Psych RM yr1 Flashcards
What is an aim?
An aim is a general statement that describes the purpose of the study.
What is a hypothesis?
A hypothesis describes the relationship between the variables in the study.
What is the difference between an aim and a hypothesis?
An aim is a general statement describing the purpose of the study, while a hypothesis describes the relationship between the variables.
What is a directional hypothesis and when are these chosen?
A directional hypothesis states the difference that there will be between the two groups and what the difference is.
It is chosen when there has been some previous research/findings done on the same topic or study.
What is a non-directional hypothesis and when do we use it?
A non-directional hypothesis states that there will be a difference but does not specify what that difference will be.
It is used when there is no previous research or when the findings of previous research are contradictory.
What is participant reactivity and when does it arise?
Participant reactivity arises in an experiment when participants are trying to find the aim of the study and act as demand characteristics to the study.
What is randomization?
Randomization minimizes the effects of extraneous variables (EV) or confounding variables (CV) on the outcome by using chance methods to reduce bias.
What is a limitation of using independent groups design?
A limitation is that participants aren’t matched on participant variables, so the difference the researcher finds could be due to participant variables rather than the effect of the independent variable (IV) on the dependent variable (DV), acting as a confounding variable (CV) which reduces the validity of findings.
Why is standardization of a study important?
Standardization is important to prevent the effects of extraneous variables (EV) which could affect the DV, thus affecting the validity of the study, and to prevent any bias towards the participants, such as investigator effects that can affect the outcome of the study.
How is the problem of standardization solved?
Through random allocation.
What is another limitation of using independent groups design?
Many participants need to be used to generate results, which can increase time and money spent on recruiting participants.
What is one strength of independent groups design?
It is less likely to have order effects and participants are less likely to guess the aim of the study.
What is a limitation of repeated measures design and how is it resolved?
Limitations include boredom or order effects, which could act as a confounding variable affecting performance, and there is also a rise of demand characteristics.
What is a strength of using repeated measures design?
High validity because participant variables (PV) are controlled and fewer participants are needed, so less time and money are spent.
What is a strength of using lab experiments?
Due to highly controlled variables, we can be sure that any effect on the DV is due to manipulation of the IV, and all EV and CV are controlled, leading to high external validity.
What are limitations of lab experiments?
They lack generalizability because they are not like everyday life, leading to low external validity, and there is a chance of participants responding to demand characteristics.
What is one strength of a field experiment?
High mundane realism because the environment is more natural.
What is one limitation of field experiments?
Loss of control over CV and EV makes it difficult to establish the DV/IV relationship, and replication isn’t possible.
What is one strength of natural experiments?
They provide opportunities for research and often have high external validity because they can reflect real-world issues.
What are limitations of natural experiments?
They lack generalizability and we are less sure of the effect on the DV from the IV because participants aren’t randomly allocated (if independent groups design is used).
What is a strength of quasi experiments?
They can be replicated because they are often carried out under controlled conditions.
What are limitations of quasi experiments?
Confounding variables (CV) appear because there is no random allocation of participants.
Define ethical issues and when do they arise?
Ethical issues arise from conflicts between participant rights and researcher aims to obtain valuable findings that can have implications for the safety and well-being of participants.
What does informed consent aim to do?
Informed consent aims to make participants aware of the aims of the study, the procedure, and what their data will be used for.
What does deception involve?
Deception involves deliberately withholding or hiding important information from participants.
What is protection from harm?
Protection from harm involves not giving participants more stress than the usual daily amount they would typically go through.
What is privacy?
Privacy is the right to control the information about oneself.
What is confidentiality?
Confidentiality involves keeping personal data protected if their privacy has been lost.
What is the role of the BPS and what approach is used?
The British Psychological Society (BPS) has created a code of ethics that sets ethical guidelines, which are then implemented by ethics committees in research that apply a cost-benefit approach.
How are participants dealt with regarding deception?
Participants should be given a debrief, which states the aims and details of the research study that they weren’t told, and they should have the choice for withdrawal of data, especially when retrospective consent is a feature of the study.
How should participants be dealt with regarding protection from harm?
Counseling should be provided if needed.
How are participants dealt with regarding confidentiality?
Maintaining anonymity of participants should be key, and participants should be reminded that their data is kept protected during the entire study.
what are the 3 issues in recording data in obersvatiobal design?
ways of recording data, behaviural categories, sampling methods
what is an unstructured observation?
when a researcher record everything they see
when may this be apropriate and and desribe what type of data it gives?
gives data that is rich in detail / apropriate when it is small scale and there are only small amount of partipinats.
What i a strcutured obersvation ?
an obsveration in which behaviural categories are used to simplify breakdwon the behavouris that are only NEED to be recorded
what are behaviural catergorie and why are they important?
breakdwon target behaviuor that needs to be identified , to be obsverable and measurable . so that no infereneces are meade because this may mean that different observers may interpret behaviorus differently and could overlap (less reliaabilty)
what are the two sampling methods?
event sampling time sampling
what does event sampling involve?
counting number of time a particular behaviour/event occurs
what does time sampling involve?
recording behaviour established in certain tike period/frame such as how often ‘kicking occurs’ every 30 seconds
what are strengths of using structured obersvations?
recording of data is more easir and systematic - so more likely to be quantitative
what is a limitation of using unstrucured obervsation design?
produce more qualitative data which is often harder to analyse and quantiate into a table/record
what is a positive but also limitation of using unstructured obervational design?
richness and detail depth info , but mainly because this info is open to obsever bias because objective behavioural cetgories arent used here so only record what is important to them
what are two consideration that need to be made when using BHC?
shouldnt overlap and that they should no require any further interpretation of the behaviour (such as embrassmenet as blshing because it may mean their embrassed or shy)
what are two self report techniques?
questionares and and interviews
why may a researcher use questionares?
to asses thoughts /feeelings, can be used to assess the DV (such as thoughts on whether a new drug should be used in older or younger community)
what type of data do open questions usually create?
qualitative data that is descirptive has more detal and depth but can be difficult to analyse
what type of data do closed questions egenerate?
quantiative data sich as having number scale of yes and no
what are 3 strengths of using questionares?
- cost effectuve as they can be distrubted quicly and large amount of data can be gathered quickly
- can be completed without the researcher being present, so less effort involved
-usually starightforward and easy to analyse so comparisons can be made between the groups
what are limitations of using questionares?
- resposnes given may not always be truthful as they maybe open to socail desirability bias,so only answer in a way that makes them see positive/good
- or because of the researcher not being present they misundertand the quition so not answer accurately -acquiscience bias
what is a stregnth for structurd interviews
straightforward and easy to replicate becaseu each of the partpinat answer a set amount/starndarised set of questions
what is one strength of using unstructured interviwes?
more rich in detail and gives more insight to the researcher o tops as they can develop and elaborate on the topic
what does overuse of jargon mean?
the use of technical terms that are only familiar to those specialised within that field (so it would make the question more confusing)
what are 2 limitation of usiang unstructured interveiws?
interviwer bias- so researchers own opinions or views on an subject influence on the topic
social desiarablity bias may also arise, and data to analyse is not always easy/ hard to draw cocnlusions
what are the 3 ways a questionare can be designed?
likert scales, rating scalesand fixed choice options
what are 2 imporant key things when conducting an interview?
standarised strcipt of questions should be followed to reduce interviewer bias
some other neutral questions can be asked at start of interview to nake the feel relaxed
should be reminded that ther answer will remain strictly confidential
what should a resaercher make sure that their questions dont have?
oversuse of jargon, emotive language/leading questions, double barrel
what does it mean when questions are leading?
when the questions leand towards a scertain answerm such as saying when do you think you last drove over the speed limit, insinuating that they have broken the speed limit!
what does double barrel mean?
when two quetions/statments are given in one
Describe the difference between a correlation and an experiment
in an expereiment the Iv is controlled or manipulated to see the measure the effect on the DV
But in correlation there is no manipulation of a variable, so its possible to establish a cause and effect relationship
(so if caffeine makes my hair grow faster it might not be just because of caffeine because we haven’t changed it/manipulated it, so bot sure if it has caused it or not)
What is a strength of correlations?
good tool for research because they give a precise measure of how two variables can be related, so can predict a relationship between two things.
quick and economical to carry out so less time consuming
what are 2 limitations of corrletaions?
can show how variables are relates like negative correlation or positive , because they establish cause and effect
another maybe causing the relatioship between the two cor variablrs, kbiwn as the interveining variable
what is a strength of using mean as a meausre of central tendency?
becasue all scores are totaled and added up together its more representative as a whole
what is a limiattion of using MEAN?
the mean can be changed whihc may not then represent the data at all
what is one strength of using median?
extreme scores do not affect it , the median will remain the same, is easier to calcultae once numbers are in order
what is a limitation of using median?
less repsentatve because the higher and lower numbers are ignored
when should it be used? MODE
can be useful for when using categoreis to tell whcih category is the most selected one
what are 2 strengths of using range as a measure of dispersion?
easy to calculate and account for a margin of error because +1 is added when the big and small number are taken away from eachother
what is a limitation of using range?
not representative because it it only takes into account the most extreme values
when are bar charts used, describe the type of data?
used when data is discrete and has categories
when are histograms used and what shows that the data is continous?
when the bars toucheach other and used when there if frequency more than 2 types of categories such as percentage scores in a maths test
what is a skewed distribution?
is when distributation or data leans to one side, left or right
what does it mean if data on a graph is positvely skewed?
means most of the data is conrtibuted towards the left side of the graph resulting in a long tail towards the right
what does a negatively skewed graph look like and what does it mean?
on y axis you have frequency and in a negativly skewed graph the data goes towards the right, AWAY FROM THE FREQEUNCY SO THE FREQEUCY BETWEEN SAME SCORES ARE GETTING LESS
why is the concept of significance important?
find out if difference is due to chance or not
What is peer review?
assessment of scientific work by othere who are experienced within the same field, to find if it is high quality enough to publish
What are the 3 main aims of peer review?
allocate research funding, validate quality of research ad suggest ammendments or improvemnets
what takes place in peer funding?
independant peer evaluation takes place to decided whether or not to award funding for propesed research project
what happens to the reseasrc/study to validat the quality of it?
all elements of research checked for quality and accuracy such as formulation of hypotheisis, emthodolgy, and conclusion drawn and which statistical tests chosen
what 3 problems can arise with peer review?
anonymity
publication bias
and burying groundbreaking research
exaplaing how anonimty is imporant in peer review?
it is important that the peer doing the review are anonymous to produce an honest review. because if the researcher or peer know the researcher this can either produce bias or critisice rival researchers to getare in competition for limited research funding
explain publciation bias, what is it in peer review?
many publishers only want to publish research that is ‘attractive’ to make their crediblit more higher, so only publish the positive results (file drawer problem)
what does burying gorund breaking research do in relation to peer review?
may supress opposition to mainstream theories, wishing to remain withing the status of scienctific fileds
this means that reviewers will be highly critical of their own view and are more favourable to that which matches it
what does this mean then?
it means that estabalished scientists are chosen as reviewers , so that the findings go with the current opinion and are more likely to be passed than new and innovative research that challenges the estabalished order
so it can slow down on the rate of change within a scientific principle
which two peices of research has affected the UK economy positvely?
during Bowlby work it was shown that a mother can only form the monotropic bond with heir mother and it was only her responsibilty to take care of the child and stay at home, but now more recent research into attachment and role of the father such as ——- which sows the father is equally capable and valaubale as mother of forming bnd with the child and postvtly impacting the childs emotional development and healthy physiological development—which means that both parents can now be more flexible and work beenftiing the economy
how is treatmeant for mental disorders postively imoact ecomony?
Many people may take time off work for depression anxiety or stress. Therefore teatmest to disorder htorugh psychotherpuetic drugs such as SSRI for OCD and antianxiety drugs fro anxiety . this means that they dont have to stay in hospital and the drug can be admineterted at/fromhome which they can also take at work
