research meathods y1 and 2 Flashcards
(169 cards)
what are case studies
an in depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual, group or institution or event. Usually an unusual individual e.g. Clive Wearing. or event e.g. events that lead to London riot 2011
-longnitudal usually and usually create qualititive data
evaluation of case studies
+ rich and detailed insights on unusual forms of behavior. Preferred to ‘superficial’ forms of that that may be collected from an experiment or questionnaire. They may generate hypothesis for future studies.
-such small sample sizes lead to generalization. Final report is also based on interpretation of researcher. Personal accounts from participants may be subjective to things such as memory decay, inaccurate.
what is content analysis?
type of observational research that enables the indirect study of behavior by examining communications that people produce e.g. texts emails words sentences phrases
what is coding?
initiate stage of content analysis that includes the communication to be studies is analysed by identifying each instance of the chose categories which may be e.g. phrases.
-quantitative data
what is thematic analysis?
qualitative data, form of content analysis.
inductive approach to analysis which involves identifying implicit or explicit ideas within the data, Themes will often emerge once data has been coded. (words that keep ‘cropping’ up as part of the communication is studied.
evaluation of coding analysis
+can get around many of the ethical issues normally associated with psychology research. Many of the materials they want to study may already exist within the public domain. These also benefit being high in external validity
-analysis is usually outside of context of communications due to communications being studies indirectly. Therefore there is a danger the researcher may use opinions to shape results or research content.
what is the experimental method?
manipulation of IV to measure the effect on DV, they may be lab, field, natural or quasi. Steps usually go: aim, hypothesis, deciding which hypothesis to use and doing the experiment.
whats a hypothesis?
clear, precise and testable statement that states the relationship between variables to be investigated. Stated at the outset of any study.
non directional hypothesis:
does not state the direction or difference between the relationship, example: people who drink coke differ in terms of talkativeness compared to those who dont drink coke.
directional hypothesis:
states the direction and difference between the relationship: people who drink coke become more talkative to people who dont.
what is the independent variable?
aspect of experimental situation which is changed or manipulated by the researcher or naturally so they can measure its affect on the DV
what is the dependent variable?
variable that is measured by the researcher. any affect on the dv should be caused by the change in the IV.
what is operationalisation?
clearly defining variables in terms of how they can be measured. Operationalised hypothesis example:after drinking 200ml of coke, Ps say more words in the next five mins than Ps who drink water. DIRECTIONAL OPERATIONALISED HYPOTHESIS
what are extraneous variables? (research issues)
any other variable other than the IV that affects the DV if it is not controlled.
what are confounding variables? (research issues)
kind of Ev where we cannot be sure if the affect is due to an EV or due to the IV. Example,they were chattier because of the energy drink or because they were excited to meet new people.
what are demand characteristics (research issues)
any cue from the researcher or situation that may be interpreted by Ps as revealing the purpose of an investigation. This may lead to Ps changing their behavior as a result of this.
what are investigator effects (research issues)
any unconscious or conscious effect of the investigators behavior on the research outcome. May include, design, study, or interaction with Ps.
what is randomization (research issues)
The use of chance methods to control for effects of bias when designing materials and deciding the order of experimental conditions
what is standarisation? (research issues)
Using the exact same formalized procedures and instructions for all Ps in a research study
what is experimental design?
way in which Ps are organised in relation to the experimental conditions
what are the three experimental designs?
Independent groups, repeated measures, matched pairs
what is independent group designs?
two separate groups experience two separate conditions.
what is repeated measures design?
all participants experience both conditions
what is matched pairs design?
Pairs of participants are first matched on some variables that may affect the dependent variable. Then one member is assigned to condition A and one to condition B