Research Methods Flashcards
What are extraneous variables
Factors that aren’t independent variables but can alter the results of the dependant variable
What is a field experiment
Unaware participants, implemented independant variable in natural enviroment
What is a labatory experiment
Experiment has full control over variables- operationalised, standardised procedures, dependant measured
What are natural experiments
The independent variables have already occurred as a result of the natural world without any researcher influence. The researcher simply records the change in the dependant variable between event. (Romanian orphanage)
What are quasi experiments
Quasi experiments are lab or natural experiments where participants cannot be randomly assigned between different levels of IV as the IV is based on existing differences (such as gender, income, education)
What is a strength of a labatory experiment
Highly standardised and controlled, meaning results are more valid and can be generalised to the real world (real world applications).
T5he results are also more reliable and replicable due to the high control of variables
What is a weakness of labatory experiments
Can develop demand characteristics where the participants act in a way they think researcher will deem desirable to the experiment.
Time consuming and expensive due to the fact a trained experiment or is needed
What is a strength of field experiments
Less chance of demand characteristics due to unaware participants, and has high external validity and real world application because the research is conducted in a natural environment
What is a weakness of field experiments
They can lack standardisation making results potentially less reliable as they could be impacted by extraneous variables due to the lack of control. Less ethical aswell potentially as the participants are unaware (combated by retroactive consent)
What is a strength of the natural experiments
It offers a unique opportunity to research events that would otherwise not be able to study due to ethical or practical reasons= high real world application + high ecological validity
What is a strength of quasi expeiremtsn
The only experiment type that can compare pre existing differences in individuals
What is a weakness of the quasi and natural experiments
May not be able to control all variables- decreased internal validity
Only can be used when demographic events naturally occur
Participants may in some cases be aware that they are being studied which increases the possibility of demand characteristics
What is the difference in participants observations and non participant observations
Participant is when the researcher is a part of the group they’re studying whereas non participant is when they’re separate from the group they’re studying
What are covert observations
Observations where participants are unaware that they’re being studied
What are overt observations
Observations where participants are aware that they’re being studied
What is a simple definition of what observations are
Study natural behaviours in a natural setting that is more realistic (and would otherwise be unethical)
What are behavioural catergories/checklists
Where behaviours are coded into group systems so they’re more identifiable rather than having an overall behaviour
Eg: hesitant, peer pressure, nervous
What’s some advantages and disadvantages of covert observations
More natural where behaviour is unchanged= low chance of demand characteristics
However less able to quantify into data
What are some advantages and disadvantages of overt observations
Data is found quicker with more efficiency, less time consuming
People are aware they’re being studied= demand characteristics
What are some advantages and disadvantages of participant observations
Observer can see all characteristics and behaviours at a closer viewpoint
Results may vary as the participants may be less likely to open up, and provide truthful answers due to peer pressure form researcher presence
What are some advantages and disadvantages of non participant observations
Doesn’t interact with the natural environment, increases validity of results
Can’t obtain reliable data as easily as researcher could use inference to conclude what the participant is doing if information is unclear- possibly subjective and bias
What is event sampling
Continuous sampling lasting the whole experiment (gingerbread man and students)
What is time sampling
Counting behaviour is a set time frame- eg recording behaviours over a 30 second time zone with a 2 minute interval
What are some advantages and disadvantages of time sampling
Decreases the possibility of missing any behaviours due to se time frame making researchers more focused on the aims of the research
However only offers a small sample of the whole observation and could miss significant behaviours
What are some advantages and disadvantages of event sampling
Less chance of missing behaviour as you’re continuously monitoring behaviour displayed without any set periods
You can miss some important behaviours as you could be more focused on recording the most noticeable behaviour pattterns
Why are interviews better than questionnaires
Elaborate qualitative data compared to simplistic quantitative numbers which increases validity as people can clarify answers
Higher accountability for answers from participant responses
What are questionaries better than interviews
Less time consuming and you’re able to gather nominal quantitative data that can be easily represented and generalised to wider population
You can gather a larger sample as question areas are quicker and can be digitially spread to reach more people
What are some things that you need to consider when writing a good questionnaire
Clarity= no double negatives, nor double barrels
Bias= no misleading questions to make answers more attractive/ desirable
Analysis= open or closed questions
Pilot studies= test questionnaire on a small sample size group of people
What is a likely rating scale
When you have a question such as strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree…
Shouldn’t be an uneven number as your most likely to get a neutral response so they must be uneven to make sure participants make a choice
What are some strengths and weaknesses of a structured interview
Can be repeated due to their standardised and highly controlled nature
Answers are easier to predict and analyse
Social desirability by giving less elaborate responses
What’s are some strengths and weaknesses of unstructured interviews
More detailed qualitative elaborate data that gives researchers a greater insight into the aims of their study
Is expensive due to the need of having to have an experience and trained experimenter.
Can lack objectivity and highly bias as they’re is no structure to the answers- possibility for leading questions
What can we define correlation is
Correlation measures the relationship between two variables by looking at the cause and effect relationship
What is a positive correlation
Means both variables (lines on a scatter graph) move in the same directions where anything above 0= a positive correlation
For example v= +0.2 is a weak correlation, v= +0.9 is a strong correlation
What is negative correlation
Negative correlation is when the variable are moving in different directions
Anything below 0 would be considered a negative correlation
Where v= -0.2 is a weak negative correlation, and v= -0.9 is a strong negative correlation
What is no correlation
No relationship between the two variables and often close to 0= 0.02,0.09
What are the three possible explanations for correlation
Causality= when one variable affects the other
Chance= variables just happen to be related
Third factor= interfering variable
What is a null hypothesis
When the prediction predicts that nothing will happen, no correlation/ no difference
What are some positives and negatives of a case study
Rich detailed qualitative data thats high in ecological validity
Avoids any practical or ethical issues
Case studies are especially subject specific, meaning that they’re often not reflective of the larger population= low, pop validity and lacks generalisability.
What is a directional/One Direction hypothesis?
Predicts, which one of the two conditions will result in the biggest dependent variable change, so results fall in One Direction
Here is an example of how it should be written :
There will be significantly more/less (insert DV here) in the (first conditional IV here) compared to the (insert second condition of IV).
What is a nondirectional, two tailed hypothesis?
When the IV is not predicted, the researcher predicts that IV will affect the DV, but don’t know how. This could be written as= there will be a significant difference in…
What are experimental designs
When research organises participant testing in relation to experiment condition
What are independent measures experimental designs?
When you recruit participants, and divide them into two groups
One group does experimental tasks with one IV condition and the other does the same with a different IV condition= measure the DV and compare
What is repeated measures experimental designs?
One group isn’t divided and does two tasks with two different conditions, then you compare the results
What is match pairs experimental designs?
They recruit a group of participants and find out their key characteristics and then recruit another group that matches one participant. They treat the experiment as an independent measure and then compare results.
What are some advantages and disadvantages of using an independent group design?
It avoids any effects, such as boredom or fatigue, as the group does a task only once
More participants are needed for the overall groups .
What are some advantages and disadvantages of using repeated group designs?
Few people are needed as one group does both tasks
Maybe order effects like boredom and tiredness - however you could counter argument this by saying you would use counterbalancing- which is where one group does task A then B as the other does task B then A
What are some advantages and disadvantages of using match pairs designs?
Reduced participants extraneous variables because each participant has a pair and their behaviour should be similar
Very time-consuming, as you need to identify direct willing pairs, and some may even be impossible to match
What does BPS stand for and what does it aim to do?
The British psychological society is a representative of psychologist that promotes ethical practices in psychology
What is stratified sampling
Getting the sample to reflect the target population by splitting participants into sub groups (strata). They identify the port options of each different strata and randomly select participants for these groups
What is systematic sampling
Every nth member of the target population is selected eg: every third house on the street or every 5th student on the register
What is voluenteer sampling
Self selecting individuals who have chosen to be in the study- as the name suggests
What is opportunity sampling
Selector people that are available in your chosen enviroment at the time which saves time but can often be small, unrepresentative or bias samples
What are some advantages and disadvantages of systematic sampling
It avoids researcher bias and is fairly representative of the target population
Not strictly random as each person doesn’t stand an equal chance of being selected for the research
What is some advantages and disadvantages of stratified sampling
Highly representative sample so generalisation of findings is more possible aswell as avoiding researcher bias
The identified strata might not represent all the ways people are different- race, gender, upbringing.
What are some advantages and disadvantages of volunteer sampling
Quick and easier type of sampling
It only has people who are interested in psychological research, demand characteristics and is then unrepresentative of the target population. So less generalisable.
What are some advantages and disadvantages of opportunity sampling
Quick and the most common type of sampling
Very unrepresentative and bias as only people interested in psychological research are willing to partake
What is a pilots studies
Smaller scale trial tests to show the effectiveness of the study and any possible further improvements that need to be made- they can also be useful in outlining potential issues before committing to a long term investigation.
What are peer reviews
When another person judges the scientific quality of the research and shouldn’t publish ant fraudulent work or poor scientific practices
What is the process of a peer review
Scientist writes about research and sends it to a journal editor
An expert in that field is selected by journal editor
They will read an unpublished paper and look for mistakes
Then they will decide if ant further improvements need too be made if it can be published
Usually small changes are made
Why are peer reviews so essential to the scientific process
Decrease the chance of mis information to the reader which can influence them in a harmful way such as believing an untrue theory
evaluating of the peers review process
Finding an expert=
Sometimes its not always possible to find a direct expert in that field that is willing or available to do the power review- leading to more inexperience reviewers to pass up on bad research do to the fact they can’t understand it
- means you have to be rigorous in the process of choosing an expert
Publication bias=
Journals tend to learn towards a more positive outcome, proving their initial ideas or hypothesis. This leads to a potential boost in the status of said journal. Therefore sometimes publicitors can be just as bad as newspaper editors in seeking an eye catching story
What did Daniel kahneman say about the economics of psychology
He was interested in looking at how people made decisions- and his research has lead to a new area of research called behavioural encomics which influences the way people think about thinking
What is the availability heuristic
A type of cognitive bias- allows us to make quick and sometimes incorrect judgements. It relies on info that comes to mind quickly or is most avaliable to us
What are some examples of the availability heuristics
When we remember all the people who have won the lottery being represented in the media but not the millions that did not.
Or when gambling machines have lots of noise and fanfare when a player wins but silence when not- gambler more likely to remember the wins over the losses.
Who did research into the availability of heuristic research
Researchers read out male and female names to participants- some famous some not. Participants were asked to estimate whether there were more male or female names on the list.
One group heard 19 famous females and 20 non famous males
The second group heard 19 famous males and 20 non famous females
They found 80% participants judgements to be incorrect as they only remembered famous peoples names.
What is an aim of a study
The overal purpose of what wants to I be achieved or proved by the researcher
What is operationalising variables
When you specifically write the IV and DVsd of an investigation
What is the scientific method
Paradigms
replicability
objectivity
falsification
empirical methods
Theory construction
What is objectivity of the scientific method
Objectivity is when researchers exclude any personal opinions or biases to discolour their data whilst keeping a critical distance. Objective methods in psychology are usually those where there is high control eg. Lab experiments.
What is the empirical method in the features of science
Emphasise the importance of data collection based on direct experiences. Theory cannot claim to be scientific until it has been empirically tested and verified via. Experiment or observation
What is replicability in terms of the features of science
Replicability is repeating research over a period of time to determine the validity of its findings. Aswell as this looking at replicability over different contexts allows us to determine the researches generalisability.
What is falsifiability in terms of the features of science
Karl popper asserted this theory of falsification, suggesting scientific theories should hold themselves up for hypothesis testing and the possibility of being proven false.
What did Karl poppers call science that couldn’t be falsified
Pseudoscience
What is a theory construction
Gathering evidence to make a set of general laws or principles to explain behaviours based on empirical observations.
What is paradigms?
Thomas khun suggested that a set of clear assumptions or methods (paradigms) are needed to determine if research is scientific or not.
Khun said that psychology is best seen as a prescience as opposed to to a natural science such as biology or physics as it lacks these universally accepted paradigms
What are the two features of the scientific process
Induction and deduction
What is induction
Carrying out research and then coming up with the theory (theory comes last)
What is deduction
Coming up with a theory then conducting the research to test it out (theory comes first)
What is the process of induction
-observation
-hypothesis
-test hypothesis
-draw conclusion
-propose theory
What is the process of deduction
-observation
-propose theory
-test hypothesis
-draw conclusion
What are the processes of reporting psychological investigations
Abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and referencing
What is abstract on a scientific report
Summary of the research in about 150 words, telling reader of aim, hypothesis, methods and results
What is an intro in a scientific report
Literary overview of relevant past research that has influenced research- funnel effect effect where broader themes are covered first before being narrowed down.
What are the aims and hypothesis in a scientific report
Aim= purpose of the research
Hypothesis= one tailed or two tailed/ directional or non directional
What is the method of scientific method
How the research is carrried out, should be detailed enough that someone can replicate it
Include=
Design, sample size, equipment, procedure and ethics
What are the results and discussion of the scientific report
Results=
Key findings in relation to the hypothesis
Statistical data, critical values, level of significance
Discussion=
Looking at the comparison between any past research and researchers own results, any limitations should be discussed, implications of research in the real world
What should be in the appendices of a scientific report
Consent form
Debrief form
Questionaries
Diagrams
Raw data
Statistical calculations
What is inter observer reliability
The extent to which two observers are in agreement over the observed behaviours in an observation
What is concurrent validity
Determining the validity of your research by comparing existing questionaries to one you’re interested in
What is temporal validity
The extent of which results can be generalised over time periods
What is face validity
The extent of which a set of research set out to test what they claim to be
What is internal reliability
Looking at how reliable research is inside the study
How can we assess the internal reliability of a study
Testing a persons consistency on two halves of a questionnaire, if the questions are actually assessing the same thing across the whole questionnaire, answers should have high correlation
What is external reliability
How consistent the findings are if to be repeated over different conditions
How do we assess external reliability
Inter observer reliability
Test- retest method= when a person is given a questionnaire/ interview on one occasion the again after a reasonable time interval
How do we improve the reliability of a lab experiment.
Control over extraneous variables- standardised instructions- replicated
How do we improve interviews reliability
Having a pilot study with a trained researcher
How to improve observation reliability
Having a trained inter observer
How to assess the internal valditity of a study
-Concurrent validity
-face validity
How to assess the external valdity of research
Population valdity= generalisability
External validity= situations outside study
Temporal validity= theory over time
What is content analysis
Analysing the content of something
What is the process of content analysis
- Data is collected
- researcher reads through data
- researcher identifies coding units
- data is analysed using those coding units as a basis (behavioural categories)
- a tally is made based on the number of times that a coding unit appears
What are coding units similar too to help you understand what they are
Behavioural checklists, what the content is showing
What are some strengths of a content analysis
High ecological validity
No chance of demand characteristics
Can be assessed with inter observer reliability
What is a weakness of content analysis
Observer bias= objectivity and validity may be reduced if observer interperpates content differently
Cultural bias- some cultures might catergorise a behaviours with one theme whilst others may categorise it differently
What is a thematic analysis
Is presenting patterns or themes within qualitative data
What is the process of thematic analysis
Developing codes to label data (themes) the same process as content analysis
Analyse the themes to develop an overall meaning and pattern
Inductively= read and re-read the content with themes emerging without the researcher imposing any expectations
Deductively= specifies themes they’re looking for before analysis.
What are the three level of measurement
Nominal, ordinal, interval
What is nominal data
Data in separated catergories or groups
What is ordinal dats
Data in an order of some way
What is interval data
Data measured using units of equal intervals or increments
What do descriptive statistics do
Give us a summary and description of our data
What is standard deviations
The distance between each individual data increment
What should you always include in a observation design study
Setting for the observation
Type of observation with justification and strengths of your choice
Operationalised behavioural categories
Use of time or event sampling with justification
Data recording- visually
Ethical issues for the observation
What should you do for each paragraph of a design a study question
Explain
How?
Justification
Evaluate
