Official Research Methods Flashcards
What are lab experiment ?
High level of control the researcher has over all the variables in the study
Uses standardised procedures
Indepedant variable is changed
What are strengths of lab experiments?
-can establish a cause and effect relationship
-high internal validity
-easily replicated due to standardised procedures
What are weakensses of lab experiments?
-lack ecological validity
-lack mundane realism lowering the external validity
-ppts are aware they’re being tested so demand characteristics might affect results
What is a field experiment?
Conducting the experiment in naturalistic settings
Independent variable is still changed
What are the strengths of field experiments?
-high ecological validity as ppl behave naturally
-have mundane realism
-don’t show demand characteristics
What is a weakness of field experiments?
-lack control over extraneous variables that could be influencing the measurement of the dependant variable
-difficult to randomly assign resulting in a change in DV might be due to participant variables reducing internal validity
What are natural experiment ?
Two levels of independent variables have occurred naturally without the influence of the researcher the researcher simply records the change in the dependant variable between the two levels of IV
What are strengths of natural experiments?
-allow research to happen in areas that couldn’t happen in controlled experiments
-hihg in external validity
What are weaknesses of natural experiments?
-can’t find a cause and effect relationship due to not being able to control extraneous variables
-can’t be replicated so low reliability
What is a quasi experiment?
An experiment whereby the iV hasn’t been determined by the researcher instead it naturally exists e.g. gender difference studies
What are strengths of quasi experiments?
Controlled conditions- replicable, high internal validity
What are weaknesses of quasi experiments ?
Can’t randomly allocate so can’t establish cause and effect
What are aims?
General statement made by the researchers which tells us the purpose of their study
What is a hypotheses?
Precise statement which clearly states the relationship between the variables being investigated
What’s the difference between a directional and non directional hypotheses?
Directional states the direction of the relationship that will be shown between the variables
No directional doesn’t
E.g directional- the more sleep a ppts has the better the memory performance
Non directional-the difference between the hours of sleep will have an effect on memory performance
Directional is usually used when there has been previous research done on this topic
What is the indepednat variable ?
Aspects of the environment which has been manipulated by the researcher to have an effect on the DV which is then measured
What is the dependant variable?
Measured by the researcher and has caused a change to the IV
What is operationalisation?
Act of a researcher clearly defining the variables in terms of how they are being measured
What is an extraneous variable?
Any other variable which isn’t the IV that affects the DV and doesn’t vary systematically with the IV
What is a confounding variable?
A variable other than the IV which has an effect on the DV and does change systematically with the IV
E.g. time of day those who do the memory test later in the day may be more tried
What are demand characteristics ?
Any cue the researchers or the research situation may give which makes the ppt feel like they can guess the aim of their investigation
What is the investigator effect?
Any unwanted influence from the researchers behaviour on the DV measured
E.g design of study of selection of ppts
What is randomisation?
The use of chance to reduce the effects of bias from investigators effect
What is standardisation?
Using the exact same formalised procedures and instructions for every single ppts involved in the research process
What is opportunity sampling?
Ppts happen to be available at the time which the study is being carried out so are recruited conveniently
What are strengths of opportunity sample?
Time Saving and less costly
What are weaknesses of opportunity sampling?
-not representative
-researcher bias
What is random sampling?
When all members of a population have the same chance of being selected
Each ppts is assigned a random number and picked from a random number generator
What are strengths of random sampling?
No researcher bias
What are weaknesses of random sampling?
-time consuming
-volunteer bias- ppts can refuse to take part so might end up with an unrepresentative sample
What is systematic sampling?
A predetermined system is used whereby every nth member is selected from the sampling frame this numerical selection is applied consistently
What are strengths of systematic sampling?
Avoids researcher bias and fairly representative
What are weaknesses of systematic sampling?
Not truly unbiased
What is stratified sampling ?
Composition of the sample reflects the varying proportions of people in particular subgroups within the population
Firstly you identify strat then you calculate the required proportion needed for each stratum based on the target population then select sample at random from each stratum using a random selection method
What are the strengths of stratified sampling?
-no researcher bias
-representative data due to the proportional strata
What are weaknesses of stratified sampling?
-time consuming
-identified strata can’t reflect all the differences between the people of the wider population
What is volunteer sampling?
Involves self selections whereby the ppts offers to take part in experiment
What are strengths of volunteer sampling?
Quick access not time consuming
Ppts are more likely to corporate in the study
What are weaknesses of volunteer sampling ?
-volunteer bias-might attract a particular person
-motivations like money could be driving participation so participants may not take study seriously
What is an indepedant group design ?
Ppts only perform in one condition of the IV
What are strengths of indepedant group design?
-no order effects
-demand characteristics are eliminated
What are limitations of indepednat group design?
-no control over ppt variables
-need more ppts to gather the same amount of data
How can you solve no control over ppt variables?
Random allocation each ppts has the same chance of being in one condition of the IV as another
What is repeated measures?
The same ppts take part in all conditions of the IV
What are the strengths of repeated measures?
-eliminates ppt variables
-not as time consuming
What are weaknesses of repeated measures?
Order effect
How can you solve order effects?
Counterbalancing when half of the ppts do conditions in one order and the other do it the opposite order
What is matched pairs?
Pairs of ppts are first matched on some variable that has been found to affect the DV then one member of each paid does one condition and the other does another
What are strengths of matched pairs?
-no order effects
-less demand characteristics
What are limitations of matched pairs?
-time consuming and expensive
-large pool of potential ppts needed
-difficult to know which variables are appropriate for the ppts to be matched
What is a pilot study ?
A small scale version of an investigation which is done before the real investigation is undertaken
What is a single blind procedure?
A research method in which the researchers don’t tell the ppts if they are being given a test treatment or a control treatment
What is a double blind procedure ?
Neither ppt or researcher know who is receiving a particular treatment
What is a naturalistic observation ?
Watching and recording behaviour in the setting where it would normally take place
What are strengths of a naturalistic observation?
-high ecological validity
-high extrernal validity
What are limitations of a naturalistic observations?
-low ecological validity
-replication can be difficult
-uncontrolled confounding and extraneous variables are present
What is a controlled observation ?
Watching and recording behaviour in a structured enviroemtns
What are advantages of a controlled observation?
-researcher is able to focus on a specific aspect of behaviour
-more control over extraneous variables and confounding
-easy replication
What are disadvantages of controlled observations?
-more likely to be observing unnatural behaviour
-low mundane realism so low ecological validity
-demand characteristics present
What are overt observations?
Ppts are watches and their behaviour is being recorded with them knowing they’re being watched
What are strengths of overt observations?
-ethically acceptable as informed consent is given
What are disadvantages of overt observations?
More likely to be recording unnatural behaviour as they know they’re being watched
-demand characteristics likely
What are covert observations?
Ppts are unaware that their behaviour is being watched and recorded
What are the strengths of covert observation?
-natural behaviour high internal validity
-removes participant reactivity where ppts try to make sense of the situation and guess the aim
What are the disadvantages of covert observation?
Ethical issues presented and no informed consent is given
What are ppt observations?
The researcher who is observing is part of the group that is being observed
What are strengths to ppt observation?
More insightful which increases valditity
What are disadvantages of ppt observations?
Ppts might change their behaviour if they know they’re being watched
Researcher may lose objectivity
What are non ppt observations?
Researcher observes from a distance so isn’t part of the group being observed
What are strengths of non ppt observations?
Researcher can be more objective
What are weaknesses of non ppt observations?
Open to observer bias
Researcher may lose some valuable insight
What is observer bias?
When an observers reports are biased by what they expect to see
What is inter observer reliability?
Many researchers conducting the observation study their reports are compared and a score is calculates
What formula is used to calculate inter observer reliability?
Total number of agreements x 100 and any score above 80% is a high inter observer reliability
What are unstructured interviews?
Consists of continuous recording where the researcher writes everything they see during the observations
What are strengths of unstructured interviews?
More richness and depth of detail
What are weaknesses to unstructured interviews?
Produces qualitative data which is more difficult to record and analyse
Greater risk of observer bias
What are structured interviews?
Researcher quantifies what they are observing using predetermined list of behaviours and sampling methods
What are strengths of structured interviews?
Easier as more systematic
Quantitative data east to analyse
Less risk of observer bias
What are weaknesses of structured interviews?
Not much depth of detail
Difficult to achieve high inter observer reliability
What are behavioural categories ?
Target behaviour being broken up into more precise components which are observable and measurable
What is time sampling?
Recording of behaviour within a timeframe that is preestablished before the obersvational study
What is a strength of time sampling?
Reduces the number of observations that has to be made so less time consuming
What are limitations of time sampling?
Unrepresentative of the observation as a whole if you collect small data
What is event sampling?
Involves the counting of the number of times a particular behaviour is carried out by the target group your watching
What are strengths of event sampling ?
Good for infrequent behaviours
What are limitations of event sampling?
Important details of behaviour might be overlooked
Counting errors
Difficult to judge the beginning and ending of a behaviour
What is a correlation?
A mathematical technique that is used to investigate an association between two variables which are called covariables
What is an association?
No cause and effect relationship was found
What do correlation coefficients determine ?
Determines the strength and the relationship between two variables
What is a negative correlation?
When one variable increases the other decreases the
When data is presented on a scattergram the line of best fit has a negative gradient it has a correlation coefficient of less than 0
What is a positive correlation?
When one variable increases the other also increases when the data is presented on a scattergram the line of best fit has a positive gradient it has a correlation coefficient of more than 0
What is a zero correlation?
No relationship is found between the co variables when the data is presented on a scattergram no line of best fit can be drawn as the points are random
What is a curvilinear relationship ?
As one variable increases so does the other but only up to a certain point after which as one variable continues to increase the other begins to decrease on a graph it forms a u curve
E.g. yerkes-Dodson law curve anxiety from memory
What are the strengths of correlations?
-can be used as starting points to assess patterns between co variables before committing to conducting an experimental study
-quick and economical to carry out
-secondary data can be used which makes it less time consuming
What are limitations of correlations?
-difficult to establish a cause and effect relationship
-there’s a chance of a third variable that the researcher is unaware of that is responsible for the relationship between the co variable
-correlations tend to be misused or misinterpreted
