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Y12 - Psychology > Resarch Methods > Flashcards

Resarch Methods Flashcards

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1
Q

What is an aim

A

An aim is a statement of a study’s purpose

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2
Q

What is a one tailed hypothesis

A

Also known as directional
States the direction of the differences or relationship

E.g.
People who drink red bull become more hyperactive than people who do not

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3
Q

What is a two tailed hypothesis

A

Sometimes known as non directional
States there is a difference between conditions or groups but not the nature of the difference

E.g. there is a difference between boys and girls

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4
Q

What is a Null hypothesis

A

Is what your going to assume is true during the study

E.g. there is no difference between eating behaviour and early exposure to media

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5
Q

What is bar chart

A
  • used o display discrete data
  • mean or frequency is on the y axis
  • different from histogram as bars do not touch and do not differ in width
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6
Q

What is a histogram

A
  • used to represent data on a continuous scale
  • columns touch because each makes an individual score on the scale
  • scores are placed on the x axis
  • the height of the column shows the frequency of values
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7
Q

What is correlation analysis and the advantages and disadvantages of it

A

It is looking at relationships

+ can be used when carrying out a controlled experiment
+ gives ideas for future research

  • can’t be established as cause and effect
  • care mus be taken when interpreting correlation coefficients
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8
Q

What is a correlation coefficient

A

Number between 0 and 1 tells us how strong the correlation is. The closer to 1 the stronger the correlation. It has a plus or minus which shows us whether the relationship is positive or negative

  • it is not possible to establish cause and effect off of the core ablation relationship.
  • just because the have a strong correlation does not mean they are linked. You have just found a strong association
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9
Q

What is a scatter graph

A

Three types of correlation can be shown

  • positive
  • negative
  • no correlation
  • used for measuring the relationship between two variables
  • data from one variable is presented on x and the other on y
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10
Q

Distributions

A

A normal distribution
- is symmetrical about the mean. The symmetry means the mean, median and mode are all the same

Negatively skewed

  • more scores are at the higher end f the data set
  • the tail is on the left side of the peak
  • the mode is more than the median, the median is more than the mean

Positively skewed

  • a cluster of scores at the lower end of the data set
  • the curve has the tail on the right side of the peak
  • the mode is less than the median . The median is less than the mean
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11
Q

What are the different types of variables

A

Independent variable: the variable that is changed

Dependant variable: the variable that is measured

Control: the variable that hat remains the same

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12
Q

What is meant by the term operationalisation

A

How a variable is clearly defined by the researcher

Can be applied to the IV and DV

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13
Q

What are the different types of control variables

A

Random allocation - means everyone has an equals chance of doing either condition e.g. picking names out of a hat

Counterbalancing - mixing up the order of tasks. Can solve order effects in repeated measures designs

Randomisation - when material is resented to the participants in a random order

Standardisation - standardised instructions should ensure experimenters act in a similar way with all participants

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14
Q

Types of validity

A

Validity - refers to how well a test measures what it claims to. For example an IQ test with only maths questions is not measuring IQ

Ecological validity - the stent to which the test reflect real life

Temporal validity - the stent to which the test provides results that can be generalised across time

Face validity - the extent which the test looks, to the participants, like it will measure what it is supposed to measure

Population validity -

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15
Q

What is reliability

A

Refer to how consistent or dependable a test is. A reliable test carried out in the same circumstances on the same participants should always give the same results

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16
Q

What are the British Psychological Society Code of Ethics and what does it involve

A

Th consideration of hat is acceptable or right behaviour in the pursuit or scientific goal

Informed consent - knowing aims and giving your permission to o take part in the study (Menges 1973)

Deception - deliberately misleading or withholding information if there is strong scientific justification

Right to withdraw - being able to leave when desired

Confidentiality - details should be kept private

Protection from harm - Booker harm than is daily life

Debrief - returning to the participant to the state they were before the research

17
Q

Experimental design - independent groups

A

Each participant only takes part in one condition

+ no order effects as they only take part in one
+ 1 condition, so don’t get bored or practiced

  • more participants are needed
  • individual differences as the people talking part in each condition are different - one group might just be better
18
Q

Experimental design - repeated measures

A

All participants do all of the conditions

+ no individual differences as the same person does all the conditions

  • order effects- either boredom or practice
  • demand characteristics - participants know what the experimenters are looking for
19
Q

Experimental designers - Matched pairs

A

Involves the use of independent measures but each participant in group A is matched with one in group b based on key characteristics

+ no order effects
+ controls for individual differences can be more sure the IV causes differences in the DV rather than the differences between the groups

  • can be difficult to make perfect matches
  • is costly on money and time
20
Q

Field Experiment

A

Conducted outside of the lab. Behaviour is measured outside the lab in a natural environment

+casual relationship
+ good ecological validity - less artificial
+ demand characteristics are less

  • less control over confounding variables
21
Q

Laboratory experiment

A

When variables are controlled within a lab. Conducted in an artificial setting

+ can control confounding variables easier
+ easier to replicate as controls are very strict

  • artificial
  • demand characteristics are high
  • deception is often used so not very ethical
22
Q

Demand characteristics

  1. What are they?
  2. How can they be controlled?
  3. What is meant by a double/single blind
A
  1. A cue from the researcher or the situation that may reveal to the participants the purpose of the research and will therefore do what they think you want them to do
  2. Deception, not have the researcher in the room and the demographic of the researcher
  3. Double blind - neither the participants or the researchers are aware of the aims of the investigation

Single blind - participants are not aware of the condition you are in, attempts to control the confounding effects of demand characteristics

23
Q

Natural experiment

A

Where the researcher looks at how an independent variable which isn’t manipulated by the experiment

+

24
Q

Quasi experiment

A

The IV is a naturally existing characteristic between people and has not been changed by anyone or anything e.g. gender, skin colour

+ often carried out under controlled conditions
+ ecological validity - the research is often less artificial than cab studies

  • participant allocations - you can’t randomly allocate participants
  • casual relationships can be hard to establish
25
Q

Controlled observation

A

When the researcher has some measure of control over the environment

26
Q

Naturalistic observation

A

Studying behaviour in a natural setting where everything has been left as it is normally

27
Q

Overt observation

A

The participants are aware they are being observed

+ they are much more ethically sound than other methods because the participants are aware of the research

  • demand characteristics - people might change their behaviour if they know they are being observed
28
Q

Participant observations

A

The observer acts as a part of the group being watched

+ insight
+ increased validity
+ experience the situation

  • lose objectivity
  • difficult to record information accurately
29
Q

Non participant observation

A

The experimenter does not become part of the group being observed

\+ more ethical 
\+ more objective 
-less insight 
- not experiencing the same things 
- lower in validity
30
Q

Structured, unstructured and semi structured interview

A

Structured - pre determined set of questions that are usually asked in a fixed order
+ easy to replicate
- cannot deviate topics, cannot elaborate on points

Unstructured - no set questions - general aims are discusssed and interaction is free flowing. Interviewees are encouraged to elaborate on points
+ flexibility
+ can ask follow up questions
+ can elaborate on responses
- analysis of data is time consuming
- irrelevant information
- social desirability

Semi - for example a job interview - there are a set list of questions but eh interviewer can also also follow up questions

31
Q

What is inter rated reliability

A

Checking with an observer to check your consistency in the themes you have found in your research

32
Q

Investigator effects

  1. What are they
  2. How to avoid them
A
  1. Any effect of the investigators behaviour (conscious or unconscious)on the research outcome.
  2. One way mirrors/ not being in the room. Getting an assistant to carry out the interviews/ research/ experiment
33
Q

What is content analysis

Pos and negs

A
  • qualitative data
  • data is analysed as typologies, quotations and summaries
  • hypothesis are grounded in data

+ a clear summary of the patterns in the data may be established
+ once coding system has been set up replication is easy
- can be subjective
- reducing the data coding units removes detail

34
Q

Advantage and disadvantage of mean

A

Mean - by adding up all of the items and dividing by the numbers of data

+ very sensitive stat as it takes into account the exact distance between values.
+ representative of all data
- if the values are abnormal it will affect the data greatly and distort it
- therefore can misrepresent data

35
Q

Pilot study

A

A small scale version of an investigation that takes place before the real investigation is conducted. The aim os to check the procedures

36
Q

Self repot questionnaires

Design: open and closed

A

Open - does not have a fixed range of answers a participant can choose

Closed - fixed number of responses free to answer in their own way

+ cost effective, can gather large amounts of data, large samples, easy to distribute
- can lie, qualitative data is hard to analyse, response is bias, demand characteristics

37
Q

What is social desirability

A

What someone will answer because that’s what they think they should answer

Y12 - Psychology (18 decks)

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