research approaches Flashcards
what is the research cycle
process undergo to conduct research
what are ethics necessary
can’t be trusted to behave all the time; need to ensure no lasting effects to ppts
give an example of a study highlighting why we need ethics
little albert by Watson
what does ethical approval do
constrain behaviour of researchers with moral principles and rules of conduct
what 3 things does the Belmont Report cover
respect for people
beneficence
justice
what are the 5 points covered by the ‘respect for people’
informed consent voluntary participation minimal deception anonymised data confidentiality
what is beneficence about
ensuring ppt welfare; that the experiment is beneficial and not harmful
what is justice in ethics
ensuring that ppts are not exploited and that there is a fair selection
what are the 5 principles of the BPS code
respect scientific value social responsibility max benefits minimising harm
what other 6 things does the BPS code cover
risk consent confidentiality giving advice deception debriefing
what does an ethics committee check ? (7)
risk assessment information sheet consent form debriefing statement general info abt study posters and adverts recruitment methods
what questions should information sheets include
what happens if take part bens/risks confidentiality what happens if change mind what happens if something goes wrong follow up info?
what 3 things should a consent form do
confirm :
have read and understand info sheet
data can be used for study
understand are volunteer and have right to withdraw
what are the 2 ways to approaching research
descriptive/observational and hypothesis testing
outline characteristics of the descriptive approach
no control
non experimental
diffs btwn groups
can lead to theory formation
outline characteristics of hypothesis testing
control
experimental
causal rels
seeks evidence for supporting or refuting theories
what does a relationship between an IV and DV mean
that the IV has an effect and thus we must manipulate the IV
What does a rigorous research process mean for our results
stronger evidence
more credibility for interpretation
can rule out other possible explanations from experimental, lab based methods
what are experimental methods
full control with standard studies
what are non experimental methods; give an example
correlations
observation
e.g. effects of traumatic brain injury on reading
what is a quasi experiment; give an example
where there’s some element of control but not complete control
e.g. big data studies of live tasks
what is a benefit of experimental methods
minimises confounding variables
why is there often a slight questioning of data and inferences from quasi experiments
because of the slight difference in individual ppts; not full control
give an example of a correlation
average time slept per night and average exam grades
what is key to remember about correlation
correlation does NOT IMPLY causation
what are the 4 examples of different types of observational research
case studies
surveys
interviews
focus groups
what does observational research encompass
analysis
descriptions of thought and behaviour
more controlled subsequent research
give an example of observational research
the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
what are the 3 weaknesses of observational research
Bias in how we choose observed behaviour
May try to create behaviours want to study from social pressure
Participant reactivity where behave differently from others as know are being observed as part of experiment
how do we minimise participant reactivity in observational research
unobtrusive observations
unobtrusive measures
taking caution with examining behaviour in ‘wild’
ethical consideration
what is different about the IV of quasi experiments and what does this mean for the experiments
often IV occurs naturally so can’t guarantee people experience what we want; have less control in experiments
give an example of a quasi experiment
Cialdini et al,. 1990
what do quasi experiments lack
random assignment to conditions as result of natural IVS
what are non-equivalent groups
non random allocation to conditions so systematic differences btwn groups may account for effect shown
what is a sampling error
when sample doesn’t represent population
what is an example of a non equivalent group
natural quasi experiments
what are 4 examples of data collecting approaches
lab studies
field study
field investigation
field experiment
what are lab studies, consider how this advantages them
purposely artificial and controlled/manipulated studies
what are weaknesses of laboratory studies
generalisation is limited
what are strengths of field studies
representative of true setting and participant data
what do the strengths of field studies link to
eco and pop validity
what are the weaknesses of field studies
reduced control and ethical issues
what are the 2 differences between field investigations and field experiments
Investigations are non/quasi experimental; experiments are experimental
Investigations lack control whilst experiments have full control
what are the 2 examples of control and bias
internal and external validity
what is an example of internal validity
construct validity
what is a threat to internal validity
features of research designs that could result in invalid conclusions about the nature of the effect
what is construct validity and what type of validity is it
whether measure measures what we design it to
Internal
give an example of construct validity
IQ tests
what is external validity
whether effect, if effect is genuine, can be generalised
what are 2 types of external validity
ecological
population
what is ecological validity
whether result applies to different settings
what is population validity
whether result applies to whole population
validity across population of data though; should they be only pops?
give an example of population validity
Smith and Bond 1998 textbook bias of UK and US books citing their own studies, respectively
what is a sample
subset of pop
what do statistical techniques allow us to do from samples
estimate measures for whole pop
why must samples be representative
so estimate information for population is correct
what points does representativity encompass
If sample has certain properties then whole pop must have those properties
Sample is obtained from sampling frame
This part of population is accessible to us for sampling
What is probability based sampling and what is this also known as
random people selected out of everyone on earth
pure random sampling
how do we obtain random samples in probability based sampling
assign number to each possible participant in sampling frame
select some at random via computer program or random number table
what is systematic sampling
every nth from list selected
effectively random; list order is inconsequential to experiment
what is stratified sampling
sample proportionally from each relevant strata
sample needs to reflect proportions of strata; so sample is randomly selected but makes sure proportions in strata match those in existing pop
when is stratified sampling used
if have pop where diff proportions of categories
what is a strata
diff layers of pop
what are participant effects
ppts can have expectations of how to behave in experiment as are good at interacting with others, thus this can influence their perfomance
what are demand characteristics
experimental artefact where ppts form interpretation of experiment purpose and subconsciously change behaviour to fit interpretation
what are 3 ways to minimise participant effects
blind procedures
post experiment questioning
consistency across conditions
what are blind procedures
when ppt unaware of unexpected result
what happens in post experiment questioning
ask if knew what was expected
how is consistency achieved across conditions
placebo
give an example of minimising participant expectations
Latane and Darley, 1968 with deception
ppt has convo over headphones; hear someone have health issue but acc interested in how ppt responded and if they attempted to get help
give an example of experimenter effects
rosenthal and lawson, 1964
students asked to run rat training maze experiment
one told rats were good at mazes, others opposite.
actually rats randomly allocated but rats expected to be good performed better
experimenter changes way ppt behaves
what are experimenter effects
when researches own expectations on others behaviour influence ppt behaviour
give examples of 2 controls for experimenter expectations
double blind procedures
test observer/rater reliability
what are double blind procedures and why are they helpful controls
ppts and experimenter unware of expected result
minimises risk of experimenter or ppt effects
how do you test observer/rater reliability and why is it useful
test across different raters and within same rater
useful for subjective rating scenarios
