables can be controlled, confounding variables may interfere and ruin results - lower internal validity
- hard to replicate and repeat experiment in the same way to ensure reliability of results
- issues of deception and lack of informed consent especially if they’re unaware they’re being studied
give 4 advantages of a natural experiment
- behaviour is more likely to be reflective of real life so results may be more valid and accurate - high ecological validity
- less likely for demand characteristics to be an issue if participants don’t know they’re being studied
- eliminates experimenter bias as iv is not being controlled
- can be used in situations where it would be unethical to manipulate the iv (for example, if it was anxiety)
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give 3 disadvantages of a natural experiment
- more expensive and time consuming as experimenter doesn’t control the iv, it’s just there
- extraneous and confounding variables have a high chance of interfering with results - low internal validity
- difficult to replicate and repeat to ensure reliability of results
give 3 advantages of a quasi experiment
- more genuine and natural behaviour that’s reflective of real life when put in natural settings
- reduces ethical issues regarding the manipulation of iv as in this case, it’s not able to be randomly assigned
- useful when it’s otherwise unethical or not possible to manipulate iv
give 3 disadvantages to a quasi experiment
- participants are not randomly assigned and this could lead to inequivalent/unrepresentative groups as well as experimenter bias
- not all variables are tightly controlled or carefully monitored - low internal validity
- iv is not manipulated, it simply exists
what is an experiment?
an experiment involves manipulating the iv to see the effect it has on the dv while controlling all other variables
establishes and demonstrates cause and effect relationships
what are the 4 types of variable?
- independent - the variable being controlled and manipulated, affects the DV
- dependent - the variable being measured to see if it’s been affected (the results)
- extraneous - any other variables apart from the IV that might have an effect on the DV and can be controlled
- confounding - variables that can’t or haven’t been controlled and do effect/ruin the results
what does operationalise mean?
how something would be tested, measured or defined accurately
we would test memory by doing some sort of memory test like a word list
give examples of EVs and CVs
EVs = age of participants, time limit for tasks
CVs = weather, mood of participants, etc
what is deception and lack of informed consent?
in order to get natural behaviour, people may not know the full extent of the experiment or know they’re being monitored at all
can therefore not give full informed consent
what makes a true experiment?
must have/be….
no bias
carefully controlled
random allocation
what are research aims?
stated intentions of what questions are planned to be answered
why a study is carried out and what it’s intended to find out
what is a hypothesis?
a formal and unambiguous statement of what is predicted
the prediction of the relationship between two variables
testable statements
what are the 2 types of hypothesis?
NULL HYPOTHESIS = a statement of no difference and no effect, stating that nothing will happen
ALTERNATIVE/EXPERIMENTAL HYPOTHESIS = prediction of the effect of the IV on the DV, stating that there will be an effect
what are the 2 types of alternative/experimental hypotheses?
DIRECTIONAL HYPOTHESIS = predicts that there will be an effect on the DV, also predicts the direction of the effect (how it’ll be affected)
NON DIRECTIONAL HYPOTHESIS = anticipates a difference but not a direction, doesn’t include how the DV will be affected
what may a directional hypothesis be referred to as?
one tailed