RDA Test 1 Flashcards
What is a between participants design and what are the pros and cons of this design?
Definition: Where participants contribute to only one condition and we compare between different groups of people
Pros:
- Less likely to observed fatigue effects, thus participants are more likely to perform at optimum levels
- Less chance of order effects
- Necessary for making some comparisons
Cons:
- Need a larger sample size
- Higher inter-participant variation
- Problems with group allocation – e.g. one group may have a higher IQ than the other
- Expensive and time-consuming
What is a within participants design and what are the pros and cons of this design?
Definition: Where participants contribute to more than one condition and we explore whether there is a change within that participant
Pros:
- Controls for inter-individual differences
- Limits the effects of extraneous and confounding variables
- Smaller sample size
Cons:
- Prone to order effects – as participants repeat tasks they can naturally improve
- Fatigue effects – participants may get tired/bored if they are participating for long periods of time
What is qualitative data?
Typically referred to as ‘text-based’ this approach emphasizes the analysis of meaning as not being absolute and requires an understanding of social context. One can therefore not generalize to all people all of the time, or offer simple or reductionist explanations. Dealing with qualities and offering complex explanations of behaviour.
What is quantitative data?
An approach that favours empirical measurement of behaviour to establish patterns and laws that can be universal and therefore generalisable. Laws are mostly reduced to the individual level and omit social context or influence. Dealing with quantities and offering simple explanations of behaviour.
What does random assignment in experimental research involve?
Assigning participants to groups randomly
What is the purpose of a control group in an experiment?
To provide a baseline for comparison
What statistical measure assesses the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables?
Pearson correlation coefficient
What does operationalization involve in psychological research?
Defining abstract concepts in measurable terms
Which measure of central tendency is most affected by extreme values or outliers?
Mean
In an experimental study, what is the role of the placebo group?
To receive an inactive substance without therapeutic effects
What does a p-value in statistical analysis indicate?
The probability of obtaining the observed results by chance
What are ‘WEIRD’ populations?
‘WEIRD’ stands for White, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. Usually obtained when recruiting university students who have a specific demographic that is not necessarily the same as the general population.
Write a null hypothesis for the scenario below:
“A Psychologist investigated the impact of meditation on stress reduction. Each participant serves as their own control, experiencing both the meditation and a control condition (listening to a podcast). Stress levels were measured before and after each condition.”
There will be no difference in measured stress level changes between the meditation and control conditions
List some of the methods used in Psychology.
- Case study
- Psychometrics
- Neuroscience
- Introspection
- Observation
- Questionnaires
- Clinical
- Psycholinguistics
- Experimental
- Thematic analysis
- Ethnography
- Interviews
- Animal studies
- Discourse analysis
What is the belief in Deontological philosophy?
The correctness of an action lies in itself, not its consequences
E.g. lying is always wrong, even if it produces a good outcome
What is the belief in Consequentialism?
The correctness of an action is determined by its intended consequences
E.g. lying is good if it is done for the ‘right’ reasons (like protecting a person from harm)
What are costs and benefits?
Costs are the (potentially) negative consequences of the research – usually for the PPs involved
Benefits are the (potentially) positive consequences of the research for the PPs or (more usually) for society
What are some characteristics of cost-benefit analysis?
- Provides a framework for making ethical decisions
- Involves subjective judgments about costs and benefits
- Consequences cannot always be anticipated e.g. Zimbardo, Milgram
What are the two broad sets of guidelines in respect to ethical behaviour?
BPS Code of ethics and conduct - Determines professional behaviour as a psychologist
BPS Code of human research ethics - Determines ethical decision making when planning and conducting research with human participants
What are the 4 main principles for research listed by the BPS?
- Respect for the autonomy, privacy and dignity of individuals and communities
- Scientific integrity
- Social Responsibility
- Maximizing benefit and minimizing harm
What are the 3 key qualitative approaches and what do they involve?
- Discursive - Looks at how language (and visual material) are used to construct social realities
- Phenomenological - Involves the employment of a thick description of the subjective lived experience of the subject
- Ethnographic - Involves immersion within one’s chosen field of study
What are surveys?
Tools that allow us to ask questions and (typically) get a numeric response and can measure a range of things such as attitudes, opinions, but also variables that are less easy to measure using other methods: e.g. intelligence, personality, etc
What is psychometrics?
Any type of measure that has been developed that measures unobservable constructs
What is psychometric development based on?
True Score Theory (also called latent trait theory)
What are self-report questionnaires and what do they involve?
A way to quantify an aspect of the self and used to further understand behaviour and inner experience.
Involves a set of statements which are responded to on a scale
Responses are scored
- Individually
- For a group – e.g. to separate extroverts from introverts
What is reliability?
The ability to measure a construct consistently or that it has a low error rate
What are the main two ways to test reliability?
- Cronbach’s alpha – Internal consistency
- Test-retest – Do people question in a similar across 2 or more time slots
What is validity concerned with?
It is concerned with if an experiment is measuring what it intends to measure
What are the 4 types of validity?
- Face validity: does it look right?
- Content Validity: the test corresponds to the construct (content validity index)
- Criterion-related validity: does it work against other similar measures
- Construct validity: does it measure what it says it will measure (Factor analysis)
What does this equation mean?
“X = T + E”
Observed score = true score + error
- X is the score that is observed
- T is the true score
- E is the error
What is reverse scoring and why is it used?
Negatively worded questions, i.e. a high score on a positively worded question now becomes a low score, and vice versa, However, when it comes to analysis, we need to reverse the score back, as all questions are in the same direction
It is used to make the participants think more about what the question is asking, rather than them just answering without thinking
What is the negatively worded version of this statement?
“I tend to manipulate others to get my way”
I would never manipulate others to get my way
What research often employs experimental methods such as structured questionnaires or observations?
Quantitative research
Identify and describe the 3 main types of design used to look for difference between measurements or relationships in data.
- Correlational - where we look to see whether there are associations (e.g. sell more ice creams as it gets hotter)
- Experiments - where we look for differences between measurements for the different tasks or conditions (e.g. depression scores differ due to different treatments)
- Quasi-experimental - as above, but where we have an existing group that prevents randomly allocating participants to a condition (e.g. we dichotomise age as a variable and compare older vs. younger p’s)
What are the 4 common types of measurement?
- Nominal
- Ordinal
- Interval
- Ratio
What is an independent variable (IV)?
A variable that is manipulated in an attempt to observe a change in the DV.
What is a dependent variable (DV)?
A variable that is measured and recorded as the study is conducted.
What does a null hypothesis state?
That there will be little or no difference between groups.
What is a sampling error?
Where our sample does not reflect the same distribution of data as that observed for the whole population.
What do inferential statistics do?
Assess the likelihood (i.e. probability) of us having made a sampling error.
Identify and describe the 2 types of sampling error.
- Type I error (α)- This is where we find a significant effect where one does not in fact exist
- Type II error (β) – This is where we fail to find an effect where one in fact exists
What causes a sampling error?
The number of people we study, how we select our sample, and chance.
What is the probability required for something to be considered statistically significant?
p ≤ .05
What is the frequency distribution used to plot measurements from a sample?
Normal distribution
Where is the mean in a normal distribution?
In the centre
What is a one-tailed hypothesis?
A hypothesis that states there will be a change in a specific direction.
What is a two-tailed hypothesis?
A hypothesis that states there will be a change with no specific direction.
Where is the tail on a normal distribution?
The extreme left and right end regions
Where do we look on the normal distribution for a one-tailed prediction?
Under the normal curve and see whether our value falls within the last 5% of the tail (the rejected region).
Where do we look on the normal distribution for a two-tailed prediction?
The last 2.5% of either tail as we don’t know which tail the value will fall under.
What does it mean if our data does not or cannot form a normal distribution? What are these referred to as?
We cannot infer from our sample to the population.
These are referred to as non-parametric or distribution-free tests (e.g. chi-square).
What does it mean if our data does form a normal distribution? What are these referred to as?
We can infer from our sample to the population (because our data are also normally distributed).
These are referred to as parametric or distribution-dependent tests (e.g. t-test).
What are the 3 assumptions we need to fulfil to use parametric tests?
- The data should be normally distributed
- The variance (or spread of data) should be approx equal in our samples
- We should have no extreme scores
What is the nomothetic approach (M-Grammar) driven by?
Positivist assumptions that for things to be understood they need to be observable and measurable, leading to laws that are predictable and generalisable.
What is the idiographic approach (P-Grammar) driven by?
Social scientific assumptions that psychological processes exhibited by an individual cannot be abstracted from their social and cultural context and universal laws are therefore not appropriate.
What is an experiment?
A means to measure how different circumstances affect behaviour in a controlled environment to address a hypothesis.
What is a survey?
A means of collecting large amounts of data from participants using self-report questionnaires.
What are the 9 stages of the Ethical Decision Making Model (Koocher and Keith-Spiegel, 2008)?
- Determine that the matter is an ethical one
- Consult guidelines already available
- Consider sources that might influence decision
- Consult with trusted colleague
- Evaluate rights, responsibilities, and vulnerabilities of all affected parties
- Generate alternative decisions
- Enumerate consequences of making each decision
- Make the decision
- Implement the decision
What is random sampling?
Selecting participants at random.
What is systematic sampling?
Selecting every “nth” person.
What is stratified sampling?
Selecting every “nth” person while also trying reflect characteristics of population.
What is convenience (opportunity) sampling?
Recruiting whoever is available/volunteers.
What is quota sampling?
Selecting whoever volunteers with specific characteristics.
What is snowball sampling?
Asking participants to mention study to those they know.
Identify and describe the 3 categories of observation.
- Casual Observations - Just watching and observing what happens in an environment
- Participant Observations (AKA Ethnography) - A way of developing a deep understanding of the everyday life of a group by allowing the researcher to join the group and view the world as an insider
- Systematic Observations (AKA Formal or structured) - The process of data collection is structured using an Observation System
What should characteristics of observed behaviour include?
- Exclusivity – Behaviours should be unique
- Exhaustive – Include all likely behaviours
- Usable – Should work in the field
- Objective – Should describe a behaviour with minimal interference and be context independent
Week 5
