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psychology a level > research methods > Flashcards

research methods Flashcards

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1
Q

what is an extraneous variable?

A

a variable that has the potential to mess up ur research

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2
Q

what does ecological validity mean

A

true to life

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3
Q

what is demand characteristics

A

when your participants have worked out ur experiment and change their behaviour

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4
Q

what is a strength of lab experiment

A

-allows extraneous variables to be controlled so cause and effect can be established
-increase of reliability

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5
Q

what is a weakness of lab experiment

A

lacks ecological validity
increase of demand characteristics

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6
Q

strengths of field experiment

A

increase of ecological validity
decrease of demand characteristics

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7
Q

weakness of field experiment

A

increase of extraneous variables
decrease of reliability

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8
Q

strengths of quasi

A

could be unethical
increase of ecological validity
decrease of demand characteristics

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9
Q

weakness of quasi

A

-hard to establish cause and effect (as researcher has not directly manipulated IV)
-decrease of reliability

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10
Q

when would you write a one tailed hypothesis

A

when you feel confident about which way your results are going to go

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11
Q

when would you write a two tailed hypothesis

A

when you are not clear which way your results will go

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12
Q

what’s a null hypothesis

A

when you say there will be no correlation between the two variables

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13
Q

what is a repeated measures design?

A

same participants are used in both conditions

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14
Q

what is an independent measures design?

A

two different sets of participants used in the two conditions

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15
Q

what is a matched design?

A

two different groups of participants are used but they are matched up

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16
Q

what is an advantage of repeated design

A

because same participants are being used, any differences you see are not likely to be due to differences between participants

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17
Q

what is a disadvantage of repeated design

A

your research might be affected by order effects
demand characteristics can be more likely

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18
Q

what is an advantage of independent design

A

-participants only doing research once so results not effected by order effects
-decrease of demand characteristics

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19
Q

what is disadvantages of independent design

A
  • people have different abilities (participant variables)
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20
Q

advantage of matched design

A

-decrease of order effects
-decrease of demand characteristics

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21
Q

disadvantage of matched design

A

-costly and time consuming
-reduces participant variables

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22
Q

what is a participant observation

A

-the researcher becomes part of the group they are studying
-this type of observation often be naturalistic and unstructured

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23
Q

what is a non participant observation

A

researcher just observes without becoming part of the group

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24
Q

what is an overt observation

A

participants are aware they’re being studied

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25
Q

what is a covert observation

A

participants unaware they’re being studied

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26
Q

what is a naturalistic observation

A

behaviour is studied in a natural situation where everything has been left as it normally is

27
Q

what is a controlled observation

A

some variables are controlled and participants likely to be aware they’re being observed

28
Q

what is a structured observation

A

pre-decided set of behaviours that you are looking for

29
Q

what is time sampling

A

involves observing behaviours at set time periods

30
Q

advantages of time sampling

A

-allows u to see how a behaviour develops over time
-give quantitative data that is easy to analyse

31
Q

disadvantage of time sampling

A

-could be time consuming
-could decrease reliability as it could be hard to be consistent
-important behaviour could be missed if it occurs between an observation period

32
Q

what is event sampling

A

involve recording how often specific behaviours occur

33
Q

advantage of event sampling

A

-quantitative data
-all behaviour will be seen rather than just at certain times

34
Q

disadvantage of event sampling

A

difficult to observe all the targeted areas at the same time

35
Q

what is an unstructured observation

A

-the researcher would have some idea of what behaviour they expect to see
-they record everything they see

36
Q

strengths of naturalistic and controlled observations

A

high ecological validity because they do not involve the manipulation of an IV and because participants are unaware

37
Q

weakness of unstructured observations

A

-chance of observer bias (when the observer sees what they expect to see rather than what the actually saw)
-may miss things

38
Q

weakness of controlled and overt observation

A

observer effects (peoples behaviour might change if they are aware they’re being observed)

39
Q

weakness of participant observation

A

ethical issues - often not possible to obtain consent of people that ur researching, people may feel betrayed if you have joined a group just to research them

40
Q

what kind of method is a questionnaire?

A

self report

41
Q

what kind of questions are in questionnaires?

A

closed questions

42
Q

what is a likert scale?

A

respondents must indicate how closely their feelings match the question or statement on a rating scale

43
Q

what is a semantic differential rating scale

A

it gathers info about someone’s attitude on a number of different dimensions

44
Q

what kind of data does closed questions give

A

quantitative

45
Q

advantage of closed questions?

A

easier to analyse and easier for respondents to fill in

46
Q

a disadvantage of closed questions?

A

may miss something because the response the participants want isn’t included in the options, this lowers the validity

47
Q

advantage of open questions?

A

-detailed and in depth data
-gives a better idea of what someone thinks
-increases validity

48
Q

what type of data does open questions give?

A

qualitative

49
Q

a disadvantage of open questions?

A

-data more difficult to analyse
-more open to bias as researchers own subjective opinion may come in

50
Q

strengths of questionnaires?

A

-relatively quick and cheap
-allows patterns to be identified
-if there is open questions the data could be in depth and detailed increasing validity

51
Q

weaknesses of questionnaires?

A

-chance of social desirability bias
- low response rate
-increase in demand characteristics

52
Q

generalisability

A

this is the ability to generalise the results beyond the research

53
Q

operationalise

A

the definition of variables so that they can be accurately manipulated, measured and replicated

54
Q

order effects

A

they can produce changes in performance that are not due to IV e.g doing worse because they’re tired or better because they’ve practiced

55
Q

snowball sampling

A

gaining participants for the sample by asking current participants to refer others they know are suitable

56
Q

split half

A

measure of reliability that compares two halves of a test e.g odd and even numbered questions

57
Q

test-retest

A

measure of reliability that uses the same test twice, if they correlate well the measure has good reliability

58
Q

what kind of method is an interview

A

self report

59
Q

what is a structured interview

A

-mainly closed questions that are usually scripted
-participants get asked the same questions in a fixed order

60
Q

what is a semi structured interview

A

fixed list of open and closed questions
same questions for all participants

61
Q

advantage of semi structured interview

A

you can gather data that is more in depth and explore areas of interest

62
Q

disadvantage of semi structured interview

A

some questions are open so more difficult to analyse
bias is more likely

63
Q

unstructured interview

A

questions not prearranged
researchers have broad idea what they’re looking for

psychology a level (14 decks)

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