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Psychology Edexcel A Level > Research Methods > Flashcards

Research Methods Flashcards

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1
Q

What are lab experiments? What are strengths and weaknesses of lab experiments? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Experiments done in a controlled environment

Used in: Baddeley, Sebastián and Hernández-Gil, Loftus and Palmer, etc.

+You can control extraneous variables (easier to establish cause and effect)
+Scientific
+Easier to replicate

  • No mundane realism (so less ecological validity)
  • Demand characteristics (as participants are more aware that they are in an experiment
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2
Q

What are field experiments? What are strengths and weaknesses of field experiments? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Experiments done in the everyday environment of the participants

Used in: Valentine and Mesout, Rosenhan, Sherif et al, etc.

+High mundane realism (so high ecological validity)
+Less demand characteristics

  • Less scientific
  • Difficult to control extraneous variables (so difficulty establishing cause and effect )
  • Difficult to replicate
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3
Q

What five things are needed in a hypothesis?

A
  • Both conditions of the IV
  • The DV
  • The word ‘significant’
  • Difference, relationship, or association
  • Operationalisation of variables
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4
Q

What are the three types of hypotheses?

A
  • Directional/one-tailed (significantly less/more)
  • Non-directional/two-tailed (significant difference)
  • Null (no difference; all differences are due to chance variables)
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5
Q

What is an independent measures design? What are strengths and weaknesses of IMD?

A

All participants take part in one condition. The statistical test to be used is chi-squared and Mann Whitney U

+No order effects (one condition so no practice or fatigue effects)
+Less demand characteristics (exposure to one condition means they are less likely to guess the aim)

  • Individual differences between groups (groups might not be the same to begin with; difficulty generalising to target population; can be overcome with repeated measures design)
  • More participants required
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6
Q

What is repeated measures design? What are strengths and weaknesses of RMD?

A

All participants take part in all conditions. The statistical test being used is Wilcoxon

+No individual differences (participants in each group are the same people)
+Fewer participants required

  • Order effects (fatigue and practice effects)
  • demand characteristics (more likely to guess aim)
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7
Q

What is matched pairs design? What are strengths and weaknesses of MPD?

A

Participants are placed in groups of people with the same variables. It is a form of independent groups design

+No individual differences between groups (as they are matched to their conditions)
+Less demand characteristics

  • More time consuming
  • More participants required
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8
Q

Ways to overcome problems in experimental/participant design?

A

Repeated Measures

  • Counterbalancing: Arranging conditions or treatments (which participant starts with what) to avoid order effects
  • Randomisation: Allocating participants to tasks, selecting samples of participants, and so on, should be left to chance as far as possible, to reduce the investigator’s influence on a study

Independent Groups Design:
*Use matched pairs design

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9
Q

What are the variables in research?

A
  • Independent (in charge of changing)
  • Dependent (what you measure)
  • Control (doesn’t change)
  • Confounding (emerged later; out of the experimenter’s control but they affect the DV)
  • Extraneous (general variable that affect the DV)
  • Participant (characteristics of a participant that could influence outcome of research)
  • Situational (characteristics of the environment that could influence outcome of research)
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10
Q

What are variables that affect validity of research (internal)?

A
  • Experimenter bias
  • Biased interpretation of research
  • Creating the research leading to the favouring of one group
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11
Q

Participant Effects on DV

A
  • Demand characteristics
  • Social desirability bias
  • Hawthorne effect (people change their behaviour once observed)
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12
Q

What is the use of a single blind procedure?

A

Reduce demand characteristics in participants

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13
Q

What is the use of a double-blind procedure?

A

To reduce demand characteristics in participants and researcher bias

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14
Q

What is the use of a control?

A

To compare easily between different variables and conditions

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15
Q

What is a random sample? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

A

Any member of the target population can be selected

+Eliminating sampling bias from the researcher

  • Slow and inconvenient
  • Lack of control means a likelihood of an unrepresentative sample
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16
Q

What is an opportunity sample? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

A

Taking a sample from people yo have the opportunity of studying

+Quick
+Convenient

  • Experimenter bias
  • May be unrepresentative
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17
Q

What is a volunteer/self-selecting sample? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

A

Volunteers. Participants who respond to advertisements, for example.

+No experimenter bias

  • May be slow to collect willing volunteers
  • People who volunteer have a specific type of personality (results may be unrepresentative)
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18
Q

What is a stratified sample? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

A

Making it so that the quota from each category is proportional to the numbers in the population as a whole

+No bias
+Representative of strata used

  • Very slow and inconvenient
  • May ignore important strata
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19
Q

What are the two types of observational sampling? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

A

Time sampling is the technique of recording behaviours in a given time frame

+helps with standardising the procedure
-may not be valid as more of the behaviours may occur in non observation times

Event sampling involves identifying a behaviour that needs to be counted

+behaviour won’t be missed
-if too many observations happen at once, it may be difficult to record anything

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20
Q

What ethical considerations should psychologists take into account according to the British Psychological Society (BPS)

A
  • Consent
  • Deception
  • Debriefing
  • Right to withdraw
  • Confidentiality
  • Protection from harm
  • (In an observational research) only take place where the participant expects to be observed by strangers
  • (If giving advice) the psychologist should be qualified
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21
Q

What are the standards of Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)?

A
  • Character (character reference, criminal convictions, cautions, etc.)
  • Health (issues)
  • Proficiency (professional autonomy and accountability)
  • (Clinical) Conduct, Performance, and Ethics
  • (Clinical) Continual Professional Development
  • (Clinical) Education and Training
  • (Clinical) Prescribing
22
Q

What are the Three Rs? (Animal ethics)

A
  • Replace (find new ways to perform tests without the need for animal models)
  • Reduce (minimise number of animals used)
  • Refine (minimise potential suffering, pain, and distress to animals during testing)
23
Q

What is the Animal Act (1986)?

A

Anyone carrying out research must hold a personal licence, work in a licensed establishment, and must hold project license. Therefore, they must have the approval of the home office

24
Q

What does Bateson’s Cube evaluate?

A
  • The degree of animal suffering
  • The quality of research
  • The potential (medical) benefit
25
Q

What are the practical strengths and weaknesses of using animals?

A

+Animals are controlled more therefore less extraneous variables can affect the experiment
+Benefits outweigh cost
+Test quickly the impact of the study throughout their entire life so life span effects can be measured more easily
+Less awareness means less demand characteristics

  • Animal brains do not work in the same way human brains do
  • We do not know the extent of their suffering
26
Q

What are the ethical considerations and issues for using animals?

A

+1986 Act and BPS guidelines means the animals used are protected in the most human way possible
+Benefits outweigh cost
+Grey (1987) justified the use of it in pursuit of scientific knowledge and advancement of medicine

  • Specieism
  • Sentient beings
27
Q

What is a strength and weakness of using the mean?

A

+Takes all of the stores into account

-Can be misleading if there are extreme values

28
Q

What is a strength and weakness of using the median?

A

+If there are extreme scores in a data, this is a better measure to use

-Can be distorted by small samples and is less sensitive

29
Q

What is a strength and weakness of using the mode?

A

+Not influenced by extreme scores
+Useful to show most popular value

  • Crude measure of central tendency
  • Not useful if multimodal for some types of study
30
Q

What is a strength and weakness of using the range?

A

+Quick and easy to calculate

-Distorted by extreme values

31
Q

What is a strength and weakness of using the standard deviation?

A

+The more sensitive measure based on the mean score
+Takes into account every score not just extreme scores
+Less distorted by extreme values

  • A bit more time consuming to calculate
  • Very extreme values can still distort the data set
32
Q

What are the four levels of measurement?

A

Think of ‘NOIR’
Nominal (simple frequency headcount found in discrete categories, like yes or no questions)
Ordinal (put in order, rank, or position)
Interval (measurements on scale, the intervals or are known or equal, can go into negative zeroes, like temperature)
Ratio (see interval but has a true zero and cannot go into negative values, like time)

Note: Any strengths and weaknesses can be linked to the amount of time it takes to collect and compare data, how easy it is to compare, how much detail goes into the participants responses, and the scientific credibility of the level of measurement (For example, in interval scales that do not contain scientific measurements there is no absolute baseline to the scale so scoring 0 may differ from participant to participant)

33
Q

What statistical test is used for a correlational level of data?

A

Spearman’s Rho

34
Q

What are two ways of checking internal reliability? What are two ways of checking external reliability?

A
  • (Internal) Split-half method (Two forms of the same test are prepared by dividing the questions on a test in half. Each form should yield the same score)
  • (Internal) Inter-rater method (two people conduct an observation independently using the same measure)
  • (External) Test-retest method (administer the same test or measure twice)
  • (External) Replication (repeated using the same standardised measure)
35
Q

What are two ways of assessing internal validity? What are two ways of assessing external validity?

A
  • (Internal) Face/Content Validity (does it look right?)
  • (Internal) Construct Validity (can the data be used to support the underlying theoretical constructs?)
  • (External) Concurrent Validity (comparing new method/test with an already established one that claims to measure the same variable. If there is a high positive correlation then it has high validity)
  • (External) Predictive (whether a test predicts future performance)
36
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of qualitative data?

A

+Objective and avoids personal bias
+Easy to summarise and make comparisons

  • Standard questions may lead to structural bias and false representation
  • superficial data may lead to missing information for research
37
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of quantitative data?

A

+Depth and detail
+Flexibility as it can be adapted to fit the setting, culture, etc. if needed

  • Not as easy to generalise
  • More prone to be subjected to researcher bias
38
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of primary data? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Used in: Bandura, Rosenhan from observation

+Up-to-date information collected
+Targeted to aim so it is more in-depth and catered towards the research

  • More expensive as research has to be designed
  • Time consuming
39
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of secondary data? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Used in: Gottesman & Shields

+Cost effective
+Time effective so you have more time to analyse and compare data

  • Information may not be up to date
  • Information may not be targeted towards the aim of the research
40
Q

What is thematic analysis? And what is a strength and a weakness?

A

Researcher starts with pre-set categories or themes. Deductive

+Analyses of a variety of data including media, self-report methods, etc. so cultural trends and experiences can be understood

-It is phrase-based. Sometimes phrases cannot capture the meaning correctly

41
Q

What is grounded theory? And what is a strength and a weakness?

A

The categories or themes that emerge are grounded in the data. Inductive

+The categories are specific to the research or the study being conducted

-The researcher picks the categories which may have issues with research bias as they get to decide what categories are important or not

42
Q

What is content analysis? And what is a strength and a weakness?

A

A form of indirect observation. Categories are selected from a sample

+Quantifies the meaning of text, can uncover terminology and frequency of occurrence among texts

-The researcher can ignore the context that the words are used in

43
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of longitudinal methods? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Used in: Howells (anger management treatment over 6 months)

+Controls participant variables - no differences between them

  • Participants can drop out
  • Participants can change behaviour as they become more aware of the research
44
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of Cross Cultural techniques? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Used in: Milgram (obedience studies)

+Tests universality in behaviours

  • Observer bias
  • Interpretation/Translator issues
  • Groups studied may not be representative of the culture
45
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of Cross Sectional (a snapshot of of something) techniques? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Used in: Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil

+Useful for studying something that may naturally take a longer time

  • Difficult to assess what s being measured or what it claims to be measuring
  • Snapshot of data may miss important factors that develop over time
46
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of meta analysis (analysis of main pieces from secondary sources of similar research)? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Used in: Milgram obedience studies and Carlsson

+Can summarize and quantify the results from individual studies
+It can clarify heterogeneity between the results of different studies and analyse differences in the results

-Studies may vary considerably or procedures from one being compared with so difficulties with reliability

47
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of self-report data? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Used in: Eysenck’s personality theory, and the Fascists scale from Adorno

+More valid as its provided by the participant about themselves
+Primary data that is specific to the research

-Social desirability bias

48
Q

What are strengths and weaknesses of pilot study (preliminary study the test procedure, and design)?

A

+Saves time and money before a full-scale experiment/investigation

-Method used in the pilot study may be a weakness - it may not show any flaws but could still lack validity

49
Q

What is a strength of triangulation?

A

+Provides credibility, reliability, and validity to case study

50
Q

What are case studies? What are it’s strengths and weaknesses? Where is it used in psychology?

A

Studies/investigations done on one participant/group/event/community

Used in: Cognitive (HM, Clive Wearing) and Learning (Little Albert) for example

+provides rich qualitative data
+provides insight for further research
+can track and describe changes over time

  • difficult to replicate due to uniqueness
  • takes time
  • may be subjected to researcher bias
  • problem generalising to target population
51
Q

THIS IS SPECIFIC TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

What is Concurrent, Aetiological, and Predictive Validity? (CAP) What is it affected by?

A

C
*agreement with other measuring tools (cross reference between them)
A
*validity can be established from further tests assuming there is an established known cause for the disorder (e.g., further tests being blood tests, MRI, etc.)
P
*if the patient responds to the treatment, then the diagnosis is valid

Affected by…

  • implicit biases: unconscious positive or negative mental attitudes towards person, thing or group
  • comorbidity: the presence of multiple disorders at the same time iin one patient
51
Q

THIS IS SPECIFIC TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

What is Concurrent, Aetiological, and Predictive Validity? (CAP) What is it affected by?

A

C
*agreement with other measuring tools (cross reference between them)
A
*validity can be established from further tests assuming there is an established known cause for the disorder (e.g., further tests being blood tests, MRI, etc.)
P
*if the patient responds to the treatment, then the diagnosis is valid

Affected by…

  • implicit biases: unconscious positive or negative mental attitudes towards person, thing or group
  • comorbidity: the presence of multiple disorders at the same time iin one patient

Psychology Edexcel A Level (7 decks)

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