research methods Flashcards
What is a laboratory experiment?
An experiment set in a lab where the researcher has a high level of control of all the variables, in a control environment using standardised procedures. The IV is manipulates and the DV is measured.
Pros of a laboratory experiment
researches can be confident in establishing a cause and effect relationship
high internal validity (DV is due to change in IV)
Easily replicated due to standarised procedures.
Cons of Laboratory experiment
Lacks ecological validity a type of external validity
lab studies cannot be applied to the real world and tasks conducted in the lab dont reflect real life situations lacks mundane realism
demand characteristics.
What is a field experiment?
Conducting an experiment in naturalistic settings
Pros of field experiments
- high ecological validity
- likely to have mundane realism
- no demand characteristics
Cons of field experiments
- possible extraneous variables that could be influencing the DV
- cannot randomly assign participants to conditions to separate condition the change in DV may be due to participant variables reducing internal validity
What are natural experiments?
The IV would have occurred naturally without the researchers manipulation
Pros of natural experiments:
allow research in areas that could not happen in a controlled experimentation due to ethical or cost reasons
high external validity
free from demand characteristics.
Cons of natural experiments:
The events have already occurred regardless of the researcher hey have no influence therefore extraneous variables cannot be control
researches cannot claim they have a cause and effect relationship
The events are often rare and cant be replicated to test for their reliability.
What are Quasi experiments
Participants cannot be randomly assigned because the Iv is an innate characteristic of the participants
Pros of Quasi experiments
they are the only way to ecperimentally study factors that are prexisting characteristics of participants
Cons of Quasi experiments
There may be other factors related to the level of IV that cannot be controlled (confounding variables)
Informed consent
participants should be aware of the aims, purpose and consequences of taking part of the research and provide their informed consent before the study.
Right to withdraw
before taking part in the research participants should be told they have the ability to end heir participation in the study at any stage (destroying any personal data collected on them)
Protection from harm
researcher is responsible for designing research that doesn’t risk the psychological well being, physical health, personal values and dignity of the participants.
Confidentiality
personal records should be kept securely and when it comes to publishing records keeping away personally identifiable information
Debriefing
conversation that tells the participants the reasons for the research, outcomes and existence of any groups. Also can check for any harm cause by taking part and offer assistance.
Dealing with ethical issues
revealing the true aims of a study when asking for informed consent can lead to demand characteristics, researchers can use an alternative informed consent
Ethics: alternative informed consent
prior general consent
prior general consent: participants agree to long list of potential features that could happen in an experiment not knowing which part will be included in the study
Ethics: retroactive consent
the researcher asks for consent after the participant has taken part in the study if the participant does not agree to take part their data is destroyed.
Presumptive consent: ethics
the researcher asks a group similar to the sample if they would agree to take part in the research if he group agrees he researcher assumes the participants will consent too
cost benefit analysis
if research requires deception or risks harm to participants this occurs assessing the potential harm of the participants and comparing this to the potential benefits of the research to society today
reliability
measure of consistency (how consistency results are)
external relability
measure we use is repeated another time if the results are the same or another the researcher gets it the second time (consistent with first results) do you get the same results when you use the same method at a different time ?
internal validity
how consistent the different parts of measure we use, is the test consistent within itself
experimental design : independent groups
advantages and disadvantages
no order effect
individual differences :(
participants may be allocated to conditions randomly
repeated measures pros and cons
order effect :(
no individual differences :)
each participants undergo’s all conditionns of the experiment
matched paris
assessment on reliability
rest - retest = participants take test twice to see if if scores are reliable
use a correlation
inter observer - pilot the study
improving internal validity
operationalise variables very carefully
run a pilot study to make sure iv is affecting dv
lack of confounding variables
types of external validity
ecological - study relevat to real life
temporal - how relevant time time period is in affecting the findings
face validity
whether it looks like what it should measure
pilot studies
They are practice small scale studies done prior to the full study to test the methodology in order to remove any possible problems or sources of bias
They are essentially a ‘dry run’
concurrent validity
is a type of evidence that can be gathered to defend the use of a test for predicting other outcomes
pilot studies advantages
helpful in identifying potential issues early, which can then be rectified before committing to the length and expense of a full investigation.
what are confederates?
What is an observation
The researcher watches and records spontaneous behavior of participants without manipulating the levels of IV
controlled observation
aspects of the environment are controlled in attempt to give all participants the sam eexperience
