Psychology- research methods Flashcards
Aim
General statements that describe the purpose of an investigation.
Hypothesis
A statement that is made at the start of a study and clearly describes the relationship between variables as stated by the theory.
Directional Hypothesis
The researcher makes a clear sort of difference that is anticipated between two conditions or groups of people.
Non-directional hypothesis
Simply states that there is a difference between two conditions or groups of people but, unlike in a directional hypothesis, the nature of the difference is not specified.
Extraneous variables
Any variable, other than the IV that may affect the DV if it is not controlled.
Confounding variable
Kind of EV but the key features is that a confounding variable varies systematically with the IV. Therefore we cannot tell if any change in the DV is due to the IV or the confounding variables.
Demand characteristics
Any cue from the researcher or from the research situation that may be interpreted by participants as revealing the purpose of an investigation. This may lead to a participant changing their behavior within the research situation.
Investigator effects
Any effect of the investigator’s behavior on the research outcome.
Experimental design
The different way in which participants can be organised in relation to experimental conditions
Independent group design
Participants are allocated to different groups where each group represent one experimental condition
- no order effect
Matched-pair design
Random allocation
An attempt to control for participant variables in an independent group design which ensures that each participant has the same chance of being in one condition as any other.
Counterbalancing
An attempt to control for the effects of order in a repeated measures design: half in one condition and the other half in another condition.
Lab experiment
An experiment in an controlled environment within the researcher manipulates the IV. Strict control on EV
Field experiment
An experiment that takes place in a natural setting and researcher can manipulate the IV.
Natural experiment
An experiment where there is no manipulation of IV. Records DV
Quasi experiment
A study that is almost an experiment but IV not manipulated and involves measuring what the researcher cannot change (EV)
Population
A group of people who are the focus of the researcher’s interests, from a smaller sample is drawn.
Sample
A group of people who take part in a research investigation. Sample is taken from target population and is presumed to be representative of that population
Sampling technique
Method used to select people from the population
Bias
When certain groups are over-under represented in a sample selected.
Generalisation
The extent to which findings and conclusions from a particular investigation investigation can be broadly applied to the population.
