psychology - research methods

Question 1

what are demand characteristics and investigator effects?

Answer 1

demand characteristics - a cue from the researcher or situation that may give away the purpose of the investigation leading to the participant changing their behaviour.

investigator effects - when the investigator influences how participants behave in a study because they desire a particular outcome

Question 2

what are the 2 types of extraneous variables and examples?

Answer 2

participant - individual differences between participants that may affect the Dv e.g mood, personality type, IQ , amount of sleep, health

situational - features of the experiment situation that may affect the dv e.g time, temperature, weather, noise, lighting, conditions

Question 3

how do we combat demand characteristics and investigator effects?

Answer 3

demand - ‘single blind technique’ - participants are unaware of the aims of the study (deception)

investigator - ‘double blind technique’ - both the researcher and participant dont know the aim of the study , a research assistant carries out the study instead

Question 4

What is the difference between extraneous variables and confounding variables?

Answer 4

extraneous (before the study)- any variables that may affect the dv if not controlled e.g age, lighting, weather, time of day, noise.

confounding(after the study)- relatedto what we are investigating any variable that may have affected the dv so we cant be sure if the change in dv is due to the iv e.g personality type may be increasing chattiness not the energy drink

Question 5

what is operationalisation?

Answer 5

to make something measurable so that we can establish cause and effect
otherwise unclear how something can be measured

Question 6

What are the three types of experimental design and explain?

Answer 6

independent groups design - ptps are in different groups where each group represents one experimental condition.

repeated measures design - all ptps take part in all conditions of the experiment. (take part in one condition and then another one later)

matched pairs design - pairs are assigned on some variable that might affect the dv. then one member of the pair is assigned to condition A and the other condition B

Question 7

What are order effects and how do we control for this?

Answer 7

this is when the order of conditions effects the performance of participants e.g practice effect, fatigue effect, boredom effect.

To combat this the researcher can counter balance the order of conditions. split the sample into two groups and then alternate the order in which they perform in these conditions. this cancels out the order effects

Question 8

when do we use a directional and non directional hypothesis

Answer 8

directional is used when the findings of previous research suggest a particular outcome

non directional is used when no previous research has been conducted in the area

Question 9

what is the difference between internal and external validity.

Answer 9

external : can it be generalised to other settings (ecological) and over time (temporal)

internal : the extent to which the researcher measured what they intended to, did something else influence the dv?

Question 10

what are the 4 types of experiments

Answer 10

lab experiment : takes place in a highly controlled environment, standardized, manipulation of iv to see effect on dv

field experiment : an experiment that takes place in a natural setting (the real world) manipulation of iv to see effect on dv

natural experiment : an experiment where the iv isnt brough about by the researcher but naturally (wouldve happened if the researcher wasnt there)

quasi experiment : uses a naturally ocurring difference e.g male and female or age categories

Question 11

explain these sampling types: random, systematic, volunteer, opporutinity, stratified

Answer 11

random : everyone has an equal chance of being selected e.g names out a hat

systematic sampling : every nth person in the sampling frame is selected

stratified: selected in proportion to their frequency in the population e.g if 20% of the population is under 18, 20% of the sample must be under 18. after people are randomly selected

opportunity: selecting people who are most easily available at the time of study

Question 12

what are the 5 ethical issues ? HINT : DRIPP

Answer 12

deception
right to withdraw
informed consent
protection of participants
privacy and confidentiality

Question 13

what are the three types of consent

Answer 13

presumptive consent : get consent from a similar group of people and assume the same answers

prior general consent : consent to a number of studies and one will involve deception so they are consenting being deceived

retrospective consent: ask for consent after they have taken part and they can retract their data

Question 14

what is the success criteria for a consent form

Answer 14

begin like a letter : dear participant
aim of the study present tense
details of what they can expect to happen(both conditions)
refer to ethical issues
have space for signature and date
dont assume that they consent

Question 15

debriefing letter success criteria

Answer 15

begin like a letter : dear participant
reveal other conditions
right to withdraw data
offer support
thank participants and sign off

Question 16

psossible errors in an interview

Answer 16

jargon : specialist terms only some will know

double barreled questions: two qs in one

double negatives makes it hard to decipher

emotive language : attitude is clear from the phrasing of the question

Question 17

what are the 5 types of observations

Answer 17

naturalistic: researcher doesnt interfere and lets the stiuation happen naturally

controlled : situation is controlled by the researcher

covert and overt: ptps are unaware or aware theyre being observed

participant observation: researcher becomes part of the group and partakes in activities

Question 18

what is a correlation and explain correlational hypothesis

Answer 18

correlations look for a relationship between co variables not cause and effect

correlational hypothesis only state a prediction of relationship between 2 co - variables

e.g there is a postive relationship between the amount of chocolate purchased anually and obesity levels

Question 19

what does each graph type show

Answer 19

bar chart - shows difference in data

scatter- assciation between co - variables (correlation)

histogram - shows how grouped data is spread

line graph - shows variable changing

Question 20

hwo to identify the 4 types of graphs

Answer 20

histogram bars always touch

bar graph bars dont touch

line graph - line joins each data point together

scatter graph scattered point with a line of best fit sometimes

Question 21

what are the aims of peer review

Answer 21

to allocate research funding

to validate the quality and relevance of research

to suggest amendments and improvements

Question 22

what are case studies?

Answer 22

a case study is and in depth investigation of a unique situation or individual

they are longitudinal so the researcher can see how behaviour changes over time

produce qualitative data

Question 23

weakness of case studies

Answer 23

They are unique so findings cant be generalised

they are subjective and conclusions are based on the researchers opinion

Question 24

strengths of case studies

Answer 24

researchers are more open minded because they dont have an aim

best way to study unusual forms of behaviour

changes can be seen over a long period of time

Question 25

explain the procedure of content analysis

Answer 25

1. read the qualitative data
2. identify the coding units
3. read the qualitative data again and tally every time you see reference to the coding units

Question 26

explain the procedure of thematic analysis

Answer 26

1. read through the qualitative data
2. identify the common themes as they appear and create categories
3. check validity of the themes by reading the qual data again and make sure it represent the overall coverage
4. write the findings into the report and use direct quotes to represent the theme

Question 27

strengths of content and thematic analysis

Answer 27

limited ethical issues with obtaining permission

quantitative data is easier to analyse and make comparisons

qualitative data is rich and in depth

Question 28

weakness of content and thematic analysis

Answer 28

no causation as there’s no manipulation of iv and dv, result are subjective

people are studied indirectly so communications are produced outside of context, researcher may attribute opinions to the ptp that weren’t initially intended

Question 29

difference between descriptive statistics and inferential statistics

Answer 29

descriptive statistics summarise the characteristics of a data set

inferential statistics allow you to determine whether a correlation or difference exists or is due to chance

Question 30

3 criterion for a sign test

Answer 30

data must be nominal : in categories

research must be finding a difference

design must be related aka matched pairs or repeated measures

Question 31

define test retest

Answer 31

administering the same test to the same people on different occasions

if the questionnaire is reliable the results should be similar each time they are administered

Question 32

why must there be time between test and retest

Answer 32

to ensure participants cant recall the answers to their questions but not so long that their thoughts and attitudes have changed

the two scores are then correlated to see if theyre similar. a score above .80 means reliability is assumed