Psychology- Test 2 Flashcards
What are the ethics in psychology research I need to know?
- Informed consent
- Voluntary participation
- Withdrawal rights
- Confidentiality
- Deception in research
What is a focus group?
A group in which a researcher asks members about their ideas, perceptions, opinions etc. in a setting more natural than an interview.
What is a convenience sample?
A sample of the population that is readily available. It is unlikely to be representative.
What is predictive validity?
The extent to which a measure can predict other attributes or behaviours thought to be related to the construct.
What is the “construct” in psychology?
A psychological construct is a label for a domain of behaviours.
What is reliability?
Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. A test is considered reliable if we get the same result repeatedly.
What is reliability?
Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. A test is considered reliable if we get the same result repeatedly.
What is qualitative data?
Information that is not represented in numbers.
What is a control group?
A group that is as similar as possible to the experimental group on all variables other than the independent variable.
What is an operational hypothesis?
A prediction of the relationship between the independent and dependent variable, in which the variables have been operationally defined (i.e. stated in terms of how they will be measured).
What
How do you operationalise a variable?
To define the variable so that it can be measured quantitatively or qualitatively.
E.g. Memory by the number of items correctly recalled from a list of 10 items after one minute.
E.g. Aggression by the number of times a student physically hits another person with the intention to cause harm.
What is a dependent variable?
The variable that is measured to determine its relationship to the changed independent variable.
What is an independent variable?
The variable that manipulated or changed by the researcher, not by other variables. This affects the dependent variable.
What is the scientific method?
A systematic approach to planning and conducting research to provide empirical evidence for conclusions reached.
What is a non-experimental method?
A scientific approach to research whereby the researchers do not manipulate variables- the factors of interest. They observe and describe variables in the world around them and note their relationships to one another. E.g. researcher observes child to see if they select partners of same ethnic group.
Cannot determine causation
What is a non-experimental method?
A scientific approach to research whereby the researchers do not manipulate variables- the factors of interest. They observe and describe variables in the world around them and note their relationships to one another. E.g. researcher observes child to see if they select partners of same ethnic group.
Cannot determine causation
What are experimental methods?
A scientific approach to research whereby the researcher tests whether changes in one variable or group of variables have an effect on another variable.
Determines causation with a specified level of certainty.
What is a population in research?
The group to whom we want to apply our research findings.
What does internal consistency mean?
Within a test, different questions or activities are measuring the same construct.
Split half method is evidence of internal consistency.
What is the split-half method?
Evidence for internal reliability.
E.g. in 20 item scale to measure depression, people’s responses in first 10 items should be consistent with their responses with the second 10 items. They should measure the same construct.
E.g. if first 10 indicated that they were depressed, and second 10 indicated that they were not, no internal reliability.
What is test-retest reliability?
Invokes comparing how people performed on a test at one time with how they performed on it sometime later.
What is validity?
The extent to which the experiment actually test what it is meant to test.
What are the types of validity?
- Face validity
- Construct validity
- Concurrent validity
- Predictive validity
What is face validity?
The extent to which the test appears to be measuring what it claims.
E.g. questions on IQ test relate to how we organise, remember and use information.
What is construct validity?
The extent to which the test items are in keeping with the constructs on which the test was based.
E.g. personality test would be expected to relate to three constructs believed to make up personality- extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.
Should not find items relating to constructs not part of theory.
What is concurrent validity?
Comparing people’s performances on scale interested in with performance on one we already know a lot about.
Look at strength of relationship between them.
E.g. new IQ test developed- compare it to an old one.
What is predictive validity?
Extent to which it can predict other attributes or behaviours thought to be related to constructs tested.
E.g. employers issuing personality test to determine conscientiousness want to know that employee will be timely.
What are non-experimental methods?
Researchers do not manipulate variables.
They observe and describe variables in world around them and not their relationship to one another.
Not causational.
- Case studies
- Correlational study
- Archival research- information previously collected by others, but is in a form that allows systematic studies.
- Surveys
What is a correlational study?
Not causation. Use statistical technique of correlation to determine whether there is relationship between variables and how strong it is.
What is archival research?
Information previously collected by others, but is in a form that allows systematic studies.
E.g. official records of hospitals.
What are the steps of the scientific method?
1) Identifying a research question
2) Formulate a hypothesis
3) Design the experiment
4) Collect the data (conduct)
5) Analyse the data
6) Interpret the data
Record findings
What makes continuous data different?
Values can occur in between whole numbers.
E.g. Time, weight, height
If it has units, it is continuous.
What is discrete data?
Data that is counted. E.g. Cannot have 2.5 cars counted.
What is different about psychology graph titles?
Title must be operationalised
• Must have population
• How dependent variable is measured (e.g. Questionnaire, heart rate)
What is a histogram?
Looks like a column graph, but bars are touching each other- indicates continuous data.
Each bar of continuous data is in a RANGE.
What is a frequency column graph?
Shows frequency.
Points are plotted in the middle of each range.
Must draw straight line down to x-axis on either side.
What is a pie chart?
Plotting proportion of something.
Proportion represented by a “slice”.