PS125 Research and Statistical Methods

Question 1

Stages of the scientific method in psychology

Answer 1

Stages of the scientific method in psychology = Question, Hypothesis, Prediction, Experiment, Analysis, Interpretation

Question 2

What are the key concepts of the scientific method in psychology?

Answer 2

Key concepts of the scientific method in psychology:
Flasifiability
Null Hypothesis
“Testing to destruction”
Reliability
Validity

Question 3

Testing reliability in psychological research

Answer 3

Testing reliability in psychological research:
Test-Retest
Inter-Rater
Internal Consistency
Parallel Forms

Question 4

Types of validity in psychological research

Answer 4

Types of validity in psychological research:
Face
Construct
Concurrent
Predictive

Question 5

What are the principles of scientific research?

Answer 5

Principles of scientific research:
Beyond observation and intuition
Generalisation
Testable, falsifiable hypotheses
Replicability

Question 6

What are the main principles in ethical research as outlined by the BPS?

Answer 6

Ethical Research:
Informed Consent
Privacy
Confidentiality
Empathy
Competence
Responsibility
Integrity

Question 7

Quantitative methods in psychological research

Answer 7

Quantitative methods in psychological research:
Numerical Data
Questionnaires + Scales
Experimental Method

Question 8

Qualitative Methods in psychological research

Answer 8

Qualitative Methods in psychological research:
Lived Experience
Detailed Observation
In-depth Interviews

Question 9

Ways of which scientific research is communicated

Answer 9

Ways of which scientific research is communicated:
Research Reports
Journal articles
Peer Review

Question 9

Statistical Method definition

Answer 9

Statistical Methods = the collection, presentation, analysis and interpretation of data

Question 9

Inferential statistics in psychological scientific research

Answer 9

Inferential statistics = makes generalisations about a population by studying a sample
-Can draw inferences about parameters from statistics

Question 10

What are parameters?

Answer 10

Parameter = descriptive measure of a population

Question 11

What are statistics?

Answer 11

Statistic = descriptive measure of a sample

Question 12

A good hypothesis should…

Answer 12

A good hypothesis should:
-be stated in a declarative form
-place a relationship between variables
-reflect a theory in which they are based
-be brief
-be testable

Question 13

What are the different research hypotheses?

Answer 13

Research Hypotheses:
-State a difference or inequality in relationships
-State a difference or inequality across groups

Question 14

Differentiate non-directional and directional hypotheses

Answer 14

-Non-directional = no previous research, two-tailed tests
-Directional = previous research, one-tailed tests

Question 15

Define a null hypothesis

Answer 15

Null hypothesis = states there are no relationship or difference between variables
-> Variables are equal or unrelated
-> Precise and well defined
-> Can be compared to to determine if its due to chance or not

Question 16

Null hypothesis testing

Answer 16

Null hypothesis testing;
-> Either rejected or accepted
-> Accepting a null hypothesis can be done via confidence intervals or bayesian hypothesis tests

Question 17

What is probably in scientific psychological research?

Answer 17

Probability = the degree of confidence we havein stating that a particular outcome may not have occured due to chance alone
Measured between 0 and 1

Question 18

Calculating probability

Answer 18

Probability corresponds to relative frequency
Relative frequency = frequency / N
High probability = 0.5 (5/100)

Question 19

Probability-continuous events

Answer 19

Probability-continuous events are unrepeatable and therefore cannot define probability
This contrasts probability-discrete events where probability can determined between 0-1

Question 20

What is face validity?

Answer 20

Face validity = does the study look like it’s measuring what the researcher is intending to find?

Question 21

What is construct validity?

Answer 21

Construct validity = construct validity is important in establishing the overall validity of a method - this type of validity is especially important when what’s being researched can’t be measured/observed directly

Question 22

What is concurrent validity?

Answer 22

Concurrent validity = how well the result of a test correlates with the results of a different established test

Question 23

What is predictive validity?

Answer 23

Predictive validity is the measure of how well a test can accurately predict future outcomes based on the psychological construct it measures

Question 24

What is test-retest reliability?

Answer 24

Test-retest reliability is when the same test is given to the researchers on two seperate occasions, thus allowing correlation between results

Question 25

What is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 25

Inter-rater reliability = two seperate researchers conduct the same research on seperate occasions - these results are then correlated

Question 26

What is internal consistency (reliability)?

Answer 26

Internal consistency = measures the correlation between two different versions of a test that are designed to measure the same thing

Question 27

What is parallel forms (reliability)?

Answer 27

Parallel forms measures the correlation between multiple items in a test that are intended to measure the same thing

Question 28

What is reliability?

Answer 28

Reliability refers to the degree of consistency. It is measured via a correlation coefficient, such as Pearson’s R. Different types include test-retest, inter-rater, parallel forms, internal consistency

Question 29

Differentiate internal reliability and external reliability.

Answer 29

Internal reliability = how consistently different items within a test measure the same concept
External reliability = how consistently a test produces similar results over repeated administrations or different conditions

Question 30

What is internal consistency reliability?

Answer 30

Internal consistency = degree to which different test items (that measure the same concept) yield similar results -> measured via Cronbach’s alpha or Split-Half method (quantifies internal consistency reliability between 0-1)

Question 31

What is data?

Answer 31

Data is;
-Information in numeric form
-Can represent anything
-Allows mathematical and statistical analysis
-Meaningless without labels and context

Question 32

Continuous vs Categorical data

Answer 32

Numeric scale of which is being measured = continuous (ordinal, interval) (statistical analysis)
Fixed units = categorical (nominal) (histograms, bar charts etc)

Question 33

Basic method of collecting data

Answer 33

-Procedure eg questionnaire
-Is there a relationship between the variables being measured?
-Differences between groups? (use of a control group)
-Assessment of the participant pre and post the dependant variable (eg mood before dance, mood after dance) -> difference?

Question 34

What are the sections that make up a research report?

Answer 34

Sections making up a research report;
Title, abstract, intro, method, results, discussion, references

Question 35

How science is communicated in psychology

Answer 35

Communicating science; peer reviewed scientific journal articles, formulaic, fully explained, replicable, peer review process, student research reports

Question 36

Describe the title and abstract sections of a research paper;

Answer 36

Describe the title and abstract sections of a research paper;
-Brief summary of report (<150 words)
-Intro, background, and research Q
-Basic method and experimental design
-Brief results and take-home message

Question 37

Description of the introduction to a research paper

Answer 37

Research intro;
-Gives specific context and justification for study
-Start by situating the research area with citation
-Explain what research tells us and what it doesn’t tell us

Question 38

What to include in the method section of a research paper?

Answer 38

Method;
-How many participants?
-Who are the participants?
-Where are the participants from - how they were recruited and pay

Question 39

What is included within the design section of a research paper?

Answer 39

Design;
-Describes structure of the research, including the variables, conditions and counterbalancing
-Meaningful labels
-Indicate what you’re looking for - correlation, difference, etc?

Question 40

Stimuli / Measure / Apparatus in research paper

Answer 40

-What did you use?
-Stimuli - recorded sounds, images, spoken or written words
-Relevant characteristics?
-Measures - questionnaires, tests etc
-Apparatus
-Inlcude word lists, images, etc in appendices

Question 41

Procedure section of a research paper

Answer 41

Procedure;
-Chronological order, clear, consice
-Consider participants viewpoint
-Dont repeat other sections; refer to them
-Explain any relevant differences between conditions
-Brief instructions may be quoted

Question 42

Results section of a research paper

Answer 42

Results;
-Focus on data, not previous studies
-Give facts -> save interpretation for later in the report
-Appropiate analysis
-Descriptive and inferential statistics

Question 43

Discussion section of a research paper

Answer 43

Discussion;
-Mirrors intro
-Start with summary of key effects
-Answer to the question intended to adress
-How findings relate to previous work?
-Potential next questions?
-Be critical, analytical, original and thoughtful

Question 44

References section of a research paper

Answer 44

References;
-APA 7 format
-Every article, book or chapter discussed in the report should appear in references section
-Only sources cites
-Citations should be in correct format
-References listed in alphabetical order by first author

Question 45

What is descriptive statistics?

Answer 45

Descriptive statistics = techniques for summarising, classifying and describing various aspects of numerical data

Question 46

What are frequency distributions and some examples?

Answer 46

Frequency distribution represent the number of occurences of each value in a data set - this includes bar charts and histograms

Question 47

What are the three ways of describing distribution?

Answer 47

-Skewness (deviation from symmetry - same shape on both sides of centre)
-Modality (number of major peaks in a distribution - unimodal or bimodal)
-Kurtosis (measured tailedness - light of heavy)

Question 48

What are the various measures of central tendency?

Answer 48

Measures of central tendency = numerical values referring to the centre of a distribution
-Mode, median, mean
-Provide information about the location of a distribution
-Affected by outliers/extreme values

Question 49

Mode value

Answer 49

-Value that occurs most often
-Applicable to categorical and continuous data
-If 2 adjacent scores have same highest frequency: report the average of these values as mode
-Bimodial = dont report mode as a measure of central tendency
-May not represent central tendency at all

Question 50

Median Value

Answer 50

-Point at which 50% values fall when arranged in numerical order
-If sequence is odd; median is score of individual number (N+1)2

Question 51

Mean value

Answer 51

-Average (sum of scores/number of scores)
-Basis for inferential statistics

Question 52

What are the measures of variability?

Answer 52

-How scores are different fro one another
-Range (distance between lowest and highest score in a sample - sensitive to outliers)
-Interquartile range (discards lowest 25% and highest 25%)

Question 53

Standard Deviation

Answer 53

Standard deviation = how spread out the data is around the mean
-Average distance or deviation
-Easier to interpret than variance
Large SD = data more spread out, high variability
Small SD = data less spread out, low variability