Research Methods

Question 1

Aim and hypothesis of our study

Answer 1

• aim: to see if there is a difference in type of car being driven and wether the driver is male or female
• alternative hypothesis: there is a difference between the type of car being driven and wether the driver is male or female
• null hypothesis: there is no significant difference between the type of car being driven and the gender of the driver and any difference is due to chance

Question 2

Strengths and weaknesses of covert observations

Answer 2

• strength: more likely to display more natural behaviour as they are unaware that they are being observed
• weakness: usually unethical as they can’t get informed consent

Question 3

Strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic observations

Answer 3

• strength: they have higher ecological validity as it is the participants natural setting
• weakness: they are difficult to replicate

Question 4

Chi squared test for our study

Answer 4

Value of chi squared (3.6) is smaller than the critical value (3.84) so any difference found is not statistically significant and we have to accept the null hypothesis - this means its likely to make a type 2 error

Question 5

Evaluation of our study

Answer 5

• G: small sample of 18 which is unrepresentative and it was only done in one location meaning it can’t be generalised
• R: high inter-rater reliability
• A: doesn’t apply
• V: high ecological validity as its a naturalistic observation
• E: couldn’t get consent and they were unaware that they were being observed