research methods Flashcards
what is an experimental method?
it involves the manipulation of an independent variable to measure the effect on the dependent variable.
what is an aim?
a general statement of what the researcher intends to investigate/the purpose of the study
what is a hypothesis?
a clear, precise, testable statement that states the relationship between the variables to be investigated.
what is a directional hypothesis?
states the direction of the difference or relationship between the variables
what is a non-directional hypothesis?
does not state the direction of the difference or relationship between the variables
what is a null hypothesis?
states that there will be no difference or relationship between the variables
what is a variable?
any thing that can vary or change within an investigation
what is an independent variable?
some aspect of the experimental situation that is manipulated by the researcher so that the effect on the dependent variable can be measured
what is a dependent variable?
the variable that is measured by the researcher
what is operationalisation?
clearly defining variables in terms of how they can be measured.
what are extraneous variables?
any variable other than the independent variable that can have an affect on the dependent variable if it is not controlled
what are confounding variables?
a kind of extraneous variable but varies systematically with the independent variable.
what are demand characteristics?
any cue from the researcher that may be interpreted by the participant as revealing the purpose of the study, and so the participant changes their behaviour based on what they think the research is about.
what are investigator effects?
any effect of the investigators behaviour on the research outcome.
what is randomisation?
the use of chance methods to control for the effects of bias when designing materials and deciding the order of experimental conditions
what is standardisation?
using exactly the same formalised procedures and instructions for all participants in a research study
what are experimental designs?
the different ways in which participants can be organised in relation to the experimental conditions
what is an independent group design?
participants are allocated to different groups where each group represents one experimental condition
what is a repeated measures design?
all participants take part in all conditions of the experiment
what is matched pairs design?
pairs of participants are first matched on some variable that may affect the dependent variable, and then one member is assigned to condition A while the other participates in condition B
what is random allocation?
an attempt to control for participant variables in an independent groups design which ensures that each participant has the same chance of being in one condition as any other
what is counterbalancing?
an attempt to control for the effects of order in a repeated measures design, where half the participants experience the conditions in one order, and the other half in the opposite order
what is a laboratory experiment?
an experiment that takes place in a controlled environment within which the researcher manipulates the independent variable and records the dependent variable and controlling extraneous variables
what is a field experiment?
an experiment that takes place in a natural setting within which the researcher manipulates the independent variable and records the dependent variable
what is a natural experiment?
an experiment where the change in the independent variable is not brought about by the researcher but would have happened even if the researcher had not been there
what is a quasi-experiment?
a study that is almost an experiment but lacks key ingredients
what is a population?
a group of people who are the focus of the researcher’s interest, from which a smaller sample is drawn
what is a sample?
a group of people who take part in a research investigation
what are sampling techniques?
the method used to select people from the population
what is random sampling?
Where all members of the population have an equal chance of being selected.
The names are listed and randomly selected through a lottery method.
what is bias?
When certain groups are over or under represented within the sample selected, and can’t be generalised because it does not represent the wider population, for example there may be more males than females in a study.
what is generalisation?
The extent to which the findings from the experiment can be broadly applied to the population.
what is systematic sampling?
Where every nth member of the target population is selected.
what is stratified sampling?
The population is divided into subgroups (strata), and people are randomly selected from each subgroup.
what is opportunity sampling?
The researcher decides to select anyone who is willing and available, for example they may select people they come across on the street
what is volunteer sampling?
Involves participants selecting themselves to be part of the sample.
An advertisement may be placed in a newspaper or on a noticeboard, and those wanting to participate will contact the researcher.
what is the BPS code of ethics?
a quasi-legal document produced by the British Psychological Society that instructs psychologists in the UK about what behaviour is and isn’t acceptable when dealing with participants.
what is a case study?
an in-depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual, group, institution or event.
what is content analysis?
a research technique that enables the indirect study of behaviour by examining communications that people produce, for example, in texts, emails, TV, film and other media
what is coding?
the stage of a content analysis in which the communication to be studied is analysed by identifying each instance of the chosen categories
what is thematic analysis?
an inductive and qualitative approach to analysis that involves identifying implicit or explicit ideas within the data.
themes will often emerge once the data has been coded
what is reliability?
how consistent a measuring device is - if a measurement is made twice and produces the same result then that measurement is described as being reliable
what is test-retest reliability?
a method of assessing the reliability of a questionnaire or psychological test by assessing the same person on two separate occasions
it shows to what extent the test produces the same answers
what is inter-observer reliability?
the extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour
this is measured by correlating the observations of two or more observers
what is validity?
whether a measure actually measures what it claims to be measuring
what is internal validity?
whether the effects observed in an experiment are due to the manipulation of the independent variable and not some other factor
what is face validity?
a basic form of validity in which a measure is scrutinised to determine whether it appears to measure what it is supposed to measure
what is concurrent validity?
the extent to which a psychological measure relates to an existing similar measure
what is external/ecological validity?
the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other settings and situations
what is temporal validity?
the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other historical times and eras
what is informed consent?
making participants fully aware of the aims of the research, the procedures, their rights and also what their data will be used for.
what is deception?
deliberately misleading or withholding information from participants at any stage of an event
participants who have not been given full information cannot be said to have given informed consent
what is protection from harm?
participants should not be placed at any more risk than they would be in their daily lives, and should be protected from physical or psychological harm
what is a pilot study?
a small-scale version of an investigation that takes place before the real investigation is conducted, to allow the researcher to make necessary changes or modifications
what is a single-blind procedure?
Where small details are kept from the participant about the conditions of the experiment, or whether they are even in an experiment.
what is a double-blind procedure?
When both the participants and the researcher are unaware about the conditions of the test being conducted.
what is a control group
A ‘baseline’ group that is not affected by any variables, and is used to compare against the other groups to view the effect of the independent variable.
what is a naturalistic observation?
Watching and recording behaviour in the setting within which it would normally occur.
what is a controlled observation?
Watching and recording behaviour within a structured environment, such as one where some variables are managed
what is a covert observation?
Participants’ behaviour is watched and recorded without their knowledge or consent
what is an overt observation?
Participants’ behaviour is watched and recorded with their knowledge and consent
what is a participant observation?
The researcher becomes a member of the group whose behaviour they are watching and recording.
what is a non-participant observation?
The researcher remains outside of the group whose behaviour they are watching and recording.
what are behavioural categories?
when a target behaviour is broken up into components that are observable and measurable (operationalisation)
what is event sampling?
a target behaviour or event is first established, then the researcher records this event every time it occurs
what is time sampling?
a target individual or group is first established, then the researcher records their behaviour in a fixed time frame.
what is a self-report technique?
Any method in which a person is asked to state or explain their own feelings, opinions, behaviours and/or experiences related to a given topic.
what is a questionnaire?
A set of written questions that are used to assess a person’s thoughts and/or experiences
what is an interview?
A live encounter where one person asks a set of questions to assess an interviewee’s thoughts and/or experiences.
what is a structured interview?
Made up of predetermined questions that are asked in a fixed order.
what is an unstructured interview?
There are no fixed questions, and the researcher is free to ask follow-up questions that can help when collecting data.
what is a semi-structured interview?
There is a fixed set of questions for the researcher to ask, but they are also free to ask follow up questions based on previous answers.
what are open questions?
questions for which there is no fixed choice of response and respondents can answer in any way they wish
what are closed questions?
questions for which there is a fixed choice of responses determined by the question setter.
what is a correlation?
a mathematical technique in which a researcher investigates an association between two variables, called co-variables
what is a co-variable?
the variables investigated within a correlation, such as height and weight.
what is a positive correlation?
as one co-variable increases so does the other one.
what is a negative correlation?
as one co-variable increases the other decreases
what is zero correlation?
when there is no relationship between the co-variables
what is qualitative data?
data that is expressed in words and is non-numerical
what is quantitative data?
data that can be counted, usually given as numerical data
what is primary data?
information that has been obtained first-hand by a researcher for the purposes of a research project
what is secondary data?
information that has already been collected by someone else and so pre-dates the current research project
what is a meta-analysis?
the process of combining the findings from a number of studies on a particular topic to produce an overall conclusion
what are measures of central tendency?
the general term for any measure of the average value in a set of data
what is the mean?
the value calculated by adding up all the values in a set of data and dividing by the number of values that there are
what is the median?
the central value in a set of data when values are arranged from lowest to highest
what is the mode?
the most frequently occurring value in a set of data
what are measures of dispertion?
the general term for any measure of the spread or variation in a set of scores
what is the range?
a simple calculation of the dispersion in a set of scores which is worked out by subtracting the lowest score from the highest score and adding 1 as a mathematical correction
what is standard deviation?
a measure of dispersion in a set of scores that tells us by how much each score deviates from the mean
what is a scattergram?
a type of graph that represents the strength and direction of the relationship between co-variables in a correlational analysis
what is a bar chart?
a type of graph in which the frequency of each variable is represented by the height of the bars
what is a histogram?
a type of graph which shows frequency but the areas of the bars represents the frequency
what is a normal distribution?
a symmetrical spread of frequency data that forms a bell-shaped pattern
what is a skewed distribution?
a spread of frequency data that is not symmetrical, where the data clusters at one end
what is a positive skew?
a type of frequency distribution in which the long tail is on the positive side of the peak and most of the distribution is concentrated on the left
what is a negative skew?
a type of frequency distribution in which the long tail is on the positive side of the peak and most of the distribution is concentrated on the right
what is a statistical testing?
provides a way of determining whether hypotheses should be accepted or rejected.
using a statistical test helps us to find out whether differences
what is a sign test?
a statistical test that is used to analyse the difference in scores between related items
what is peer review?
the assessment of scientific work by others who are specialists in the same field, to ensure that any research intended for publication is of high quality
what is meant by the economy?
the state of a country or region in terms of production and consumption of goods and services
what are the aims of peer review?
- to allocate research funding
- to validate the quality and relevance of research
- to suggest amendments or improvements
what is publication bias?
significant results have a better chance of being published, are published earlier, and are published in journals with higher impact factors
what is meant by levels of measurement?
quantitative data can be classified into types or levels of measurement, such as nominal, ordinal or interval
what are the three steps to choosing a statistical test?
- difference or correlation?
- experimental design?
- level of measurement
what is interval data?
a data type that is measured along a scale, where each point is placed at equal distance from one another
what is nominal data?
data that can be separated into discrete categories that do not overlap
what is ordinal data?
data that can be placed into some kind of order or scale
what is probability?
a measure of the likelihood that a particular event will occur, where 0 indicates statistical impossibility and 1 is statistical certainty
what is significance?
a statistical term that tells us how sure we are that a difference or correlation exists.
what is a critical value?
when testing a hypothesis, the numerical boundary or cut-off point between acceptance and rejection of the null hypothesis
what is a type I error?
the incorrect rejection of a true null hypothesis (false positive)
what is a type II error?
the failure to reject a false null hypothesis (false negative)
what is a non-parametric test?
methods of statistical analysis that do not require a distribution to meet the required assumptions to be analyzed
what is the mann-whitney test?
used to compare differences between two independent groups when the dependent variable is either ordinal or continuous, but not normally distributed
what is the wilcoxon test?
a nonparametric statistical test that compares two paired groups.
The tests essentially calculate the difference between sets of pairs and analyze these differences to establish if they are statistically significantly different from one another.
what is an unrelated t-test?
Used when looking for a difference, using an independent groups design, and the data is interval.
It is assumed that participants are drawn from a normally distributed sample.
It is also assumed that the standard deviations in both groups will be similar
what is a related t-test?
used in studies with a repeated measures or a matched pairs design, where the data meets the requirements for a parametric test
what is the spearman’s rho test?
measures the strength of association between two variables.
a non-parametric statistical test of correlation that allows a researcher to determine the significance of their investigation.
what is the pearson’s r test?
a way of measuring a linear correlation.
It is a number between –1 and 1 that measures the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables
what is chi-squared?
a test of difference or association.
the data is nominal and recorded as a frequency count of the categories
what is objectivity?
all sources of personal bias are minimised so as to not to distort or influence the research process
what is an empirical method?
scientific approaches that are based on the gathering of evidence through direct observation and experience
what is replicability?
the extent to which scientific procedures and findings can be repeated by other researchers
what is falsifiability?
the principle that a theory cannot be considered scientific unless it admits the possibility of being proved untrue
what is a paradigm?
a set of shared assumptions and agreed methods within a scientific discipline
what is a paradigm shift?
the result of a scientific revolution when there is a significant change in the dominant unifying theory within a scientific discipline
