part 2 Flashcards
what are the conventions for reporting psychological investigations?
abstract introduction method results discussion references
what is an abstract?
a summary covering all main headings
normally about 150 words
important because the reader can see all of the study at a glance
what is an introduction?
a review of previous research leading to a rationale for why the researchers intended to conduct their particular study
at the end predictions may be stated and/or a hypothesis
what is included in the method section?
design: justification of methods and ethical considerations
participants: the population (including sampling)
materials: what was used
procedure: exactly how the study was carried out
what is included in the results section?
what the researcher found, including descriptive and inferential statistics
what is included in the discussion section?
the researchers offer explanations of the behaviours they observed and may also consider implications of the results and suggestions for future research
what is included in a reference?
the full details of any journal articles or books they have mentioned
e.g.
Bandura, A. (1986)
Title in italics, place of publication
publishers name
what are measures of central tendency?
mean
median
mode
what are descriptive statistics?
measures of central tendency measures of dispersion percentages graphs tables
what is included in a peer review?
purpose
process
pitfalls
what is the purpose of peer review?
to ensure research conducted and published is of high quality (quality assurance)
what is the process of a peer review?
researcher sends their report to the editor of the journal, who sends the report out to 3 psychologists (referees) who are considered experts in the area
referees analyse and comment on whether the editor should include it in the publication
referees are unaware of the researchers identities to prevent bias but it is possible to guess
what are the pitfalls of a peer review?
reports don’t tend to get published if they don’t support a hypothesis. this can be called the ‘file-drawer’ problem, as if your results are not significant, then researchers keep them in their filing cabinet and never get written up for publication
Popper says this is unfortunate as they never have the chance to be falsified
issue of bias as certain institutions have more chance of getting published such as a university
referees volunteer to be involved and it looks good on their CV
why is it important to get published in a peer-reviewer journal?
articles published in a peer reviewed journal are of greater merit than those that aren’t
research will only be published if it makes an important contribution to the scientific field and the research has been methodologically and ethically sound
what are the issues with peer review?
the validity of a study may still get past peer reviewers
what is content analysis?
used to help convert qualitative media into quantitative data
e.g. tallying down every time something is mentioned in a transcript
what is thematic analysis?
analysing the data using the same procedure of content analysis but presenting it as qualitative data
how to carry out content analysis?
data is collected
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researcher examines the transcribed data to familiarise themselves with it
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the researcher identifies coding units
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data is analysed by applying coding units
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tally is made of each time a coding unit
appearswhat is an example of a coding unit?
for each time a serial killer mentions their mother as a reason for their behaviour could be coded as ‘M’
how do you check the reliability of content analysis?
use inter-rater reliability
both researchers use the same coding units and carry out co tent analysis independently
what is the process of thematic analysis?
reading a transcript and identifying key themes and giving each a short-hand code (still using a coding system) e.g. if a theme is mother as a reason for behaviour, the code could be ‘mum’
the read through the transcript again and give each code a colour and highlight each time you see it
then write a report, using each theme you identified as a subheading in a written report, explaining why each factor was important
use quotes to support what you say
what are the strengths of content analysis?
objective as it uses operationalised coding units
can check reliability
quantitative so way to analyse
what are the weaknesses of content analysis?
lack detail
coding units chosen by researcher so room for potential bias
what are the weaknesses of content analysis?
lacks detail
coding units chosen by researcher so room for potential bias
what are the strengths of thematic analysis?
qualitative so more in depth
what are the weaknesses of thematic analysis?
relies on interpretation from researcher so potentially bias
can’t carry out inter-rater reliability
what is the advantage of using the mean?
most powerful as it takes into account all scores
what is the disadvantage of using the mean?
can be distorted by outliers
what is the strength of using the median?
unaffected by outliers
what is the weakness of using the median?
only takes into account the middle number(s)
what is the strength of using the mode?
unaffected by outliers
what is the weakness of using the mode?
unrepresentative as it can be affected by the change in one score
what are the measures of dispersion?
range
standard deviation
what is the strength of using the range?
quick to calculate
what are weaknesses of using the range?
does not provide any idea of distribution of values
does not take all data into account
seriously affected by outliers
what is standard deviation?
measure of variability of the mean
large s.d = there was much variation around the mean
small s.d = data was closely clustered around the mean
zero = all data values were the same
where is the mode on a distribution graph?
always tallest
where is median on distribution graphs?
always in the middle
what is mean on distribution graphs?
always shortest
if the mean is smaller than the median, where on the distribution graph does it go?
left
if the mean is bigger than the median, where on the distribution graph does it go?
right
what is nominal data?
when data falls into separate categories
each piece of data falls into one category
eg smokers and non smokers
what is ordinal data?
the data is ordered in some way
also includes attitude scales
eg ordering people in terms of height
what is interval data?
data is measured using units of equal intervals such as minutes, seconds, inches, centimetres etc
eg measure everyone’s height so you know the difference between them
in probability, what does 0 or 1 represent?
0 = no influence of chance 1 = complete influence of chance
what does p<0.1 mean?
10% chance of results being a fluke
what level of significance do psychologists use?
p<0.05 regarded as the minimum level of significance for regarding results as significant
when would a 1% significance level be used?
medical tests
what is a type 1 error?
when you accept the alternative hypothesis but results aware actually a fluke (false positive)
when is a type 1 error most likely to occur?
when p<0.1 is used
what is a type 2 error?
when you accept the null hypothesis but results were actually affected by the IV (false negative)
when is a type 2 error most likely to occur?
when p<0.01 is used
what does carrots should come mashed with swede under roast potatoes mean?
chi2 sign chi2 mann whitney wilcoxon spearman’s rho unrelated t test related t test pearsons r
what does concurrent validity mean?
when we create a new test, we get participants to complete the new one and a well-established one to see if results are similar
what does face validity mean?
when looking at first glance at how they’re measuring the concept, does it look valid?
what does ecological validity mean?
does this apply outside of the study?
what does temporal (historical) validity mean?
do the findings from previous research hold over time?
what does population validity mean?
how far the study can be applied outside of the study to other groups
what is the procedure of a sign test?
record both conditions in a table numerically
write the difference in scores in the difference column
in the end column write ‘+’ for an increase, and ‘-‘ for a decrease, and cross out scores that do not change
count the +’s and -‘s and the LOWEST value is your calculated statistic/value, represented as S=_______
to be significant, what must the value of S be in proportion to the critical value
less than or equal to
