Research Methods Flashcards
Define Aim
The researcher’s area of interest - what they are looking at
Define bar chart
A graph that shows the data in the form of categories that the researcher wishes to compare
What are behavioural categories
Key behaviours, or, collections of behaviour, that the researcher conducting the observation will pay key attention to and record
What is a case study
In-depth investigation of a single person, group or event, where data are gathered from a variety of sources and by using several methods (e.g.observation and interviews )
What are closed questions?
Questions where there are fixed choices of response e.g yes/ no. They generate quantitative data
What are co-variables?
The variables investigated in a correlation
What is concurrent validity?
Comparing a new test with another test of the same thing to see if they produce similar results. If they do then the new test has concurrent validity.
What is meant by confidentiality?
Unless agreed beforehand, participants have the right to expect that all data collected during the research study will remain confidential and anonymous.
What are confounding variables? I
Any extraneous variables that vary systematically with the IV so we cannot be sure of the true source of the change to the DV
What is content analysis ?
A technique used to analyse qualitative data which involves coding the written data into categories - converting qualitative data into quantitative data
What is a control group?
A group that is treated or ally and gives us a measure of how people behave when they are not exposed to the experimental treatment (e.g. allowed to sleep normally)
What is meant but a controlled observation?
An observational study where researchers control some variables - often takes place in laboratory settings
What is correlational analysis ?
A mathematical technique where the researcher looks to see whether scores for two covariables are related
What is counterbalancing?
A way of trying to control for order effect in a repeated measures design, e.g. half the participants do condition A followed by B and the other half do B followed by A
What is a covert observation?
Also known as an undisclosed observation as the participants do now know their behaviour is being observed
What is a critical value?
The value that a test statistic much reach in order for the hypothesis to be accepted
What is meant by debriefing? And what is its aim?
After completing the research, the true aim is revealed to the participants. Aim of debriefing = to return the person to the state which he or she was in befor they took part.
Define deception
Involves misleading participants about the purpose of the study
What is meant by demand characteristics?
Occur when participants try to make sense of the research situation they are in and try to guess the aim of the research or try to present themselves in a good way
What is a dependent variables?
The variable that is measured to tell you the outcome
What are descriptive statistics?
Analysis of data that helps describe, show or summarise data in a meaningful way
What is a directional hypothesis?
A one-tailed hypothesis that states the direction of the difference or relationship (e.g boys are more helpful than girls)
What are measures of dispersion?
A dispersion measure shows how a set of data is spread out, examples are the range and the standard deviation
What is a double blind closed experiment
Participants are not told the true purpose of the research and the experimenter is also blind to at least some aspects of the research design
What is ecological validity?
The extent to which the finding of a research study are able to be generalised to real-life settings
What is meant by ethnically guidelines?
These are provided by the BPS- they are the ‘rules’ by which all psychologist should operate, including those carrying out research
Give examples of ethical issues
There are 3 main ethical issues that occur in psychological research - deception, lack of informed consent and lack of protection of participants.
What is evaluation apprehension?
Participants behaviour is distorted as they fear being judged by observers
What is event sampling?
A target behaviour is identified and the observer records it every time it occurs
What group is the experimental group?
The group that received the experimental treatment (e.g. sleep deprivation)
What is meant by external validity?
Whether it is possible to generalise the results beyond the experimental setting
What are extraneous variables
Variables that if not controlled may affect the DV and provide a false impression that an IV has produced changes when it hasen’t
What is Face validity
Simple way of assessing whether a test measures what it claims to measure which is concerned with face value e,g does an IQ test look like it tests intelligence
What is a field experiment?
An experiment that takes place in a natural setting where the experimenter manipulates the IV and measures the DV
What is histogram?
A graph that is used for continuous data (e.g. test scores). There should be no space between the bars, because the data is continuous.
What is a hypothesis
This is a formal statement or prediction of what the researcher expects to find. It needs to be testable.
What is a independent group design
An experimental design where each participants only takes part in one condition of the IV
What is an independent variable?
The variable that the experimenter manipulates (changes).
What are inferential statistics?
Inferential statistics are ways of analyzing data using statistical tests that allow the researcher to make conclusions about whether a hypothesis was supported by the results.
What is meant by informed consent?
Psychologists should ensure that all participants are helped to understand fully all aspects of the research before they agree (give consent) to take part
What is inter-observer reliability?
The extent to which two or more observers are observing and recording behaviour in the same way
What is meant by internal validity
In relation to experiments, whether the results were due to the manipulation of the IV rather than other factors such as extraneous variables or demand characteristics.
What is interval level data?
Data measured in fixed units with equal distance between points on the scale
What are investigator effects
These result from the effects of a researcher’s behaviour and characteristics on an investigation.
what is a lab experiment?
An experiment that takes place in a controlled environment where the experimenter manipulates the IV and measures the DV
What is a matched pair design?
An experimental design where pairs of participants are matched on important characteristics and one member allocated to each condition of the IV
What is a mean?
Measure of central tendency calculated by adding all the scores in a set of data together and dividing by the total number of scores
What are measures of central tendency?
A measurement of data that indicates where the middle of the information lies e.g. mean, median or mode
What is a median
Measure of central tendency calculated by arranging scores in a set of data from lowest to highest and finding the middle score
What is meta-analysis
A technique where rather than conducting new research with participants, the researchers examine the results of several studies that have already been conducted
What is mode?
Measure of central tendency which is the most frequently occurring score in a set of data
What is a natural experiment?
An experiment where the change in the IV already exists rather than being manipulated by the experimenter
What is a naturalistic observation?
An observation study conducted in the environment where the behaviour would normally occur
What is meant by a negative correlation?
A relationship exists between two covariables where as one increases, the other decreases
What is nominal level data?
Frequency count data that consists of the number of participants falling into categories. (e.g. 7 people passed their driving test first time, 6 didn’t).
What is a non-directional hypothesis?
A two-tailed hypothesis that does not predict the direction of the difference or relationship (e.g. girls and boys are different in terms of helpfulness).
What is a normal distribution?
An arrangement of a data that is symmetrical and forms a bell shaped pattern where the mean, median and mode all fall in the centre at the highest peak
What is an observed value?
The value that you have obtained from conducting your statistical test
What is observer bias?
Occurs when the observers know the aims of the study study or the hypotheses and allow this knowledge to influence their observations
What are open questions?
Questions where there is no fixed response and participants can give any answer they like. They generate qualitative data.
What is meant by operationalised variables?
This means clearly describing the variables (IV and DV) in terms of how they will be manipulated (IV) or measured (DV).
What is an opportunity sample?
A sampling technique where participants are chosen because they are easily available
What is order effect?
Order effects can occur in a repeated measures design and refers to how the positioning of tasks influences the outcome e.g. practice effect or boredom effect on second task
What is ordinal level data?
Data that is capable of being out into rank order (e.g. places in a beauty contest, or ratings for attractiveness).
What is an overt observation?
Also known as a disclosed observation as the participants given their permission for their behaviour to be observed
What is participant observation?
Observation study where the researcher actually joins the group or takes part in the situation they are observing.
What is peer review?
Before going to publication, a research report is sent other psychologists who are knowledgeable in the research topic for them to review the study, and check for any problems
What is a pilot study?
A small scale study conducted to ensure the method will work according to plan. If it doesn’t then amendments can be made.
What is a positive correlation?
A relationship exists between two covariables where as one increases, so does the other
What is presumptive consent?
Asking a group of people from the same target population as the sample whether they would agree to take part in such a study, if yes then presume the sample would
What is primary data?
Information that the researcher has collected him/herself for a specific purpose e.g. data from an experiment or observation
What is meant by prior general consent?
Before participants are recruited they are asked whether they are prepared to take part in research where they might be deceived about the true purpose
What is meant by probability?
How likely something is to happen – can be expressed as a number (0.5) or a percentage (50% change of tossing coin and getting a head)
What does protection of participants mean?
Participants should be protected from physical or mental health, including stress - risk of harm must be no greater than that to which they are exposed in everyday life
What is qualitative data?
Descriptive information that is expressed in words
What is quantitative data?
Information that can be measured and written down with numbers.
What is a quasi experiment?
An experiment often conducted in controlled conditions where the IV simply exists so there can be no random allocation to the conditions
What are questionnaires?
A set of written questions that participants fill in themselves
What is random sampling?
A sampling technique where everyone in the target population has an equal chance of being selected
What is meant by randomisation?
Refers to the practice of using chance methods (e.g. flipping a coin’ to allocate participants to the conditions of an investigation
What is range?
The distance between the lowest and the highest value in a set of scores / A measure of dispersion which involves subtracting the lowest score from the highest score in a set of data
What is meant by reliability?
Whether something is consistent. In the case of a study, whether it is replicable.
What is a repeated measures design?
An experimental design where each participants takes part in both/all conditions of the IV
What is mean by a representative sample?
A sample that that closely matched the target population as a whole in terms of key variables and characteristics
What is retrospective consent?
Once the true nature of the research has been revealed, participants should be given the right to withdraw their data if they are not happy.
What is meant by right to withdraw?
Participants should be aware that they can leave the study at any time, even if they have been paid to take part.
What is a sample?
A group of people that are drawn from the target population to take part in a research investigation
What is a scattergram
Used to plot correlations where each pair of values is plotted against each other to see if there is a relationship between them.
What is secondary data?
Information that someone else has collected e.g. the work of other psychologists or government statistics
What is a semi-structured interview?
Interview that has some pre-determined questions, but the interviewer can develop others in response to answers given by the participant
What is a sign test?
A statistical test used to analyse the direction of differences of scores between the same or matched pairs of subjects under two experimental conditions
What is significance?
If the result of a statistical test is significant it is highly unlikely to have occurred by chance
What is single blind control
Participants are not told the true purpose of the research
What is skewed distribution?
An arrangement of data that is not symmetrical as data is clustered ro one end of the distribution
What is social desirability bias ?
Participants’ behaviour is distorted as they modify this in order to be seen in a positive light.
What is standard deviation?
A measure of the average spread of scores around the mean. The greater the standard deviation the more spread out the scores are.
What is meant by standardised instructions?
The instructions given to each participant are kept identical – to help prevent experimenter bias.
What is a standardised procedure?
In every step of the research all the participants are treated in exactly the same way and so all have the same experience.
What is a stratified sample
A sampling technique where groups of participants are selected in proportion to their frequency in the target population
What is a structured interview
Interview where the questions are fixed and the interviewer reads them out and records the responses
What is a structured interview?
An observation study using predetermined coding scheme to record the participants’ behaviour
What is a systematic sample?
A sampling technique where every nth person in a list of the target population is selected
What is a target population?
The group that the researchers draws the sample from and wants to be able to generalise the findings to
What is temporal validity?
Refers to how likely it is that the time period when a study was conducted has influenced the findings and whether they can be generalised to other periods in time
What is test-retest reliability?
Involves presenting the same participants with the same test or questionnaire on two separate occasions and seeing whether there is a positive correlation between the two
What is a thematic analysis?
A method for analysing qualitative data which involves identifying, analysing and reporting patterns within the data
What is a time sample?
A way of sampling the behaviour that is being observed by recording what happens in a series of fixed time intervals.
What is meant by type 1 error?
Is a false positive. It is where you accept the alternative/experimental hypothesis when it is false
What is meant by a type 2 error?
Is a false negative. It is where you accept the null hypothesis when it is false
What is an unstructured interview?
Also know as a clinical interview, there are no fixed questions just general aims and it is more like a conversation
What is an unstructured observation?
Observation where there is no checklist so every behaviour seen is written down in an much detail as possible
What is validity?
Whether something is true – measures what it sets out to measure.
What is a volunteer sample?
A sampling technique where participants put themselves forward to take part in research, often by answering an advertisement
