research methods Flashcards
what is a lab experiment
high level of control over all the variables in the study.
takes place in an artificial controlled environment.
there is usually standardised procedure
participants know they are taking part in a study - may not know the true aim.
what is a field experiment
conducted in naturalistic settings.
the in is still deliberately manipulated by the researcher but participants are not aware they are participating in research.
what is a natural experiment
conducted in the every day environment of the participant
no control over the IV
what is a quasi experiment
the IV is pre-existing difference between people (eg age or gender).
participants cannot be randomly assigned to conditions
because if this it is not a ‘true’ experiment.
what is standardised procedure.
when procedures used in research are kept the same
a prescribed procedure to be followed routinely.
what is reliability
a measure of whether something stays the same
how consistently a method measures something
what is internal validity
the extent to which a research study accurately identifies a causal between variables, ruling out alternative explanations.
what is ecological validity
the extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized to real world settings and situations.
what is mundane realism
the degree to which an experiment or study resembles real life situations and experiences
what are demand characteristics
cues or hints within a study that may lead participants to guess the researchers hypothesis or expected outcomes, potentially influencing their behaviour
what is random allocation
assigning participants to different groups or conditions in an experiment in a random and unbiased manner
standardised procedure
a consistent and uniform set of instructions and methods used in a. research study.
what is an aim
a general expression of what the research intends to investigate
independent variable
the thing that the researcher manipulates
dependent variable
the thing that the researcher measures. the effect should be caused by the IV.
what is a hypothesis
a precise, testable statement of what the researchers predict will be the outcome of the study.
extraneous variable
a variable other than the IV that may affect the DV and should therefore be controlled.
operationalisation
to make the hypothesis testable and measurable, need to ensure that someone else could come along and pick up your paper and repeat the experiment.
null hypothesis
predicts no relationship between groups/conditions. and relationship will be due to chance.
alternative hypothesis
also known as experimental - predicts a relationship between groups or conditions
directional hypothesis
one tailed.
predicts a relationship between conditions and states the direction (eg which group will perform better or a positive correlation)
non directional.
two tailed
predicts a relationship between groups or conditions but does not state the direction (eg there will be a difference or a correlation)
when do you use directional
when the researcher wants a specific prediction about what they feel will happen in their research
when do you use non directional
they can make a general or less specific prediction about the outcome of their research
what is experimental design
how people are organised into experimental groups of an investigation
what is this often confused with
experimental method - lab, field, natural and quasi experiments
what is an independent groups design
where the researcher recruits a group of participants
then they divide them into 2
one group does condition one, then the other group does condition 2
compare the results
strengths of independent design
order effects are reduced as participants only take part in one condition- they don’t get to practice the task or become fatigued
demand charateristics are reduced as participants only take part in one condition they are less likely to guess the aim of the study
weaknesses of independent groups design
there are participants extraneous variable between the groups lowering the internal validity of the study (eg may accidentally get a lot of intelligent people in one condition)
how are participants randomly allocated
the lottery method - draw the names out of a hat to ensure that there is no bias
random number generator
what is a repeated measures design
where all participants take part in both conditions of the experiment ( they repeat the experiment)
they all complete condition 1 and then they would all complete condition 2
what are the strengths of repeated measures
participant extraneous variable are controlled for (reduced, never eliminated)
less participants needed as they are in both conditions
what are the weaknesses of repeated measures design
order effects - this is an extraneous variable where the order in check conditions of the experiment effects the results eg. practice effects or fatigue effects
demand characteristics- a cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of a study or helps participants work out what the researcher wants to find and this causes them to change their behaviour
what is a matched pairs design
different participants complete in each of the two (or more) conditions of the experiment. participants are first assessed ranked on a characteristic (eg aggression
how do you conduct a matched pairs design
recruit a group of participants
they match the participants on specific variables such as age or IQ
what are the strengths of matched pairs design
participants only take part in a single condition, so order effects and de,and characteristics are less of a problem.
participant extraneous variables are reduced (never eliminated)
weaknesses of matched pairs design
although there is a decrease in participant variables the participants cannot truly matched time consuming and expensive, so less economical then the other designs.
what is counterbalancing
reduces the order effects although they can never be fully eliminated
a method to reduce the impact of order effects
what is the relationship between control and realism in experiments
control (internal validity)
realism (external realism)
lab experiments control and realism
have the highest control over extraneous variables but it has the least amount of realism
it is good to have high control as this means that you can establish cause and effect.
what is a cyclical process
where the findings that you see in the lab are the same as the findings that you’d see outside of the lab to test whether your findings are meaningful. t
they need to be found in the lab first where it is highly controlled and we can establish causality.
what is mundane realism
every day realism
potential threat to external validity
introduced by Aronson and Carlsmith (1968)
what is experimental realism
refers to whether an experiment has psychological impact and ‘feels real’ to a participant
threatens internal validity
the IV should be the only difference between the conditions
what are extraneous variables
variables that may affect the IV but you are not intentionally studying. IV that is pre-existing/ natural