Methodology Flashcards
Control group
A group that does not experience the independent variable and are used for comparison against the experimental group
Experimental group
A group exposed to the independent variable during the experiment
Objectivity
Being detached or neutral in terms of judgment free from personal interpretation
Reliability
Would the same results be found if the test was relocated
Validity
Does it reflect a normal environment (ecological) and task (task validity)
Generalisable
Can it be applied to people outside the study
Experimenter bias
If the experimenter also came up with the theory then they may be bias
Demand characteristics
If participants become aware of the aim they may change the way they act to either meet or disprove the aim
Extraneous variable
Factors other than the independent variable that may affect the results such as temperature or noise levels
Random allocation
Participant names drawn from a hat
• unbiased
• time consuming for experiments with large groups
Stratified sampling
Choosing a sample in proportion to the population
• demographically representative
• possible to introduce bias
Systematic sampling
Choosing participants from a list for example every tenth person
• should be unbiased
• not always representative
Purposive sampling
Choosing participants because you knew they have the traits you want to investigate
• no waste of time selecting participants
• no comparison for the expected behaviour
Opportunity sampling
Whoever is available, for example first ten people to walk into a shop
• quick easy and cheap
• not representative of the population people in the same place will most likely be similar
Volunteer sample
People volunteer themselves after seeing an advert
• ethical
• demographic bias
