research methods

Question 1

what are case studies ?

Answer 1

an in depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual, group, institution or event.

Question 2

what is a content analysis ?

Answer 2

a research technique that enables the indirect study of behaviour by examining communications that people produce for example in texts, emails, TV, film and other media.

Question 3

what is coding?

Answer 3

the stage of content analysis in which the communication to be studied is analysed by identifying each instance of the chosen categories

Question 4

what is thematic analysis ?

Answer 4

an inductive and qualitative approach to analysis that involves identifying implicit or explicit ideas within the data. themes will often emerge once the data has been coded.

Question 5

what is reliability ?

Answer 5

refers to how consistent a measuring device is- and this includes psychological tests or observations which assess behaviour.

Question 6

what is tests retest reliability ?

Answer 6

a method of assessing the reliability of a questionnaire or psychological test by assessing the same person on two separate occasions. this shows to what extent the test produces the same answers i.e is consistent or reliable.

Question 7

what is inter observer reliability?

Answer 7

the extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved involved in observations of a behaviour. this is measured by correlating the observations of two or more observers. a general rule is that if (total number of agreements) / (total number of observations) > +80 the data has a high inter observer reliability.

Question 8

what is validity?

Answer 8

the extent to which an observed effect is genuine - does it measure what it was supposed to measure, and can it be generalised beyond the research setting within which it was found?

Question 9

what is face validity?

Answer 9

a basic form of validity in which a measure is scrutinised to determine whether it appears to measure what it is supposed to measure. for instance does a test for anxiety look as though it is measuring anxiety.

Question 10

what is concurrent validity ?

Answer 10

the extent to which a psychological measure relates to an existing similar measure.

Question 11

what is ecological validity ?

Answer 11

the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other settings and situations a form of external validity

Question 12

what is temporal validity ?

Answer 12

the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other historical times and eras. a form of external validity.

Question 13

what are statistical test

Answer 13

also called inferential tests are used in psychology to determine whether a significant difference or correlation exists

Question 14

what is the sign test?

Answer 14

a statistical test for a difference in scores between related items data should be at nominal level or better.

Question 15

what are levels of measurement?

Answer 15

quantitative data can be classified into types or levels of measurements. such as nominal ordinal and interval data

Question 16

what’s the spearman’s rho test?

Answer 16

a tests for a correlation when data is at least ordinal level.

Question 17

what’s the pearson’s r tests?

Answer 17

a parametric test for a correlation when data is at interval level.

Question 18

what is the wilcoxon test ?

Answer 18

a test for a difference between two sets of scores data should be at least ordinal level using a related design

Question 19

what is the man whitney test?

Answer 19

a test for difference between two sets of scores. data should be at least ordinal level using a related design.

Question 20

what is the related t test?

Answer 20

a parametric test for a difference between two sets of scores. data must be an interval level with an unrelated design ie repeated measures or matched pairs

Question 21

what is an unrelated t test?

Answer 21

a parametric test for a difference between two sets of scores. data must be interval level with an unrelated design ie independent groups

Question 22

what is the chi squared test?

Answer 22

a test for an association between two variables or conditions data should be nominal level level using a unrelated design

Question 23

what is nominal data ?

Answer 23

Nominal data is “labeled” or “named” data which can be divided into various groups that do not overlap. Data is not measured or evaluated in this case, it is just assigned to multiple groups.

Question 24

what is interval data ?

Answer 24

Interval data is measured along a numerical scale that has equal distances between adjacent values. These distances are called “intervals.” There is no true zero on an interval scale, which is what distinguishes it from a ratio scale.

Question 25

what is ordinal data?

Answer 25

Ordinal data is a categorical, statistical data type where the variables have natural, ordered categories and the distances between the categories are not known.

Question 26

what is probability ?

Answer 26

a measure of the likelihood that a particular event will occur where 0 indicates statistical impossibility and 1 statistical certainty.

Question 27

what is significance?

Answer 27

In research, statistical significance is a measure of the probability of the null hypothesis being true compared to the acceptable level of uncertainty regarding the true answer.

Question 28

what is the critical value

Answer 28

In hypothesis testing, a critical value is a point on the test distribution that is compared to the test statistic to determine whether to reject the null hypothesis. If the absolute value of your test statistic is greater than the critical value, you can declare statistical significance and reject the null hypothesis.

Question 29

what is a type I error ?

Answer 29

The significance level (also called Type I error rate or the level of statistical significance) refers to the probability of rejecting a null hypothesis that is in fact true. This quantity ranges from zero (0.0) to one (1.0) and is typically denoted by the Greek letter alpha (a).

Question 30

what is a type II error ?

Answer 30

Type II error refers to one of two errors that could be made during hypothesis testing. … A Type II error is often referred to as a false negative because the hypothesis test led to the erroneous conclusion that no effect or association exists, when in fact an effect or association does exist.

Question 31

what is objectivity ?

Answer 31

all sources of personal bias are minimised so as not to distort or influence the research process

Question 32

what is the empirical method?

Answer 32

scientific approaches that are based on the gathering of evidence through direct observations and experience

Question 33

what is replicability?

Answer 33

the extent to which scientific procedures and findings can be repeated by other researchers

Question 34

what is falsifiability?

Answer 34

the principle that a theory cannot be considered scientific unless it admits the possibility of being proved untrue

Question 35

what is the theory construction?

Answer 35

the process of developing an explanation for the causes of behaviour by systematically gathering evidence and then organising this into a coherent account

Question 36

what is hypothesis testing?

Answer 36

a key feature of a theory is that it should produce statements which can then be tested only in this way can a theory be falsified

Question 37

what is a paradigm ?

Answer 37

a set of shared assumptions and agreed methods within a scientific discipline

Question 38

what is a paradigm shift?

Answer 38

the result of a scientific revolution when there is a significant change in the dominant unifying theory within a scientific discipline

Question 39

revise 75 - 80

Answer 39

ALL THE DIFFERENT TESTS