research methods Flashcards
what are aims developed from ? (1)
theories
we have a theory that energy drinks affect how much people talk, this is based on our understanding having read a few research studies, that energy drinks contain sugar and caffeine and these substances increase alertness making people chattier. a new energy drink speedup has come to the market and were keen to know whether it might affect the talkativness of those who drink it.
create an aim for this experiment (1)
to investigate whether drinking energy drinks makes people more talkative
what is an aim ? (2)
- general statements
- describe purpose of an investigation
what is a hypothesis (3)
- statement
- made at the start of a study
- clearly states relationships between variables
what are the 2 types of hypothesis (2)
- directional
- non directional
what is a directional hypothesis (1)
- clear sort of difference between 2 conditions
we have a theory that energy drinks affect how much people talk, this is based on our understanding having read a few research studies, that energy drinks contain sugar and caffeine and these substances increase alertness making people chattier. a new energy drink speedup has come to the market and were keen to know whether it might affect the talkativness of those who drink it.
create a directional hypothesis for this experiment (2)
- people who drink speedup are more talkative than people who dont
- people who drink water are less talkative than people who drink speedup
what is a non directional hypothesis (2)
- states there is a diff between conditions
- nature of diff isnt specified
we have a theory that energy drinks affect how much people talk, this is based on our understanding having read a few research studies, that energy drinks contain sugar and caffeine and these substances increase alertness making people chattier. a new energy drink speedup has come to the market and were keen to know whether it might affect the talkativness of those who drink it.
create a non directional hypothesis for this experiment (1)
- there is a difference in talkativeness between people who drink speedupp and people who drink water
when are directional hypothesis’ used? (1)
- when findings of previous research suggests a particular outcome
when are non directional hypothesis’ used ? (2)
- when there is no previous research
- or findings from earlier studies are contradictory
we have a theory that energy drinks affect how much people talk, this is based on our understanding having read a few research studies, that energy drinks contain sugar and caffeine and these substances increase alertness making people chattier. a new energy drink speedup has come to the market and were keen to know whether it might affect the talkativness of those who drink it.
would a directional or non directional hypothesis be used ? (1)
directional
what are the 2 levels of IV (2)
- control condition
- experimental condition
we have a theory that energy drinks affect how much people talk, this is based on our understanding having read a few research studies, that energy drinks contain sugar and caffeine and these substances increase alertness making people chattier. a new energy drink speedup has come to the market and were keen to know whether it might affect the talkativness of those who drink it. for this experiment we need comparison we could either:
- compare ppts talkativeness before and after drinking speedup
- compare 2 groups of pptnts - those who drink speedup with those who drink water
what would the control conditions and experimental conditions be ? (3)
- control condition: drink of water / no speedup
- experimental condition: speedup
what should be obvious within a good hypothesis (1)
- how each variables has been operationalised
why does operatonalisation of variables make a good hypothesis ? (2)
makes hypothesis clear and testable
we have a theory that energy drinks affect how much people talk, this is based on our understanding having read a few research studies, that energy drinks contain sugar and caffeine and these substances increase alertness making people chattier. a new energy drink speedup has come to the market and were keen to know whether it might affect the talkativness of those who drink it.for this experiment we need comparison we could
compare 2 groups of pptnts - those who drink speedup with those who drink water
create a hypothesis where variables have been operationalised (1)
after drinking 300ml of speedup participatents say more words in the next 5 minutes than participatents who drink 300ml of water
when is reliability achieved ? (1)
when you get results that are consistent
what is validity ? (1)
whether something measures what it is supposed to measure
what is mundane realism ? (1)
extent to which research env reflects real world
when is high mundane realism achieved ? (1)
- if research is on a situation ptnt can be put on in real life
what are the 3 types of validity ? (3)
- internal validity
- ecternal validity
- ecological validity
what is internal validity (2)
- refers to validity of exp within conditions it is carried out in
- extent to which we can be sure that research findings are due to suggested mecchanisms
what is external validity ? (2)
- refects to validity outside research situation
- extent to which results can be generalised to other settings, population + times
what is ecological validity (1)
- extent to which research task used a realistic task or process from real life
what does high ecological validity lead to (1)
generalisation of findings to situations outside setting
what type of validity is ecological validity a part of ? (1)
external validity
how can we be sure that the results of a study are reliable ? (2)
- if study is repeatable
- similar or same results obtained
what are extraneous variables
- any additional unwanted variables that may potentially interfere with the IV or DV
what are nuisance variables (3)
- extraneous variables that are straightforward to control
- eg age of pptnt or lighting in a lab
- do not vary systematically with IV (this means they may make waters of the experiment ‘muddy’ but they do not cofound the findings of the study)
what are cofounding variables, use the energy drink study to create a potential cofounding variable
- do change systematically with IV
- eg we have 20 pptnts in energy drink study
- we use firt 10 to arrive for water group and last 10 for energy drink group
- coincidentaly first 10pptnts are extroverted and last 10 are shy and introverted
- when we analyse results we find that energy drin group are chattier but we arent sure if this is because of energy drink or personality
- personality = cofounding variable
give an example of an extrneous variable which is very significant in experimental research and is extremely hard to control (1)
- participatent reactivity
explain how demand characteristics may be expressed in an experiment (2)
- ppts will try work out what is going on and may act how they believe the researcher wants people to act
- or may delibverately underperorm to sabotage the results of the experiment
why are demand characteristics bad ? (1)
behavior is no longer natural
what are investigator effects
- any unwanted influence of the investigator on the research outcome
what can investigator effects include ? (2)
- expectancy effects
- unconcious cues
give an example of investigator effects in eyewitness testimonies (1)
leading questions
give an examle of investigator effects in the energy drink experiment (2)
- may smile more during interactions w some pptnts more than others
- may encourage greater level of chattiness from energy drink pptnts
what is randomisation (3)
- use of chance
- to reduce researchers influence of design of investigation
- minimises effects of extraneous/cofounding variables
what does randomisation attempt to control ? (1)
investigator effects
give an example of how randomisation could be used in a memory experiment which involves pptnts recalling words from a list (2)
- order of words in list should be randomly generated
- so experimenter doesnt decide position of each word
explain how randomisation could be used in the energy drink study if you are trying to determin what quantity of energy drink causes chatiness (4)
- set up 4 experimental conditions:
- drinking water
- drinking 100ml energy drink
- drinking 200ml energy drink
- drinking 300ml energy drink
- all pptnts must take part in each condition
- order which conditions were completed would need to be randomised by each pptnt
what is standarisation in an investigation (3)
- all pptnts should be subject to same env
- information
- and experience
what must be included when procedures are standarised ? (1)
standarised instructions
what does standarisation lead to ? (1)
- non standarised changes in procedure wont act as extraneous variables
what are the 3 types of experimental design ? (3)
independant groups
repeated measures
* * matched pairs
what are experimental designs ? (1)
the way which pptnts are used in an experiment
what is an independant groups design ? (2)
when 2 seperate groups of pptnts experience 2 diff conditions
- performance of 2 groups is compared
what is a repeated measures design ? (2)
- all pptnts experience BOTH conditions of exp
- 2 sets of data from both conditions compared to see if there is a diff
what is matched pairs experimental design (3)
- pptnts paired together on a variable relevant to experiment eg. on a memory exp they may be matched on IQ levels
- 1 pptnt from each pair allocated to a diff condition
- compare results of each condition
evaluate weaknesses of independant groups design (2)
- pptnts who occupy diff groups arent the same so diff between groups on the DV may be due to individual diffs rather than the effect of the IV
- less economical than repeated measures as twice as many pptnts needed
evaluate the strenhths of independant groups design (1)
pptnts only contrbutes to result of 1 conditions so cant guess aims of exp or try sabotage results = less demand characteristics
what can be used in order to reduce the effects of individual differences in independant groups design (2
- random allocations
- eg write letters A or B or paper and place in a hat and researcher selects them 1 at a time to assign pptnts to groups
evaluate weaknessed of repeated measures design (3)
- order effects arise
- fatigue = performance may deteriorate in next condition
- pptnts more likely to work out aim = demand characteristics
evaluate the strengths of repeated measures design (2)
- same pptnts participate in each condition so no individual diffs can affect DV
- more economical
what do researchers use to deal with order effects in a repeated measures design (1)
- counterbalancing
explain how counterbalancing is used and why it is used (3)
- attempt to control order effects ina repeated measures design
- half pptnts take part in conditions A then B
- other half take part in condition B then A
what is counterbalancing sometimes reffered to as ? (1)
the ABBA technique
evaluate the weaknesses of a matched pairs design (2)
pptnts can never be matched excatly - still be important diffs between pptnts which may affect DV
less economical - people have to be matched on variables relevant to exp may require testing = ££££
evaluate the strengths of a matched pairs design (1)
pptnts take part in only 1 condition so demand characteristics + order effects less of a problem
what are order effects and give an example (2)
- when a pptnts behavior is influenced by order of conditions they are exposed to
- eg boredome or fatigue may deteriorate performance in upcoming conditions
what do repeated measures design guarantee ? (1)
that we are comparing ‘like with like’
what are the 4 types of experiments (4)
- lab
- field
- natural
- quasi
what are lab experiments (2)
- conducted in highly controlled env
- researcher manipulates IV and records effect on DV
what are field experiments (2)
- takes place in a natural setting
- researcher manipulates IV and records effect on DV
what are natural experiments (2)
- change in IV not brought be researcher
- researcher records effect on DV
what are quasi experiments (3)
- study that is almost an experiment
- IV based on existing diff between ppl eg age
- no one has minipulated this IV
evaluate the strengths of a lab experiment (2)
- highly scientific = high internal validity
- can be replicated = reliable
evaluate the weaknesses of a lab experiment (2)
- artificil setting + tasks = low extrenal validity
- low ecological validity as pptnts know they are being tested
evaluate the strengths of a field experiment (4)
- env is more natural = high external validity
- less demand characteristics
evaluate the limitations of field studies (2)
- precise replication not possible
- ethical issues as cannot consent to being studies
evaluate the strengths of natural experiments (2)
- researchertakes advantage if pre existing variables = authentic responses to IV
- high external validity
evaluate the weknesses of natural experiments (2)
- naturally occuring event only occurs very rarely = hard to generalise
- pptnts wont be randomly allocated = individual diffs
evaluate the strengths of quasi- experiments (2)
- often carried out under controlled conditions = high internal validity
- can be easily replicated
evaluate the weknesses of quasi-experiments (1)
pptnts wont be randomly allocated = individual diffs
what is a target population ? (1)
large group of individuls researcher is interested in studying
what is a sample ? (2)
- smaller group selected by researcher
- from target population
what are the 5 types of sampling (5)
- random sample
- systematic sample
- stratified sample
- opportunity sample
- volunteer sample
how is a random sample obtained ? (3)
- complete list of all members
- assign all names a number
- use some sort of lottery method to generate sample
what is a systematic sample ? (1)
- when every nth term of a population is selected
what is a sampling frame ? (1)
a list of ppl in a population
explain how a stratified sample is produced (2)
- sample frame produced
- select sampling system to select people eg every 3rd person
explain how a strtified sample is obtained (3)
- identify diff stratas that make up a population
- work out proportions needed for sample to be representative
- select pptnts that make up each strata using random sampling
explain how an opportunity sample is obtained (2)
- researcher asks whoever is around
- researcher selects anyone who is availible + willing during time of research