Research Methods Flashcards
What are the four types of confounding variables?
-participant variables (age,weight)
-situational variables(temperature distractions)
-demand characteristics (please you, screw you)
- investigator effects (tone, body language)
What is a confounding variable?
A variable which changes both the IV and the DV
What are the two ways to control extraneous and confounding variables?
Randomisation and standardisation
Define randomisation
Participants are assigned randomly to each condition without the researcher being able to chose
Define standardisation
When all participants are exposed to exactly the same conditions. A list can be made of exactly what happens to each participant to control this
What is an aim?
Identifies the purpose of the investigation, a straightforward expression of what the researcher trying to find out from conducting an experiment.
What is a hypothesis?
States what you believe will happen. It is a precise and testable prediction of the relationship between two variables.
What is a directional hypothesis?
Predicts the direction of the outcome. For example, ‘this group will score higher than the other group’
What is a non directional hypothesis?
Predicts a difference but doesn’t say in which direction. Always starts with ‘there will be a difference’
What is a bull hypothesis?
Predicts there will be no difference in the two conditions.
What type of hypothesis would be used if there had been previous research done on the topic of the experiment?
Directional
What are the four types of experiments
-laboratory
-field
- natural
-quasi
What is a laboratory experiment?
Carried out in a highly controlled environment such as a classroom
What is a field experiment?
Conducted in a natural environment but the IV is still manipulated
What is a natural experiment?
Conducted in a natural environment when the researcher has no control over the IV
What is a quasi experiment?
When the IV is pre-existing and cannot be changed. Can occur anywhere
Evaluate a laboratory experiment
Strength- highly controlled variables
Limitation- demand characteristics
Evaluate a field experiment
Strength- high mundane realism
Strength- no demand characteristics
Limitations- loss of control over extraneous variables
Limitation- difficult to establish cause and effect between IV and DV
Evaluate a natural experiment
Strength- high external validity and mundane realism
Limitation- can be a one-off as is like a case study
Evaluate a quasi experiment
Strength- highly controlled
Limitation- cannot allocate participants randomly (PV can be a problem)
Name the three types of experimental designs
-independent groups
-repeated measures
-matched pairs
Evaluate the independent groups design
Strength- order affects and demand characteristics not a problem
Limitation - PV are a problem
Limitation- less economical
Evaluate the repeated measures design
Strength- PV less of an issue
Limitation- demand characteristics more of a problem
Evaluate the matches pairs design
Strength- demand characteristics less of a problem
Strength- PV less of a problem
Limitation- expensive and time consuming
What is a positive correlation?
When both variables increase or decrease at the same time
What is a negative correlation?
When as one variable increases the other decreases
What are the strengths of correlations?
-can be used to asses patterns between variables, which leads to further research.
-shows how two variables are related
-quick and cheap and often use secondary data
What are the weaknesses of correlations?
-cannot demonstrate cause end effect (say HOW not WHY)
- a third variables could affect the orhet 2
-findings can be misinterpreted
What are the three types of interview
-Structured
-unstructured
-semi-structured
Evaluate a structured interview
S- easy to replicate
S- lack of unexpected information
L- information received may lack detail
Evaluate an u structured interview
S- more flexible
S- gain insight into view of the interviewee
S- receive unexpected info
L- higher risk of interviewer bias
L- more difficult to analyse
What should an interviewer avoid in an interview?
Overuse of jargon, emotive language, double negatives
What are the two different types of sampling
Event sampling and time sampling
What is event sampling
Counting the number of times and event occurs
What is time sampling
Recording events with an established time frame (what is going on every 5 mins)
What are the four stages of inter-observer reliability?
1) familiarisation of behavioural categories
2)observe behaviour and gather data
3) compare date, discuss differences
4) correlate findings and calculate reliability (correlation coefficient of 0.8)
Evaluate open questions
S- lots of qualitative data
S- rich in detail
S- tells us WHY
L- harder to analyse
Evaluate closed questions
S- produces quantative data
S- easy to analyse
S- can be displayed on graphs and charts
L- lacks details
Evaluate questionnaires
S- cost effective
S- can be completed without researcher being present
S- quick and easy to analyse
L- participants can lie (social desirability bias)
L- participants can show a response bias
What are the 4 main ethical issues?
Consent, deception, protection from harm, privacy and confidentiality
What are the 4 different types of observation techniques
Naturalistic
Controlled
Overt
Covert
What are the different types of sampling participants?
Oppurtunity
Volunteer
Random systematic
Stratified
what is qualitative data
uses language and context to asses what is going on
rich in depth and detail
can find out about attitudes, beliefs etc
what is a strength of qualitative data
broader and more detailed information
what are the limitations of qualitative data
difficult to analyse
relies on subjective interpretation of researcher
what is quantitive data
numerical data
questions not probing if collecting quantitive data
sample sizes usually bigger
easy to analyse
what are the strengths of quantitive data
simple to analyse
objective
easy to compare
what is the weakness of quantitive data
lacks detail
what is primary data
data collected first hand from participants for a study
what is secondary data
data that has been collected by someone else, can be found in articles, books etc
what is a strength of primary data
collected specifically for investigation
what is a limitation of primary data
more expensive and time consuming to collect
what is a strength of secondary data
cheap and requires little effort
what is a weakness of secondary data
may lack accuracy- may be incomplete, outfdated or not foot investigation
what are is an advantage of finding the mean
most 'sensitive' measure as it includes all scores in data set so is more representative of all data
what is a disadvantage of finding the mean
distorted by extreme values/anomalies
what is an advantage of finding the median
extreme scores do not effect a median
what is a disadvantage of finding the median
doesn't represent all the data in na set
what is an advantage of finding the mode
easy to calculate
sometimes the only thing that can be used (what is your favourite sport etc)
what is a disadvantage of finding the mode
doesn't represent all the data
what is standard deviation
a measure of how far away the scores in a data set are away from the mean . the larger the deviation the bigger the spread of the scores
what are the two ways of measuring dispersion
range
standard deviation
when would you use a bar chart
when data is discrete
for example, what pets people have
when would you use a histogram
when plotting continuous data
for example, how long it took people to run 100m
when would you use a line graph
used when looking at continuous data over time
for example, how someones time at running 100m changed every year
what is a normal distribution graph
when the mean, median and mode all fall around the highest, centre point of the bell curve
what does a normal distribution graph mean
most people are located in the middle, with very few scores at the extremes
what is a negative skew
where the concentration leans towards the right, with a long tail on the left
what is a positive skew
where the concentration leans towards the left with a long tail on the right
what is an example of a negative skew
a very easy test where most people got a high score a few anomalous results (tail)
what is an example of a positive skew
a very hard test where most people got a low score with a few anomalies (tail)
what is the single bind technique
when the researcher keeps some details from the participants, such as what condition they are in or if there is another condition
what is an example of the single bind technique
giving one of two pills to participants but not telling them that other participants are receiving different pills
what is the double blind technique
when neither the researcher or the participants know the aim of the investigation
what is an example of the double blind technique
drug trials- person administering drugs does not know if they are placebo or not
what is a pilot study
when a small scale version of the investigation is run before actual thing. also done with questionnaires and interviews. identifies any problems that need fixing, can save time and money
what is the aim of peer review
all aspects of written investigations being scrutinised by a small of usually two or three peers. these peers should conduct an objective review and be unknown to the author or researcher
what are the three aims of peer review
allocate research funding
to validate the quality and relevance of research
to suggests amendments or improvements
what are the limitations of peer review
anonymity- some researchers use anonymity to put down rival researchers who crossed their paths
publication bias- editors tend to only want to publish positive or headline grabbing results leading to file drawer bias
Bury groundbreaking research- publishers may not want to publish research that goes against main stream theories.
how do you deal with informed consent
signed form before experiment
what are the three types of consent
presumptive
prior general
retrospective
how do you deal with deception and protection from harm
full debrief
right to withdraw data
pay for counselling
how do you deal with confidentiality
keep them anonymous
tell them this in brief and debrief
what are the strengths of participant observations
increases external validity
what are the limitations of participant observations
researcher may lose objectivity
what is unstructured observation
writing down everything that is seen
what is a structured observation
uses behavioural categories
what is continuous recording
part of unstructured observation when everything to do with target behaviour is written down
what are the limitations of unstructured observation
observer bias
doesnt work for complex observations.
