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Research Methods Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the four types of confounding variables?

A

-participant variables (age,weight)
-situational variables(temperature distractions)
-demand characteristics (please you, screw you)
- investigator effects (tone, body language)

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2
Q

What is a confounding variable?

A

A variable which changes both the IV and the DV

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3
Q

What are the two ways to control extraneous and confounding variables?

A

Randomisation and standardisation

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4
Q

Define randomisation

A

Participants are assigned randomly to each condition without the researcher being able to chose

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5
Q

Define standardisation

A

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

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6
Q

What is an aim?

A

Identifies the purpose of the investigation, a straightforward expression of what the researcher trying to find out from conducting an experiment.

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7
Q

What is a hypothesis?

A

States what you believe will happen. It is a precise and testable prediction of the relationship between two variables.

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8
Q

What is a directional hypothesis?

A

Predicts the direction of the outcome. For example, ‘this group will score higher than the other group’

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9
Q

What is a non directional hypothesis?

A

Predicts a difference but doesn’t say in which direction. Always starts with ‘there will be a difference’

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10
Q

What is a bull hypothesis?

A

Predicts there will be no difference in the two conditions.

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11
Q

What type of hypothesis would be used if there had been previous research done on the topic of the experiment?

A

Directional

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12
Q

What are the four types of experiments

A

-laboratory
-field
- natural
-quasi

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13
Q

What is a laboratory experiment?

A

Carried out in a highly controlled environment such as a classroom

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14
Q

What is a field experiment?

A

Conducted in a natural environment but the IV is still manipulated

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15
Q

What is a natural experiment?

A

Conducted in a natural environment when the researcher has no control over the IV

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16
Q

What is a quasi experiment?

A

When the IV is pre-existing and cannot be changed. Can occur anywhere

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17
Q

Evaluate a laboratory experiment

A

Strength- highly controlled variables

Limitation- demand characteristics

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18
Q

Evaluate a field experiment

A

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

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19
Q

Evaluate a natural experiment

A

Strength- high external validity and mundane realism

Limitation- can be a one-off as is like a case study

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20
Q

Evaluate a quasi experiment

A

Strength- highly controlled

Limitation- cannot allocate participants randomly (PV can be a problem)

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21
Q

Name the three types of experimental designs

A

-independent groups
-repeated measures
-matched pairs

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22
Q

Evaluate the independent groups design

A

Strength- order affects and demand characteristics not a problem

Limitation - PV are a problem
Limitation- less economical

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23
Q

Evaluate the repeated measures design

A

Strength- PV less of an issue

Limitation- demand characteristics more of a problem

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24
Q

Evaluate the matches pairs design

A

Strength- demand characteristics less of a problem
Strength- PV less of a problem

Limitation- expensive and time consuming

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25
Q

What is a positive correlation?

A

When both variables increase or decrease at the same time

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26
Q

What is a negative correlation?

A

When as one variable increases the other decreases

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27
Q

What are the strengths of correlations?

A

-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

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28
Q

What are the weaknesses of correlations?

A

-cannot demonstrate cause end effect (say HOW not WHY)
- a third variables could affect the orhet 2
-findings can be misinterpreted

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29
Q

What are the three types of interview

A

-Structured
-unstructured
-semi-structured

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30
Q

Evaluate a structured interview

A

S- easy to replicate
S- lack of unexpected information

L- information received may lack detail

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31
Q

Evaluate an u structured interview

A

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

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32
Q

What should an interviewer avoid in an interview?

A

Overuse of jargon, emotive language, double negatives

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33
Q

What are the two different types of sampling

A

Event sampling and time sampling

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34
Q

What is event sampling

A

Counting the number of times and event occurs

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35
Q

What is time sampling

A

Recording events with an established time frame (what is going on every 5 mins)

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36
Q

What are the four stages of inter-observer reliability?

A

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)

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37
Q

Evaluate open questions

A

S- lots of qualitative data
S- rich in detail
S- tells us WHY

L- harder to analyse

38
Q

Evaluate closed questions

A

S- produces quantative data
S- easy to analyse
S- can be displayed on graphs and charts

L- lacks details

39
Q

Evaluate questionnaires

A

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

40
Q

What are the 4 main ethical issues?

A

Consent, deception, protection from harm, privacy and confidentiality

41
Q

What are the 4 different types of observation techniques

A

Naturalistic
Controlled
Overt
Covert

42
Q

What are the different types of sampling participants?

A

Oppurtunity
Volunteer
Random systematic
Stratified

43
Q

what is qualitative data

A

uses language and context to asses what is going on

rich in depth and detail

can find out about attitudes, beliefs etc

44
Q

what is a strength of qualitative data

A

broader and more detailed information

45
Q

what are the limitations of qualitative data

A

difficult to analyse

relies on subjective interpretation of researcher

46
Q

what is quantitive data

A

numerical data

questions not probing if collecting quantitive data

sample sizes usually bigger

easy to analyse

47
Q

what are the strengths of quantitive data

A

simple to analyse

objective

easy to compare

48
Q

what is the weakness of quantitive data

A

lacks detail

49
Q

what is primary data

A

data collected first hand from participants for a study

50
Q

what is secondary data

A

data that has been collected by someone else, can be found in articles, books etc

51
Q

what is a strength of primary data

A

collected specifically for investigation

52
Q

what is a limitation of primary data

A

more expensive and time consuming to collect

53
Q

what is a strength of secondary data

A

cheap and requires little effort

54
Q

what is a weakness of secondary data

A

may lack accuracy- may be incomplete, outfdated or not foot investigation

55
Q

what are is an advantage of finding the mean

A

most 'sensitive' measure as it includes all scores in data set so is more representative of all data

56
Q

what is a disadvantage of finding the mean

A

distorted by extreme values/anomalies

57
Q

what is an advantage of finding the median

A

extreme scores do not effect a median

58
Q

what is a disadvantage of finding the median

A

doesn't represent all the data in na set

59
Q

what is an advantage of finding the mode

A

easy to calculate

sometimes the only thing that can be used (what is your favourite sport etc)

60
Q

what is a disadvantage of finding the mode

A

doesn't represent all the data

61
Q

what is standard deviation

A

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

62
Q

what are the two ways of measuring dispersion

A

range

standard deviation

63
Q

when would you use a bar chart

A

when data is discrete

for example, what pets people have

64
Q

when would you use a histogram

A

when plotting continuous data

for example, how long it took people to run 100m

65
Q

when would you use a line graph

A

used when looking at continuous data over time

for example, how someones time at running 100m changed every year

66
Q

what is a normal distribution graph

A

when the mean, median and mode all fall around the highest, centre point of the bell curve

67
Q

what does a normal distribution graph mean

A

most people are located in the middle, with very few scores at the extremes

68
Q

what is a negative skew

A

where the concentration leans towards the right, with a long tail on the left

69
Q

what is a positive skew

A

where the concentration leans towards the left with a long tail on the right

70
Q

what is an example of a negative skew

A

a very easy test where most people got a high score a few anomalous results (tail)

71
Q

what is an example of a positive skew

A

a very hard test where most people got a low score with a few anomalies (tail)

72
Q

what is the single bind technique

A

when the researcher keeps some details from the participants, such as what condition they are in or if there is another condition

73
Q

what is an example of the single bind technique

A

giving one of two pills to participants but not telling them that other participants are receiving different pills

74
Q

what is the double blind technique

A

when neither the researcher or the participants know the aim of the investigation

75
Q

what is an example of the double blind technique

A

drug trials- person administering drugs does not know if they are placebo or not

76
Q

what is a pilot study

A

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

77
Q

what is the aim of peer review

A

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

78
Q

what are the three aims of peer review

A

allocate research funding

to validate the quality and relevance of research

to suggests amendments or improvements

79
Q

what are the limitations of peer review

A

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.

80
Q

how do you deal with informed consent

A

signed form before experiment

81
Q

what are the three types of consent

A

presumptive

prior general

retrospective

82
Q

how do you deal with deception and protection from harm

A

full debrief

right to withdraw data

pay for counselling

83
Q

how do you deal with confidentiality

A

keep them anonymous

tell them this in brief and debrief

84
Q

what are the strengths of participant observations

A

increases external validity

85
Q

what are the limitations of participant observations

A

researcher may lose objectivity

86
Q

what is unstructured observation

A

writing down everything that is seen

87
Q

what is a structured observation

A

uses behavioural categories

88
Q

what is continuous recording

A

part of unstructured observation when everything to do with target behaviour is written down

89
Q

what are the limitations of unstructured observation

A

observer bias

doesnt work for complex observations.

90
Q

A

Psychology (13 decks)

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