Research Methods Flashcards
Ethical guidelines set by the BPS
- Informed consent
- Deception
- Debrief
- Right to withdraw
- Protection from harm
- Privacy
- Confidentiality
Structure of a Consent Form
- Aims
- Procedure
- Ethics
- Sign/date
What is the Independent Variable
The one you change
What is the Dependent Variable
The one you measure
List the types of sampling
- Random sampling
- Opportunity sampling
- Volunteer sampling
- Systematic sampling
- Stratified sampling
Outline and evaluate Random sampling
- Chosen at random
+ Unbiased, researcher has no control over who is selected
+ Relatively quick and easy, useful for large samples
x May end up with an unrepresentative sample
Outline and evaluate Opportunity sampling
- Ask whoever is available at the time
+ Easiest and is quick
x Likely to be unrepresentative
x Researcher bias
Outline and evaluate Volunteer sampling
- Take volunteers
+ Quick and easy
x Volunteer bias
x Demand characteristics
Outline and evaluate Sytematic sampling
- Choose every nth person
+ No researcher bias
- May be unrepresentative
Outline and evaluate Stratified sampling
- Identify sub-groups in TP
+ Most representative
- Time consuming
Outline the the types of observations
- Participant - researcher acts as participant
- Non-participant - researcher is not part of the experiment
- Covert - participants are unaware they are being observed
- Overt - participants are aware they are being observed
- Controlled - researcher can manipulate the variables
- Naturalistic - researcher cannot manipulate the variables
List the types of Experimental Design
- Repeated measures
- Independent groups
- Matched pairs
List the types of Experimental Methods
- Lab
- Field
- Natural
- Quasi
How to do Sign Test
- Add up + and - (ignore =)
- S = lowest amount + or -
- N = Total of + and -
List the criteria for Parametric Data
- Data must be interval
- Data must me normally distributed
- SF must be similar in both sets of data
What is a type 1 error
- False positive
- Null hypothesis has been wrongly rejected
What is a type 2 error
- Flase negative
- Null hypothesis has been wrongly accepted
What is the split half method
- Internal validity
- Compares performance on two halves of a test
- Performance should be be similar in both halves to be reliable
How do you check for inter rater reliability
- Come up with your own checklist
- Compare checklist with another researcher
- Both observe independently
- Scattergraph results to look for a positive correlation
- If there is a positive correlation, use Spearman’s rank, must be significant at 0.8
- If not a positive correlation, fix the experiment
What is the test-retest method
- Take the same test on different occasions
- Results should be similar
What is Content Analysis
- Used to turn qualitative data into quantitative data
- Uses coding units (like a behavioural checklist)
- Tally
What is Thematic Analysis
- Identify and report patterns within the material
- Summarised qualitative data
Features of a science
THE PROOF
- Theory construction
- Hypothesis testing
- Empirical
- Paradigm
- Reliability/replicability
- Operationalised
- Objective
- Falsifiable
