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Research Methods Flashcards

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1
Q

whats an aim?

A

a general statement of what the researchers intend to find out in a research study

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2
Q

whats a hypothesis?

A

a precise testable statement about the assumed relationship between variables

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3
Q

whats a directional hypothesis?

A

states there will be a change and the direction in which it will go in

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4
Q

whats a non directional hypothesis?

A

predicts a change but not the direction of the change

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5
Q

whats a null hypothesis?

A

no significant difference exists

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6
Q

whats the independent variable?

A

characteristic that changes

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7
Q

whats the dependant variable?

A

being measured

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8
Q

whats operationalisation?

A

clearly defining the variables in terms of how they can be measured

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9
Q

what do psychologists do in a study? (the order) four steps

A

theory - prediction - experimental - conclusion

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10
Q

“lack of sleep affects reaction time” is this directional or non?

A

NON

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11
Q

“”high temperatures grow tomatoes quickly” non or directional?

A

directional but bad

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12
Q

what is the IV and DV of “sleep affects how quickly you complete a crossword”?

A

IV- less than or more than 8 hours of sleep

DV- time how many seconds it takes them to complete it

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13
Q

define extraneous variables

A

any variable luch affects the DV if not controlled

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14
Q

state what four things extraneous variables are divided into and define them?

A

• demand characteristics - participants know the aim and therefore change their behaviour
• investigator effects - any effects of the researchers behaviour on the outcomes of the research/DV
• participant variables - individual differences between participants that may affect the DV
• situational variables - any features of the experimental situation that may affect the DV

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15
Q

give examples of:
• investigator effects
• participant variables
• situational variables
from the two vs no sweet memory experiment in class

A

• sampling tech used, how they interact with participants
• IQ, amount of sleep
• noise, view of the board

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16
Q

define standardisation?

A

• using exactly the same procedures and instructions for all participants

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17
Q

example of standardisation?

A

• same words, same time, same room/ situation

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18
Q

define randomisation

A

• the use of chance to control bias
eg. names in hat at 1 to 2 method

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19
Q

what is the aim of any psychological study?

A

• provide information about how people behave in ‘real life’- the everyday settings which life is lived

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20
Q

what is the risk on ppt if the study is too artificial

A

they will not act as they normally would

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21
Q

name and define the different experimental design?

A

• repeated measures design - there is only one group of participants that take part in both conditions
• independent groups design - there are two separate groups of participants (one for condition A one for B)
• matched pairs design - two separate groups matches into pairs for certain qualities eg age

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22
Q

evaluation of repeated measures design and how to deal with limitations?

A

pos: removed participant characteristics

neg: order effects, increase demand characteristics, conditions may differ

dealing with it: counterbalancing

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23
Q

evaluation of independent groups design and how to deal with limitations?

A

pos: order effects removed, less chance of demand characteristics

neg: more ppt needed, lots of participant variables uncontrolled, need to be careful with standardisation

fix it: make groups as similar as pos, randomly allocate to remove bias

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24
Q

evaluation of matched pairs design and how to deal with limitations?

A

pos: decrease ppt variables, order effects not an issue

neg: difficult to match up

fix it: conduct a pilot study (small scale version) to consider key variables to match

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25
Q

state where it occurs and describe:
- order effects
- counterbalancing
- random allocation

A
  • repeated measures = practice (knowing what to do, bias), fatigue (tired so does worse)
  • repeated measures = “ABBA” half of the participants do A first then B others do B then A
  • independent groups = they are allocated to a condition (A or B) by tossing a coin or picking a number
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26
Q

define reliability?

A

(being repeatable)
• different researchers doing the same method gets the same results - consistency, high reliability, standardisation, high control

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27
Q

define validity

A

(is it truthful)
• does it measure what it was supposed to measure
• the extent to which an observed effect is genuine

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28
Q

define internal validity

A

whether the effects of an experiment is due to the IV and not EVs
• low internal val= high amount of EVs

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29
Q

define external validity

A

(mundane realism)
(ecological validity)
whether it can be generalised to the outside world
low = too artificial

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30
Q

name the four types of experiments:

A

laboratory
field
natural
quasi

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31
Q

describe a laboratory experiment

A

• take place in a controlled artificial environment - usually in uni’s
• EV’s controlled - clear cause + effects established and very controlled
• standardised procedures
• most scientific form
• objective - free from bias - researcher detached

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32
Q

describe a field experiment

A

• experiment in everyday real life setting
• IV -> DV
• extraneous variables different to control
• particpants are unaware - demand characteristics lowered

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33
Q

explain a natural experiment

A

• researcher doesnt manipulate the IV, occurred naturally
• used when its not practical or ethical to manipulate IV

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34
Q

define a quasi experiment

A

is conducted when the IV is based an existing differences between
people

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35
Q

name the strengths and weaknesses of a labatory experiment?

A

strengths:
• high reliablity
• free from bias
• very controlled
• high internal validity
• EV’s controlled
weaknesses:
• overartificial - lacks realism/ external validity
• investigator effects can occur
• internal validity could be compromised - demand characteristics

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36
Q

name the strengths and weaknesses of a field experiment?

A

strengths:
• the participants are unaware - removes chance of demand characterstics.
• higher mundane realism / external validity
• more research opportunities

weaknesses:
• lower internal validity - more EVs.
• low reliability
• ethical issues - not consensual.

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37
Q

name the strengths and weaknesses of a natural experiment?

A

strengths:
• high realism/ external validity
• research opportunities in areas that wouldnt be possible otherwise.

weaknesses:
• low internal validity - unknown EVs
• low reliability
• lack of opportunity
• demand characteristics - bias

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38
Q

define an ethical issue?

A

• these arise when a conflict exists between the rights of the ppts in research studies and the goal of research to produce authentic, valid and worthwhile results

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39
Q

name the 5 guidelines for the British Psychology Society?

A

• consent (informed)
• deception
• confidentiality and privacy
• right to withdraw
• protection from harm

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40
Q

explain informed consent

A

ppt should know as much as possible ab the procedure before they agree to do it (eg, how long it will take, what they will be asked to do)
• they should also be aware of the aims and their rights to be able to withdraw at any point
• some believe that informed consent makes a study meaningless because ppts do not act naturally if they know the aims

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41
Q

explain deception?

A

deliberately misleading our participants in some way - debrief after !!!

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42
Q

explain confidentiality and privacy?

A

• legal rights for ppts, researchers should do everything possible to ensure anonymity by removing names and identifying details

• ppt have the right to control info ab themselves

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43
Q

explain protection from
harm?

A

• PPT SHOULD BE LEFT IN THE SAME WAY THEY ENTERED
• psychological and physical harm
• allowed to withdraw if uncomfortable
• should NOT be subject to embarrassment, stress or under pressure

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44
Q

whats the mnemonic to remember ethical guidelines?

A

Can - confidentiality
Do - deception
Cant - consent
Do - DEBRIEF (after)
With - withdraw
Participants - protection of ppts

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45
Q

what is the target population?

A

whole group that you are studying

46
Q

whats the sample frame

A

a list of everyone in the population

47
Q

whats the sample

A

group of people taken from sampling frame on who you do the research

48
Q

what is cross sectional

A

it will be made up of a range of different people to best represent the research population

49
Q

whats generalisation

A

research from the study can be applied to the whole research population

50
Q

whats representative

A

when data can be said to accurately represent the research population in terms of eg gender and age

51
Q

name the 5 different sampling techniques ?

A

random, opportunity, volunteer, stratified/quota, systematic

52
Q

random sampling…

A

• names out of a hat or number generator
• chance NOT bias
• every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen
• not representative for small sample but can be for large
• time consuming

53
Q

opportunity sample…

A

• economical
• whenever is available at the time and willing to be studied
• bias - ask certain ppl
• might not be representative

54
Q

volunteer sampling…

A

• people actively volunteer to be in a study by responding to a request which has been advertised
• consent is more ethical
• bias - only volunteer if your interested

55
Q

stratified/ quota sampling…

A

• mathematically worked out - reflect population
• time consuming
• representative
• classify population into categories and choose sample which consists of ppt from each category to reflect population

56
Q

systematic sampling…

A

• bit random
• list and take nth number
• researcher picks ppt at set intervals from sampling frame
• not bias
• not necessarily representative especially with small groups

57
Q

what are the ppts and researchers POV for informed consent?

A

ppt: necessary when deciding whether to take part

researcher: may cause demand characteristics

58
Q

what are the ppts and researchers POV for deception?

A

ppt: prevents ability to give informed consent

r: may cause demand characteristics

59
Q

what are the ppts and researchers POV for right to withdraw?

A

ppt: may feel unable to as it would spoil the experiment, some studies offer rewards so they nay feel unable to leave
r: loss of ppts = bias findings

60
Q

what are the ppts and researchers POV for protection from harm

A

ppt: no desire to be harmed

r: may be impossible to predict risks

61
Q

what are the ppts and researchers POV for confidentiality?

A

ppt: data protection act makes confidentiality a legal right

r: details of a study may lead to ppt identification

62
Q

what are the ppts and researchers POV for privacy?

A

ppt: people have an expectation of privacy

r: demand characteristics

63
Q

how could each issue be dealt with?
- informed consent
- deception
- right to withdraw
- protection from harm
- confidentiality
- privacy

A
  • formally agree (in writing) and debrief after the study and offer right to withhold data
  • seek permission from an ethical committee, debrief
  • emphasis at the start, remind that throughout study assured of reward even if they leave
  • avoid risks greater than those in everyday life, stop immediately
  • no names (numbers instead), store information securely
  • do not observe without consent, if not usual observing situation, maintain confidentiality
64
Q

what are pilot studies?

A

small scale version of an investigation that takes place before the real investigation is conducted

65
Q

define single blind trial?

A

• ppts unaware- researcher aware
• any info that might create expectations is not revealed until end of the study -> avoid demand characteristics

66
Q

define a double blind trial

A

neither the ppt or researcher who conducts the study is aware of the aim
• rule out placebo - cant influence behaviour

67
Q

define control group in trials

A

setting a baseline
• neutral group to formulate comparisons

68
Q

what is a questionnaire?

A

• a set of questions designed to collect info about a topic/s
• strengths =
- collect the same info from a large n of people easily
- can access what people think (observations etc rely on guessing what people think)

69
Q

describe open question?

A

ppt can give any answer they wish

70
Q

define closed questions

A

set number of responses that ppt have to select from

71
Q

define a likert scale

A

a scale of responses to a question often 1-5 demonstrating a level of agreement

72
Q

define a rating scale

A

assesses the strength of a ppt ls opinion again - ppts must identify a value that represents their strength of a feeling

73
Q

what type of data (qualitative or quantitative) is these for:
• open question
• closed question
• likert scale
• rating scale

A

• quantitative
• qualitative
• quantitative
• quantitative

74
Q

what is a structured interview?

A

• interview questionnaires
• list of q the researcher reads out in a particular order
• closed questions
• largely quantitive data

75
Q

whats an unstructured interview?

A

• relaxed environment - at ease
• not preplanned q’s
• less formal
• more like a convo

76
Q

whats a semi structured interview?

A

• combines both structured and unstructured interviews

• The interviewer might have a series of prepared questions, but will alter the interview as it goes along, adding new questions as information arise

• It’s rather like the interview you have when you go see a doctor, and as such, is often called a clinical interview.

77
Q

advantages and disadvantages of open question questionnaires?

A

adv:
- higher validity
- can answer how they want = new insights

disadv:
- difficult to analyse
- low response rate
- not flexible

78
Q

advantages and disadvantages of closed question questionnaires?

A

adv:
- quantitive data, easy to analyse
- easier to obtain a large sample
- easy to replicate, high reliability

dis:
- low validity, not a prefixed response which represents the responded feeling

79
Q

advantages and disadvantages of a structured interview?

A

adv:
- easy to repeat
- less interview skill needed
- quantitative data
- easier to analyse

dis:
- sample size is smaller than questionnaire

80
Q

advantages and disadvantages of unstructured interviews?

A

adv:
- qualitative data
- detailed info obtained

disadv:
- sample size smaller than questionnaire
- skilled interviewer
- interview bias

81
Q

what is an observational technique

A

observational studies involve watching and recording peoples behaviour

82
Q

what does non experimental methods mean?

A

eg observations
• no manipulation of variables
• not classed as experiments
• researcher observe behaviour and look for patterns
• cant establish cause and effect relationships
• observations are used in psych research in one of two ways, a non experimental method or as part of another research method

83
Q

what is a correlation?

A

A correlation is a relationship between two variables. A correlational design is a way to test the relationship between two variables. A participant provides data for both variables. A correlational design allows us to test whether 2 or more phenomena are related, and if so how strongly.

84
Q

whats in a correlation hypothesis?

A

states the expected relationship between co variables

85
Q

advantage of correlation analysis?

A

a good preliminary method for future research

86
Q

limitation of correlation analysis
?

A

no clear cause + effect

87
Q

what is quantitative data?

A
  • data that focuses on numbers - numerical data
88
Q

what is qualitative data?

A
  • data that describes meaning and experiences expressed in words
89
Q

what type of data does experiments produce?

A

quantitative - DV is measured to establish cause and effect

90
Q

what type of data does observations produce?

A
  • unstructered = qualititive
  • coding system + behavioural catergories = quantitative
91
Q

what type of data does self report techniques produce?

A
  • questionnaires =
    • likert, closed, rating are quantitive
    • open questions are qualititive
  • interviews =
    • structered are N
    • unstructured are L
92
Q

what type of data does correlations produce?

A

quantitative

93
Q

evaluation of the types of data?

A

• quantitative -
easy to analyse
oversimplifying behaviour
• qualitative -
detailed explanation
detailed insight so hard to analyse

94
Q

whats primary data?

A

information that has been obtained first hand by the researcher

95
Q

whats secondary data?

A

information that has already been collected by someone else and so pre dated the current research

96
Q

positives of primary and secondary data

A

primary = new and relevant
secondary = easy and free

97
Q

negatives of primary and secondary research?

A

primary = time and effort
secondary = could be out of date

98
Q

what does a normal distribution sketch look like?

A

bell curve
identical

99
Q

features of normal distribution

A

mean mode and median at all same point

data symmetrically spread

dispersion of scored either side of middle is consistant

100
Q

what does a negatively skewed distribution look like and features?

A

mean is LOWER than mode and median

LEFT FOOT !!!!!

101
Q

what does a positively skewed distribution look like and features?

A

RIGHT FOOT !!!!

mean is higher than rest

102
Q

standard deviation is?

A

tells us how varied ppt scores are

103
Q

what does a small standard deviation mean?

A

ppts are performed similarly

104
Q

what does a large standard deviation mean?

A

lots of variation between ppts

105
Q

in the sign test what does each thing mean?
P
N
SV
CV

A

P - probability MUST BE LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 0.05
N - number of ppts minus the zero scores
S/SV - how many + or - and whichever has the lowest freq
CV - on the table, one or two tailed, N and across

106
Q

does the S value need to be less or more than the CV foe the hypothesis to be accepted and results to be significant

A

less than or equal to

107
Q

three reasons to use sign test

A
  • repeated measures
  • test of dif
  • nominal data
108
Q

what does the sign test do?

A

determine whether the difference we have found in our research is significant

109
Q

what is peer review ?

A

the assessment of scientific work by others who are specialists in the same field, to ensure any research intended for publication is of high quality

110
Q

what is the purpose and aim of peer review?

A

the report is considered in terms of its validity (is it truthful?), significance (importance?) and originality (is it unique?)

Psychology (8 decks)

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