research methods Flashcards
what are some ethical issues
confidentiality
deception
risk of stress
humiliation/pain
risk of participants values and beliefs
status/privacy
working with vunerable individuals
ways of dealing with ethical issues
- ethics committees
- ethical guidelines
- debriefing
valid consent
includes giving participants enough information (in a form they can understand) so that they can make an informed choice about whether they wish to participate.
If a participant is deceived, they automatically fail to provide fully informed/valid consent as they don’t have enough information to make an informed choice.
confidentiality
refers to ensuring that third parties are not able to trace information back to individual participants. This is usually achieved through providing anonymity, e.g. using participant numbers not names, and ensuring any voice or video records are disguised
3 R’s when working with animals
reduce refine replace
what do ethics committee administrate
cost-benefit analysis
ethics questions
valid consent
risk of stress
confidentiality
ways to deal with ethical issues
debriefing
consent from proxy
confidenti
3 main types of experimental design
repeated measures
independent groups
matched pairs.
order effect
occur when participating in one condition may affect how a participant performs in another. Participants performance in the experimental condition may be better, not because of the IV being manipulated but because of practice effects after completing the control condition. On the other hand, their performance in the experimental condition may be worse, again not because of the IV being manipulated but because of fatigue or the boredom.
four features of experimental design
Order effects
Demand characteristics
The number of participants
Participant variables
demand characteristics
participants unconsciously work out the aim and act differently (either through social desirability or the screw you effect). If a participant takes part in more than one condition, they are more likely to be able to work out the aim of the experiment.
number of participants
required to collect a sufficient amount of data depends on what sort of experimental design you use. Using fewer participants is a practical choice in research and can save a researcher a great deal of time and effort.
ct scans
set of x-rays combined together to form 2D or 3D images of the area of the brain that is being scanned
what is given to the patient before ct scan
radioactive dye
what is patient given before pet scan
radioactive glucose
pet scans
The detectors in the scanner can highlight the most active areas of the brain, allowing an in-depth image of what the brain activity is like.
strengths of ct scans
- high quality images, better produced than x-ray alone
- they can show brain structures that can reveal abnormalities
weakness of ct scans
- only shows brain structure not electrical activity
- the more detailed the more radiation the person is exposed to -
exposure to radiation
strengths of pet scans
- researchers can see chemical activity and can distinguish between benign and maligant tumours
- useful for psychological research as they look at active brain areas
weakness of pet scans
- costly to run and maintain - limited availability for research
- needs radioactive dye - this can only be administrated a few times
longitudinal studies
a method that involves conducting research over a long period of time
internal reliability
the extent to which a test or measure is consistent within itself.
external reliability
the extent to which a test produces consistent results over several occasions.
