Paper 2: 7. Research Methods Flashcards
What is an aim? (1 mark)
The aim is what the researcher intends to study. (1 mark)
Where can aims come from? (3 marks)
- Researchers interests & prior research
- Other research studies
- From a theory or practical problem.
Describe naturalistic observations.
- Takes place in natural settings.
- Aspects of the environment are NOT interfered with by the researcher.
Evaluate naturalistic observations
✅ - Tend to be high in ecological validity as there’s no intervention and results can be generalised to everyday life.
❌- Extraneous variables that might affect what is being observed.
Describe controlled observations
- Used when it’d useful to control certain aspects of the research.
- There’s some control over variables, including the manipulation of variables to observe effects and the control of any extraneous variables.
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Evaluate controlled observations
✅ - Extraneous variables may be less of a problem so replication of the observation becomes easier.
❌- May not produces findings that cannot be applied to everyday life and the research is not completely natural.
What’s an example of controlled observations?
An example of a controlled observation is Ainsworth’s Strange Situations.
Describe covert observations.
- Participants are not fully aware that they’re being studied. Researchers may use one-way mirrors or examine behaviour from across a room or from a balcony etc..
Evaluate covert observations.
✅- The fact that participants don’t know they’re being observed means there’s no participant research. Behaviour observed will be natural which increases the validity of the data gathered.
❌- Theres ethical issues with observing people without getting their consent first!
Describe participant observations.
- The observer is also a participant in the activity being studied.
- The type of observation can be useful because it provides more insights about behaviour.
Evaluate participant observations.
✅- The researcher gets to experience the situations like that participants do. This gives them a lot of insight into what’s being observed. This increases the validity of the findings.
❌- There’s a risk of the researcher ‘going native’ when the researchers identifies too strongly with the people they’re
studying. They become like a participant and the observation is less objective. (ie researchers joins a gang and they get too involved into gang culture and forget they’re a researcher)
What’s an example of a participant observation?
A non psychology student observing a psychology class and joins in as if they did study Psychology.
Describe non-participant observations.
The researcher does not join in with the activity being observed.
Evaluate non participants observations
✅Thered less chance of the researcher going native and the observation remains objective.
❌Thé observation may not give real insight into the lives of those being studied as the observes removed from the people and the behaviours that are being observed.
Evaluate ouvert observations
✅Less ethical issues as consent has been given
❌Rhe fact people know they’re
being observed might affect their behaviour making the results invalid
What are observations
Observations involve systematically watching and regarding what people say or do in their own environment without manipulating and variables.
Describe ouvert observations
Participants know they’re being observed and have given consent beforehand
What are traits of behavioural catergories?
- Clear and unambigious, shouldn’t require further information.
- Must be observable and measurable as well as being easy to identify in participants.
- Researchers must ensure that all possible forms of the target behaviour are included in the checklist (ie aggressive behaviour - look for shoving other children, hair pulling, kicking objects and children (see how i’ve been specfific)
- Should NOT overlap - (ie smiling and grinning would be difficult to distingiush and should be classed as one behaviour instead)
What is event sampling?
Involves counting the NUMBER OF TIMES a particular behaviour occurs.
What’s an example of event sampling?
The event sampling of disagreement at a football match would involve counting the number of times players argue with the referee.
What is time sampling?
Involves recording behaviour within a TIME FRAME.
What’s an example of time sampling?
A researcher may only be interested in one particular player at a football match. The researcher would then make a note of what the player does every 60 seconds.
Evaluate event sampling.
- Useful when the target behaviour or event happens infrequently and could be missed if time sampling was used.
- If the event’s too complex, the observer may overlook important details.
Evaluate time sampling.
- Reduces the number of observations that have to be made.
- When behaviour is being observed, it might not be representative of the whole observation.
Define structured observations.
Where the researcher designs a type of scheme to record participants behaviour.
These help catergorise behaviour in terms of how often a type of behaviour occurs.
Define unstructured observations.
Involves the researchers recording everything they can see.
This method’s appropriate for small scale investigations. Video recording is ideal for this type of observation.
Define independent variables.
The variable you have control over and manipulate. It’s usually what you think will affect the other variable(s).
What’s an example of an indepedent variable?
Hypothesis: Carrying more bags of sugar makes you run slow.
IV: The number of bags the researcher gives the person to carry.
