LESSON 1

Question 1

for something to qualify as a scientific theory, what did Popper say a theory must be?

Answer 1

falsifability

Question 2

what is bayesianism?

Answer 2

bayesianism - statistical methods that assign probabilities based previous on experience or data

Question 3

what is an ‘open science’?

Answer 3

open science - open access to studies to spread knowledge, and allow meta-research. Data must be based off replicable and reproducible experiments

Question 4

what is reproducibility?

Answer 4

reproducibility - same data = same analysis

Question 5

what is preregistration?

Answer 5

preregistration - submit plans for research (e.g aims, methods etc)

Question 6

what are the 3 types of quantitative research?

Answer 6

descriptive
relational
experimental

Question 7

what is descriptive research?

Answer 7

descriptive research - allows us to describe a behaviour/phenomena

Question 8

what is relational research?

Answer 8

relational research - allows predictions based off relations with another phenomena

Question 9

what is experimental research?

Answer 9

experimental research - allows us to determine he cause of behaviour/phenomena

Question 10

why is triangulation important in research? (2)

Answer 10

1) methodological pluralism - multiple methods to discover diff aspects of a theory
2) convergence of findings in varying studies lends credence to a theory

Question 11

what is a theory in psychology?

Answer 11

Theories in psychology aim to define and explain human behaviour, they attempt to predict human behaviour e.g lecturing leads to poorer cognitive performance

Question 12

what are hypothesis?

Answer 12

Hypothesis = a direct or non-direct statement about the relationship between variables. They must be: falsifiable, testable, precisely stated, rational, the simplest explanation possible (parsimonious)

Question 13

what are constructs in psychology?

Answer 13

Constructs = are the building blocks of theories e.g psychosis (a mental state) – it can’t be directly tested meaning that we have to operationalise it in order to test it

Question 14

define the difference between theories, constructs and variables in psychology:

Answer 14

theory: schizophrenia is genetically determined
construct: the disintegration of personality expressed as disorder or feeling
variable: a score of 30 or lower on a personality scale

Question 15

what are the 4 levels of measurement?

Answer 15

nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio

Question 16

what is nominal data? (3)`

Answer 16

Categorical data
Lowest level of data
Data is assigned a label not a numerical relationship

Question 17

what is ordinal data? (3)

Answer 17

Data ranked in a continuum
Intervals between ranks are not equal e.g race positions
Likert scales = ordinal data

Question 18

what is interval data? (2)

Answer 18

Data where intervals between successive values are equal
There is no accurate ‘0’ – meaning one interval can’t be ‘double’ another of another interval e.g if someone has a 14 shoe size, this does not mean their feet are double the size of someone with size 7 shoe
E.g shoe size, temperature

Question 19

what is ratio data? (2)

Answer 19

Highest level of data
Equal interval and true zero point – this means that you can define a variable to be ‘double’ of a another e.g 10m is double of 5m
e.g height and distance

Question 20

what are the 4 main types of experimental design in psychology?

Answer 20

independent groups
repeated measures
factorial designs
quasi

Question 21

what is a ‘within-subjects’ experimental design?

Answer 21

all ppt take part in all conditions of the experiments

Question 22

what is a ‘between-subjects’ experimental design?

Answer 22

ppt are only exposed to one of the conditions of the experiment

Question 23

what are the three things psychologists consider when choosing an experimental design?

Answer 23

 Between subjects – eliminate order effects
 Within subjects – eliminate individua effects
 Number of ppt – how many ppt are available/do we need?

Question 24

what is cross-sectional research?

Answer 24

cross-sectional design: type of research design in which you collect data from many different individuals at a single point in time

Question 25

what are the benefits of a cross-sectional design? (4)

Answer 25

Simple and Inexpensive
These studies are quick, cheap, and easy to conduct as they do not require any follow-up with subjects and can be done through self-report surveys.

Minimal room for error
Because all of the variables are analyzed at once and data does not need to be collected multiple times, there will likely be fewer mistakes as a higher level of control is obtained.

Multiple variables and outcomes can be researched and compared at once
Researchers are able to look at numerous characteristics (ie: age, gender, ethnicity, education level) in one study.

The data can be a starting point for future research

Question 26

what are the limitations of a cross-sectional design? (3)

Answer 26

Does not help determine cause and effect
Cross-sectional studies can be influenced by antecedent consequent bias which occurs when it cannot be determined whether exposure preceded disease. (Alexander et al.)

Timing of the snapshot is not always representative
Cross-sectional studies do not provide information from before or after the report was recorded and only offer a single snapshot of a point in time.

Cannot be used to analyze behavior over a period to time
Cross-sectional studies are designed to look at a variable at a particular moment, while longitudinal studies are more beneficial for analyzing relationships over extended periods.

Question 27

what is a key issue with longitudinal studies? how can this be solved?

Answer 27

can’t counterbalance (can’t test one child when they were six years old and then when they are 2 years old), solution is control group

Question 28

what is are the main issues of a repeated measures design?

Answer 28

demand characteristics
order effects

Question 29

what are the two mechanisms which must be employed when using a repeated measures design?

Answer 29

randomisation - eliminate researcher bias
counterbalancing - to reduce order effects/spread extraneous variables evenly over both conditions

Question 30

what is a factorial experimental design? can you give an example?

Answer 30

experimental designs with 2 or more IVs
they can either be fully independent/rep measures or mixed

e.g impact of alcohol consumption and work shift patterns on productivity

Question 31

what is a quasi experimental design?

Answer 31

True experimental design – the assignment of ppt to experimental conditions is pre-determined (e.g gender)

Question 32

what is the main issue of quasi experimental designs? how can this problem be solved?

Answer 32

as the assignment of ppt to conditions is based on fixed characteristics – likely to be difference between the groups other than the variable of interest, due to issues we have to be cautious of inferring cause and effect
Matching groups – to solve this, identification of a variable which ppt can be matched on between the conditions, you can also match individuals (e.g twins or same background)

Question 33

when an experiment doesn’t allow for counterbalancing, how can researchers ensure that recorded changes in the DV are caused by only the variable of interest?

Answer 33

control group

Question 34

what are the benefits of using a control group in research? (2)

Answer 34

inclusion of a control group allows us to account for any order effects that might be present
allows statistical control of the difference in the treatment group which may be impacted by order effects