Paper 3 Essential Understandings Flashcards
What is a case study?
It is a detailed analysis over time of an area of interest (a case) to produce context dependent knowledge. A case study should also be an in-depth study of an individual.
What is a naturalistic observation?
These are observations of natural occurring behaviour in a natural setting. Field notes are an important part of the data. Observations may be participant or non-participant observations (overt and covert).
What are the different types of interviews?
Unstructured, seem-structured, and focus group interviews.
What are the features of an experiment?
It has an independent and dependent variable. All other factors that could affect the DV are controlled as far as possible.
What is a field experiment?
The researcher manipulates the IV but conducts the experiment in a real-life environment. Therefore, extraneous variable cannot be controlled.
What is a quasi-experiment?
Participants are grouped based on a characteristic of interest, such as gender, ethnicity, or scores on a depression scale.
What is a natural experiment?
Where researcher’s find naturally occurring variables and study them.
What is correlations research?
Focuses on two variables but are not termed independent and dependent variables as the hypothesis is not based on a potential cause and effect, instead they are referred to as co-variables.
What does a matched pair design involve?
Randomly assigning one of a pair to either the control or the experiment group. Researchers may match individuals on specific characteristics, such as ethnicity or age. E.g. twin studies.
What does an independent samples/ measures design involve?
Uses two separate groups of participants.
What does a repeated measures design involve?
Exposes participants to each condition making up the IV.
What is the IV?
The factor that the experimenter manipulates.
What is the DV?
The measurement generated by the manipulation of the IV.
What is random sampling?
The process where every member in the target population has an equal chance of being selected.
What is convenience/ opportunity sampling?
The process of selecting people who are able to participate in the study at a given time.
What is volunteering sampling?
When individuals choose to participate in the study.
What is purposive sampling?
When participants are chosen because they possess characteristic salient to the research study.
What is snowball sampling?
When participants who are already in a study help the research to recruit more participants through their social network.
What is reliability?
It is the consistency of a study in terms of the extent to which a test or measure produces the same results in repeated trials.
What is validity?
It is the degrees to which the results accurately reflect what the research is measuring.
What is external validity?
It is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalised or transferred to another sample or context.
What is internal validity?
It refers to the rigour of the study and the extent to which the researcher took alternative explanations into account.
What is credibility?
It is used in qualitative research to indicate whether or not the findings of the study are congruent with the participants perceptions and experiences.
What is researcher bias?
It is when the researcher acts different towards participants, which may influence or alter the participants behaviour.
What must a researcher do in qualitative research to avoid researcher bias?
They must assess personal biases in relation to the study and should apply reflexivity to control for this.
What is participant bias/ a demand characteristic?
It is when participants act according to how the research may want them to act. E.g. social desirability effect.
What is sampling bias?
It is when the sample is not representative of the target population.
