Research Methods Flashcards
What is in the BPS ethical guidelines?
- Informed consent
- Deception
- Protection from harm
- Right to withdraw
- Confidentiality
What is a variable ?
Any ‘thing’ that can change or vary within an investigation
What is the independent variable ?
The variable that is changed by the researcher
What is the dependent variable ?
The variable that is measured
What is operationalisation ?
Defining the variables in such a way as to make them easy to measure
What is a hypothesis ?
a precise , testable statement about the expected outcome of an investigation
What are the four types of hypothesis ?
- Null hypothesis
- Alternative hypothesis
- Directional hypothesis
- Non- Directional hypothesis
What is a null hypothesis ?
States the IV will have no effect on the DV
What is a Alternative hypothesis ?
This predicts that the IV will have an effect on the DV
What is a Directional hypothesis ?
States the direction of the predicted difference between conditions
What is a Non- Directional hypothesis ?
Does not state the direction of the predicted difference between conditions
What is a extraneous variable?
Any variable that could have an influence on your findings , this variable could have an effect on the DV and make it look like there was a effect , sometimes the variable can confound /disturb the result
What is a confounding variable ?
A variable that if not controlled will have a direct effect on findings . The DV could change due to the confounding variable and not through the IV , making results meaningful
What is a situational variable ?
variables that are found in the environment or situation
What is a participants variable?
Variables to do with the individual person like mood , attention span and motivation to do the task
What is demand characteristics ?
when participants act differently because they think they have figured out the aim of the study , this then causes participants to behave in the way they believe the experimenter wants them to
What is social desirability ?
Participants behave in a way they think is expected , can act to please the experimenter ‘please effect’ or can deliberately sabotage the experiment ‘screw you effect’
What is the experimenter effect ?
Subtle cues given by the researcher that might influence the participants answer . Expectancy effects:tone or other verbal cues , individual differences
What is reliability?
Research can be seen as reliable when the same research is carried out again and produces the same result
What is Internal reliability?
the degree to which an observed effect was due to experimental manipulation or another variable
What is validity ?
how well a scientific test or a piece of research actually measures what it sets out to or how accurately the results found reflect real life
What is internal validity
concerned with whether the research measures what it sets out to measure in the hypothesis
What is External validity?
Concerned with the extent to which the result can be generalised across populations
What is a Blind experiment ?
When the participants doesn’t know the details of the study
What is a double blind experiment ?
Wen the participants and the research facilitator don’t know the details of the study
What is deception ?
Hiding the true aims of the study until afterwards
What is counterbalancing ?
Balancing the grouping of experimental groups to avoid bias or extraneous variable
What are standardising procedures ?
Ensuring the procedure allows each participant to receive the same experience
What is experimental realism ?
Ensuring the study has external validity
What is Randomisation ?
Removing bias by making as many decisions as possible free from researcher choice
What is a Lab experiment ? and give a example
Conducted in a controlled environment where the IV is directly influenced and measured by the dependent variable, looking for cause and effect
- Peterson & Peterson
- Asch line study
What are the strengths of conducting a lab experiment ?
- High level of control of IV and any possible EV
- Easily possible to replicate the experiment
- cause and effect can be determined
What are the limitations of conducting a lab study ?
- setting is artificial and so the research lacks ecological and validity and mundane realism
- high chance of demand characteristics
What is a field experiment ? and give an example
- carried out in an environment natural to the participants , IV still directly manipulated and still looking for cause or effect but participants not aware of the study
- Pillavin et al New York subway ‘Good Samaritan’ experiment
What are the strengths of conducting a field experiment ?
- Higher ecological validity
- lower chance of demand characteristics
- cause and effect can be determined
What are the limitations of conducting a field experiment?
- less control over EV
- less control over the sample
- difficult to replicate
- time consuming
What is a Natural experiment ? and give a example
Conducted in a nature environment , IV naturally occurring ( not manipulated) , looking for cause and effect , participants not aware of the study
- Charlton et al : effects of TV , found no difference in social behaviour with the introduction of western TV
What are the strengths of conducting a natural experiment?
- High level of ecological validity
- Useful when when its impossible or unethical to manipulate the IV
What are the limitations of conducting a natural experiment ?
- less control over EV
- less control over sample
- difficult to replicate
- far more difficult to determine cause and effect
What is a Quasi experiment ? and give a example
Used when the researcher is interested in a IV that cannot be randomly assigned , usually when the IV is a innate characteristics
- Sheridan and king (obedience)
What are the strengths of conducting a Quasi experiment ?
- Allows us to create comparisons between types of people
What are the limitations of conducting a Quasi experiment ?
- Demand characteristics could happen
- low internal validity
- Dependent variable may be artificial
- reduces mundane realism
What is Repeated measures ( participants design)?
- recruit a group of participants
- Condition one , the group does the experimental task with the IV set for condition one , same group does condition 2 with IV set for condition 2
- compare the results for the two conditions
What are the strengths of repeated measures ?
- No individual differences
- fewer participants have to be found
What are the limitations of repeated measure ?
- order effect , can use counter balancing
- Demand characteristics as participants see the whole experiments
What is Independent measures ( participants design )?
- recruit a group of participants
- Randomly divide them into two groups
- One group does the experimental task with Iv set for condition one
- the other groups does the experimental task with the IV set for condition two
- Measure the DV for each group and compare
What is the strengths of Independent measures ( participants design )?
- no order effect
- no demand characteristics
What are the limitations of Independent measures ?
- Individual differences could effect results
- more participants required
What are matched pairs ?
- recruit a group of participants
- condition 1 , find out what sorts of people you have in the group
- Condition 2 - recruit another group that matches them one for one ( similar age or IQ)
- compare the results for the matched pairs
What are the strengths of matched pairs ?
- no order effect
- demand characteristics are less likely
- Individual differences are controlled to a extent
What are some limitations of matched pairs ?
- some individual differences and participants variables may still occur
- require more participants
- time consuming
What is Random sampling ?
- All members of the target population have an equal chance of being selected
- A complete list of all members of the target population is obtained
- All name son the list are assigned a number
- The sample is generated using some sort of lottery method
What is Opportunity sampling ?
- Involves using people who are readily available to the researcher
- The researcher approaches people who happen to be available at the time and asks them if they are willing to take part in the research
What is stratified sampling ?
- The composition of the sample reflects the proportions of people in certain sub-groups within the target population ( e.g football supporters in Manchester)
- The researcher identifies the different strata that makes up the population ( e.g Manchester city , Manchester United )
- Proportions needed for the sample to be representative are worked out
- The participants that make up each stratum are selected using Random sampling
What is Volunteer sampling ?
- Involves participants selecting themselves to be a part of the sample
- Researcher may place an advert in a newspaper or in the common room noticeboard at school
- It could be as simple as putting your hand up to volunteer when the researcher asks
What is the target population?
refers to a group of people who are the focus of the researchers interest from which a smaller sample is drawn
- The sample should be representative of the target population so that findings can be generalised to the general population
What is Systematic Sampling ?
This involves a system of randomly selecting a sample , Every person is given a number and using the system randomly selected e.g every 3rd person on the list
What is a Naturalistic Observation ? and give a example
Watching and recording behaviour in the setting which would naturally occur
-Watching worker in a factory
Evaluation point for Naturalistic observations ?
Strengths :
- gives a realistic picture of spontaneous behaviour , high ecological validity
Weakness :
- Little control of all the things happening , meaning something could happen that the observer did not account for
What is a controlled observation ? and give a example
Watching and recording behaviour within a structured environment
-Mary Ainsworth , strange situation
Evaluation points of controlled observations
Strengths :
- An observer can focus on particular aspects of behaviour
Limitations :
- Control means that the environment could feel natural and this could reflect in the behaviour of the participants
What is a Overt observation? and give a example
Participants behaviour is watched and recorded with their knowledge and consent
- head teacher observing teacher in a school
Evaluation points of a overt observation ?
strengths :
-more ethical than covert
weakness :
- Aware they are being watched , may affect the naturalness of their behaviour
What is a covert observation ? and give a example
Participants behaviour is watched and recorded without their knowledge
- observing someone from across the room
Evaluation points for conducting a covert observation
Strengths:
- participants unaware they are being watched , behaviour more natural
Weakness :
- Ethical issues by definition cannot give informed consent
what is participant observation ? and give a example
The researcher becomes a member of the group of whose they are watching
- joining a tennis club
Evaluation points for participants observation
strengths:
- participants observations may provide special insights into behaviour from the ‘inside’ that may otherwise not be gained
weaknesses:
- more likely to be overt , issues with participants awareness
What is non- participants observations ? and give a example
The researcher remains outside of the group who they are watching
-older researcher cannot join a year 7 football club
Evaluation points for a non - participant observation
Strengths:
- observers are likely to be more objective because they are not part of the group being observed
Weaknesses :
- more likely to be covert so there could be ethical issues
What is observer bias ?
If the observer knows the purpose of the study then they may see what they want to see
Whats a way of avoiding observer bias ? and its called …
one way to avoid the observer bias is to have two independent observers to check if the results collected by the researcher actually correlate
its called inter-rater reliability
What is a unstructured observation ?
the researcher writes down everything they see
- provides a rich and detail account
- appropriate for small scale observations
What is a structured observation ?
Target behaviour that will be the main focus of the observation are chosen
- used when there is too much going on to record everything
- can quantify their observations using a predetermined list of behaviour
Behavioural categories should be …
- be objective , no need for inference
- cover all possible component behaviour ( no ‘other’)
- be mutually exclusive , shouldn’t have to mark two categories at one time
What is Event sampling ?
A target behaviour is first established then the researcher records this event every time it occurs
What is time sampling ?
A target individual /group is established , the researcher records their behaviour in a fixed time e.g 60 seconds
What is a self- report technique?
Any technique or method in which person is asked to state or explain their own feelings , opinions , behaviours and experiences related to a given topic
What are the three types of questions asked ?
- open questions
- closed questions
- Linert scale
What are the types of data collected? , give definitions
Qualitative , data that consists of words that describe the participants views
Quantitative . data that can be reduced to numbers and quantities
What are the two main common types of self - report techniques ?
Questionnaires
Interviews
What are questionnaires ?
Where data is collected trough the use of written questions , there are objective and scientific
Evaluation points for questionnaires
Strengths:
- Once designed and tested , can be distributed to a large number
Limitations :
- Sample could be biased , only filled in by people who can read / write or have time to complete them
What is a structured interview ?
Any interview in which the questions are decided in advance , similar to questionnaires but is delivered face to face
Evaluation points for structured interview
Strengths:
- easily repeated because questions are standardised , can reach a bigger sample size
Limitations:
- Interviewer bias , interviewer expectations could influence responses
What is a unstructured interview ?
Interview starts with some general aims and some questions , lets the interviewees answer guide conversation
Evaluation points for unstructured interview
Strengths:
- more detailed information obtained
Limitation :
- Interviewer bias could occur
What is a meta - analysis ?
A researcher looks at the findings from a number of different studies and produces a overall conclusion to represent the overall trend / pattern across all the different studies
How do you find the mean ?
The mean is calculated by adding up all the data and dividing by the number of data terms
How do you calculate the median ?
The median is the middle value. To find it , arrange all the data in numerical order and the central value is the median , if the middle value is between two number find the midpoint.
How do you find the mode ?
The mode is the value that is the most common value in a data set
What are the three measures of central tendency ?
- Mean
- Median
- Mode
What do you calculate the range ?
to find the range , subtract the highest number from the lowest value in the data set
What is standard deviation ?
It’s a more precise method of expressing dispersion . This is a measure of the average distance between each data point from the mean
What are the two types of measures of dispersion ?
- Range
- Standard deviation
Strengths of using the mean
- Very sensitive measure of central tendency because it takes account of the exact distance between all the values of all data
Limitations of using the mean
The sensitivity of the mean means that it can be easily distorted by extreme values
Strengths of the median
the median is not affected by extreme scores
Limitations of using the median
Not as sensitive as the mean because the exact values are not reflected in the final calculation
Strengths of using the mode
The mode is unaffected by extreme values
Limitations of using the mode
Tells us nothing about the other values in a distribution
Strengths of using the range
easy to calculate
Limitations of using the range
It’s affected by extreme values
Strengths of using standard deviation
It’s a precise measure of dispersion because takes all the exact values into account
Limitations of using standard deviation
May hide some of the characteristics of the data like extreme values , its best used together with the mean
What is peer review ?
Peer review is the assessment of scientific work by others who are experts in the same field . Peer review is done to ensure that any research conducted and published is of high quality
What does The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (2002) suggest the three main purposes of peer review are ?
- Allocation of research funding
- Publication of research in academic journals and books (prevents incorrect or faulty data entering the public domain )
- Assessing the research rating of university departments
How has the internet impacted peer review ?
- Due to the sheer volume and pace of information available on the internet so new solutions are needed in order to maintain the quality of information.
- Due to the sources of information online being policed by the general public where readers decide whether its valid
- The peer review is now done by everyone and this can reduce quality of information available
