Research Methods Flashcards
Independent Variable (IV)
The Value We change
Dependent Variable (DV)
The one we measure
Extraneous Variable
Other variables that you’re not investigating that can affect the outcome and the dependent variable E.G., light intensity or sound
Confounding Variable
An extraneous variable that is not only affects the dv but is also related to the IV so can’t be sure if the correlation is correct
Control Group
A group of people who run the experiment before the IV is changed as a baseline to compare with the experiment group results
Lab experiment
Controlled experiment in an artificial environment
Field experiment
An experiment taking place in a participants natural setting for a result that is easily transferable into the real world
Correlation
Results that are interlocked and Effect one another similar results or opposite correlation EG as one increases so does the other
Objectivity
Scientific and uninfluenced by personal or past experiences free of biased views and not affected by beliefs and emotions
Subjectivity
Making of assumptions making interpretations based on personal opinions without a verifiable facts possibly influenced by personal opinion or past experiences with a heck a lot of bias
Reliability
The consistency of results
Can use other Studies to Show the Reliability of a Study
Inter rate reliability
A measure of consistency where judges, judge the consistency of how people do, for example, in a test/ the consistency of marks given in said test
Test retest reliability
A measure of consistency of a psychological test/assessment aka can the test be replicated
Internal validity
Weather an effect is a genuine one and has measured what it it intended to measure and the extent to which it can be applied beyond the research setting, usually determined by if it has a cause and effect, that has been
Construct validity
Degree to which a test or instrument is capable of measuring a concept trait or other theoretical entity
Concurrent validity
Extent to which the result of a particular test or measurement correspond to those of previously established measurement of the same construct AKA if the tests results match previous tests of the same nature
External validity
The extent which the results from a study can be applied to other situations, groups or events
Ecological validity
The ability to say that it’s( the result) what would occur in real life
Mundane realism
How much it reflect a real task to see it would be in the real world
Predictive validity
The ability of a test to predict the future behaviour of a person who takes it
Generalisability
The extent of which we can apply the findings of our researched for target population we are interested in AKA the real world
Experimenter effects
The influence that researchers have on participants performances and the interpretation of the results
Demand characteristics
When participants start to discover the aims of the study and change the way they act and it is a natural this will affect the results causing them to become invalid
Order effects
The order of the conditions having an effect on the participants behaviour only found in a repeated measures design
Counter balancing
A technique used to deal with order effects when using repeated measures design by changing the order of events so that they no longer has an effect on the participants behaviour
Randomisation
Non-specific or planned order picking from a sample AKA UN predictable
A single blind procedure
Participants don’t know which group of the experiment they are in
A double blind procedure
Neva the participants nor the experimenters know which experimental group the participants are in
A confederate
A research actor who secretly participants in the experiment with the other participants
A pilot study
A small scale study conducted before enlarger scale study to evaluate the potential for a future full-scale projects or in the case of an qualitative questionnaire: to find out if the questions are effective and find the correct data required and there are no issues
The placebo effect
A behaviour is observed without the real trigger or reason or drug or injection to trigger set behavior being present like a normal placebo but psychology
Aims
What the research is for what it is setting out do what it’s setting out to find
An alternative hypothesis
Categorised into one tail and two tailed
One-tailed: variable a will be significantly higher than variable b
Two tailed: there will be a significant difference between variable a and variable b
A null hypothesis
There will be no difference between variable a and variable B any difference will be down to chance
