Research Methods Flashcards
Definitions and general knowledge of statistics
What is ecological validity?
The extent to which research may be artificial or how well it relates to real life settings and behaviour
What is population validity?
The extent to which research investigates the people it intended to investigate
What is predictive validity?
The extent to which the behaviour recorded on one test can be used to predict behavioural outcomes in the future.
What is internal validity?
The extent to which the outcomes of research are due to the manipulation of the variables being tested and not some other factor such as extraneous or confounding variables.
What is internal reliability?
How consistent a test is within itself when it is replicated does it provide similiar results
What is test-retest reliability?
Checks consistency of results by giving the same test to the same or similiar people and comparing the results to the original
What is inter-rater reliability?
The extent to which different researchers are rating/tallying behaviour in a consistent way
What are extraneous variables?
- Could be caused by…
- Environmental conditions
- Characteristics of the participants
- Characteristics of the task
All of these are okay as long as they are held constant or randomised across the experiment
What is the researcher effect?
When the researcher has a direct impact on the results of the study.
May guide the participant (intentional or unintentional) to perform in a way that supports the aim of the research.
What are participant variables?
Aspects of the participant’s characteristics or experiences that could affect outcome of research.
Example: Eyesight
What are situational variables?
Aspects of the research situation that could affect the outcomes
Example: Weather as could affect concentration levels
What are confounding variables?
Has an unintentional effect on the dependent variable.
When attempting to control extraneous variables it can effect DV in systematic way or only affects one aspect of the experiment.
What are the different types of interviews?
Structured
Semi-structured
Unstructured
