PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH METHODS Flashcards
what is an experimental method?
where we manipulate the IV to see the effect on the DV
what is the aim?
purpose of the study
what is the hypotheses?
the relationship between variables being investigated
what is a directional hypotheses?
states the direction between the variables being investigated
what is a non directional hypotheses?
states that there is a difference between variables being investigated, happens when there is no prior research
what is the independent variable?
variable which we change
what is the dependent variable?
variable which we measure
what is operationalisation?
defining variables in terms of how they can be measured
what is an extraneous variable?
variable which affects the DV but doesn’t systematically vary
what is a confounding variable?
variable that affects the DV, but changes systematically
what are demand characteristics?
cues that the research gives which makes them feel like they can guess the aim of the investigation- may want to please the researcher or sabotage the results
what are investigator effects?
unwanted influence from the researcher’s behaviour (conscious or unconscious), that affects the researcher’s results
what is randomisation?
use of chance to reduce the effects of bias from investigator effects
what is standardisation?
using the same formalised procedures and instructions for every participant involved in the research process
what is a laboratory experiment?
environment where variables can be controlled
what is a field experiment?
more natural environment, but variables are still controlled
what is a quasi experiment?
experiment where the independent variable naturally exists eg) gender differences
what is a natural experiment?
independent variable happens even if the researcher hadn’t been there eg) Romanian orphan studies
what is a population?
group of people from whom the sample was drawn
what is opportunity sampling?
participants happen to be available at the time the study was carried out
what is random sampling?
all the members of a population have an equal choice of being selected eg) random number generator
what is systematic sampling?
every nth person is selected
what is stratified sampling?
people in the sample reflect the varying proportions of people in subgroups within the wider population
what is volunteer sampling?
involves self selection
what are independent groups?
participants only take part in one condition of the independent variable, so there are no order effects
what are repeated measures?
same participants take part in all conditions of the independent variable, so they should use counter balancing
what are matched pairs?
participants are matched on a variable, then one member of each pair does the condition
what is a pilot study?
small scale version of an investigation which is done before the real investigation, with the aim to eliminate potential problems
what is a single blind sudy?
researchers do not tell participants if they are being given the test or control treatment
what is a double blind study?
neither the participants or the experimenter know who is receiving the treatment
what is a control group?
base line from which the experimental condition can be compared
what is a naturalistic study?
watch and record the behaviour where it normally takes place
what is a controlled study?
watch and record the behaviour in a structured environment
what is an overt study?
participants know that they are being watched
what is a covert study?
participants do not know that they are being watched
what is a participant study?
researcher who is observing becomes part of the group that they are observing
what is a non participant study?
researcher who is observing is not part of the group that is being observed
what are behavioural categories?
target behaviour is broken up into precise components
what is time sampling?
behaviour is recorded within a pre established time frame
what is event sampling?
count the number of times that a particular behaviour is carried out
what is a correlation?
looks at an association between 2 co-variables
what is calculated to look at a correlation?
correlation co efficent
what are the three types of correlation?
positive/negative/no
what is qualitative data?
words
what is quantitative data?
numbers
what is primary data?
data obtained first hand
what is secondary data?
data collected by someone else
what is a meta analysis?
combines results from many different studies
what is the mean?
total/how many values there are
what is the median?
middle value
what is the mode?
most common value
what is the range?
biggest-smallest value
what is the standard deviation?
difference from the mean
what curve is a normal distribution?
bell shaped
what is a skewed distribution?
spread of data which isn’t symmetrical and clusters towards one end
what is a positive skew?
to the right- mode/median/mean
what is a negative skew?
to the left-
mean/median/mode
what is peer review?
assessing scientific work by an expert in the same field
what are the aims of peer review?
helps allocate funding
checks the relevance and quality of research
can suggest improvements
what are implications for the economy?
implications of psychological research on the country’s economy
what is the economy?
a region’s activity of producing/consuming goods and services
what is a case study?
detailed study into the life of a person
looks at the past and present behaviour of an individual
what type of data does a case study use?
qualitative data
what is content analysis?
studying human behaviour indirectly by looking at what people produce
what are the stages of content analysis?
identify a hypotheses
create a coding system
conduct content analysis
analyse the data
what is nominal data?
data in the form of categories
what is ordinal data?
ranked data
what is interval data?
numerical scales
what are the features of a scientific report?
abstract introduction method results discussion referencing
what is an abstract?
key details of the report
what is an introduction?
information based on past research
what is a method?
description of how the study was conducted
what are the results?
all the findings from the study
what is the discussion?
consider what the findings mean, and how they can be applied
what is referencing?
listing the sources of the study
how do you reference?
authors date title of book in italics place of publication publisher
what are the stages of the sign test?
state the hypotheses
record the data and work out the sign
find the calculated value of S= number of times the less frequent sign occurs
find the critical value at the 5% level
S is less than/equal= significant
what is the rhyme to remember the stats table?
carrots should come mashed with swede under roast potatoes
when is a chi square test used?
nominal data test of difference unrelated OR nominal data test of association
when is a sign test used?
nominal data
test of difference
related
when is a mann-whitney test used?
test of difference
unrelated
ordinal data
when is a wilcoxon test used?
test of difference
related
ordinal
when is a Spearman’s rho test used?
test of association
ordinal data
when is a related t test used?
test of difference
related
interval data
when is an unrelated t test used?
test of difference
unrelated
interval data
when is a pearson’s R test used?
test of association
interval data
what are related designs?
repeated measures
matched pairs
what are unrelated designs?
independent groups
what is significance?
whether we are sure that a correlation exists or not
what is probability?
how likely it is for an event to happen
what is a Type 1 error?
incorrectly reject a null hypotheses (false positive)
what is a Type 2 error?
don’t reject a false null hypotheses (false negative)
when is a Type 1 error more likely to occur?
if the significance level is too high
when is a Type 2 error more likely to occur?
if the significance level is too low
what is a paradigm?
set of shared assumptions
what is a paradigm shift?
change in assumptions in a scientific discipline
what is a theory?
set of general principles/laws
what is falsifiability?
theory cannot be considered scientific unless it can be proven untrue
what is replicability?
whether a scientific method can be repeated
what is objectivity?
removing bias from research
what is the emperical method?
evidence is collected through direct observation and experience
what is informed consent?
participants must be told the purpose of the investigation
what are the three types of informed consent?
prior general
retrospective
presumptive
what is deception?
deliberately witholding information from participants, so they should be debriefed after
what is protection from harm?
participants should not be harmed any more than they would in real life, should be debriefed after
what is privacy?
participants control how much information how much information is revealed about themselves
what is confidentiality?
the right participants have to protect their personal data
what are the two methods of self report?
questionnaires
interviews
what are the three types of scale for self report?
likert scale
rating scale
fixed choice scale
what are the three types of interview?
structured
unstructured
semi structured
what are the two types of question?
open questions
closed questions
what is reliability?
how consistent findings are
how can reliability be improved in questionnaires?
replace open with closed questions
how can reliability be improved in interviews?
do not ask leading/ambiguous questions,
how can reliability be improved in observations?
make behavioural categories
how can reliability be improved in experiments?
control the procedure
what is validity?
whether findings are legitimate or not
what is internal validity?
whether the outcome is due to the manipulation of the IV or not
what is external validity?
whether findings can be generalised
what is ecological validity?
whether findings can be generalised to real life
what is temporal validity?
whether findings can be generalised over time
what is population validity?
whether findings can be generalised across a population
what is face validity?
whether a measure measures what it is supposed to
what is concurrent validity?
extent to which a psychological measure compares to an existing measure
what is predictive validity?
how well a test can predict future events/behaviours
how can validity be improved in experimental research?
use a control group
how can validity be improved in questionnaires?
incorporate a lie scale to reduce social desirability bias
how can validity be improved in observations?
use covert observations
