Psychology-research methods Flashcards
what are the different types of research methods?
Observation, interview, questionnaire, correlation, content analysis, laboratory, quasi, field, natural.
what can the different methods of research be categorized as
ie cause and effect or not?
experimental methods(cause and effect) and non experimental methods(not cause and effect).
what is an open questionnaire and what can it do?
a questionnaire that that allows you to answer in an expansive way. enables rich data, might need content analysis
what is a closed questionnaire and what can it do?
a questionnaire that only has one word answers like yes and no. Allows easy analysis but limits detail.
what’s bad about experimental methods?
low ecological validity
ecological validity
how easily findings can be generalised
what are the 5 things that make an experiment ethical
informed consent, right to withdraw, protection of harm, confidentiality and whether they are deceiving
what is an issue with the publication of research by the industry?
The questions might be phrased in a way that promotes a certain answer. Particularly by companies that are trying to assure their product is safe.
What is an extraneous variable?
something that is uncontrollable
what is an example of an extraneous variable
distractions or how alert the people are
what makes a true experiment?
whether there is manipulation of IV, randomised allocation to groups, control over other variables
what are the 4 types of experimental methods?
laboratory, quasi, field and natural
what makes a laboratory experiment?
artificial setting, standardised procedure, high level of control over other variables and participants are aware of being in the study.
what makes a field experiment?
natural setting, participants aren’t aware of being studied, less control over other variables
what makes a natural experiment ?
does not directly manipulate IV, (mainly because it is unethical to do this normally), done in natural setting.
what makes a quasi experiment
IV is naturally occurring there is already a difference in characteristics of participants, no randomised allocation of groups
What are demand characteristics?
cues that leads participants to guess the aim of the study and therefore change their behaviour
what are investigator affect?
something about an investigator that has an impact on the participants behaviour
what are the types of experimental design?
independent group design, repeated measures design, matched pairs design.
what is independent group design?
two or more large separate groups of participants are randomly allocated to either conditions
what is the repeated measures design?
each participant takes part in each condition which means they act as their own control
what are the matched pairs design?
each participant is matched as equally as possible to another participant based on a specific criteria
what are order effects?
the participants performance once they have completed the second condition may be affected because they are more practised at it
what are participant variables?
each participant will vary slightly therefore there might be knock-on consequences on the results
what is inter-rater reliability?
more than one observers that have the same findings
what are the types of design of observations?
structured and unstructured
what are the different techniques for observations?
naturalistic or controlled, overt or covert and participant or nonparticipant.
what does overt and covert mean?
covert- the participants are unaware of being observed. Overt- participants know they are being observed.
what are the types of sampling for observational studies.
time sampling and event sampling.
what is the difference between time and event sampling
time- how much in a certain time frame. event- every time something happens
summarize the observational study by Rosenhan(1973)
eight pseudo patients gained access to go to hospitals and pretend that they were mentally ill and could hear voices, once they were in they acted completely fine and observed how they and others were treated
what is correlation?
refers to studies where both variables are measured instead of manipulating one and measuring the other
what is a positive correlation?
the two variables increase and decrease together
What is a negative question?
as one variable increases the other decreases
What is a curvilinear correlation?
a correlation might begin as positive and then change and turn to negative or vice versa
what does it mean if there is no correlation?
there is no clear trend in the data.
what is a correlation coefficient?
the strength of a correlation is indicated by the value of r which ranges from 0-1. the direction of the correlation is indicated by by whether r is positive or negative.
What are the strengths of a correlational method?
allows researcher to measure the relationship between naturally occurring variables, it can be used for stuff that would otherwise be unethical or impractical and it can indicate trends.
what are the limitations of using correlations?
you cannot establish cause and effect, sometimes it may appear there is no correlation
What is the range?
the difference between the highest and lowest in a set of data.
What is the interquartile range?
measure the spread of scores in the middle 50% of values when they are placed in numerical order
what is the standard deviation?
measures the average distance of each score away from the mean
What is nominal data ?
counting data into categories, the categories are mutually exclusive
What is ordinal data?
rating on a scale or ranking in order, the data can be placed in a logical order
What is interval and ratio data?
there is a precise measurement, there are fixed intervals
What is continuous data?
not restricted to certain values
What is discrete data?
restricted to certain values, ordinal and nominal
What are descriptive statistics?
summarizing sets of quantitative data, these are data tables, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion
what is the level of sophistication of data?
NOIR- nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio. from least to most
What is the difference between interval and ratio.
Interval scales hold no true zero and can represent values below zero, whereas ratio has a true zero value and no negative values
What is an operationalised variable?
You clearly define what you take as a measurement of the conceptual variable
What is a conceptual variable?
A concept or construct
