Research methods

Question 1

What is meant by a closed question?

Answer 1

A closed question is a question that has one fixed answer.

Question 2

What is meant by an open question?

Answer 2

A question which allows a person to expand and explain their answer.

Question 3

Aim

Answer 3

The aim is a general statement (not a prediction!!) about the purpose of the investigation.

Question 4

Hypothesis

Answer 4

The hypothesis is a precise testable statement about the expected outcome of the investigation.

Question 5

Experimental/alternative hypothesis

Answer 5

Experimental hypothesis is a hypothesis used in the context of the experiment.

Question 6

The Null hypothesis

Answer 6

Null hypotheses state that there is no effect on the two variables.

Question 7

Directional/one tailed hypothesis

Answer 7

This is a hypothesis which includes a prediction of the direction that the results are expected to go.

Question 8

Non-directional/two tailed hypothesis

Answer 8

This is a hypothesis which does not state the direction but instead just states that one variable will have an effect on the other or that there will be a difference between the two sets of scores.

Question 9

What is a variable?

Answer 9

A variable is something that can be changed.

Question 10

Independent variable

Answer 10

An independent variable is the variable that the researcher manipulates to have an effect on the dependent variable.

Question 11

Dependent variable

Answer 11

A dependent variable is the variable that is affected by the changes in the independent variable.

Question 12

What is reliability?

Answer 12

Two or more
measurements/observations of the same psychological event are consistent with each other.

Question 12

Operationalise

Answer 12

Devising a way to measure a variable.

Question 13

External reliability

Answer 13

When the same results have been produced every time that the test is carried out.

Question 14

Internal reliability

Answer 14

The extent to which a measure is consistent within itself, the internal reliability of self report measures (like questionnaires and interviews) can be assessed using the split-half method which is when similar questions are asked at different points to ensure the participant is telling the truth.

Question 15

How can reliability be improved?

Answer 15

• taking more that one measurement from each participant when possible
• pilot studies - small scale study to check the design/ethics of the research method
• standardise the way in which researchers collect their data
• check data very carefully

Question 16

What is validity?

Answer 16

Validity means you are measuring what you actually say you are measuring.

Question 17

Internal validity

Answer 17

The ability of the study to test the hypothesis that it was actually designed to test. An experiment has internal validity if the outcome is the result of the variables that were manipulated.

Question 18

External validity

Answer 18

The extent to which findings can be generalised to settings other than the research setting.

Question 19

What are extraneous variables?

Answer 19

Any variables other than the IV that MIGHT affect the DV. When they actually do affect the DV, they become confounding variables.

Question 20

Situational variables

Answer 20

Extraneous variables concerned with the research situation: temperature, lighting, noise, (the environment)

Question 21

Participant variables

Answer 21

Extraneous variables connected to the research participants: age, gender, tiredness, health

Question 22

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 22

Things that encourage participants to act in a certain way.

Question 23

What is a cue?

Answer 23

A clue of what the aim of a study is.

Question 24

What is social desirability?

Answer 24

When the participant behaves in a way to purposefully support or not support the study or to make themselves look better, disrupting the results.

Question 25

What are investigator/experimenter effects?

Answer 25

The influence the researcher may have if they unconsciously behave in a way as to bring about their prediction.

Question 26

What are ways to control demand characteristics and/or investigator effects?

Answer 26

Single blind technique : the participants do not know the hypothesis or study they are in.

Double blind technique : neither the participants nor the experimenter know the hypothesis or study. This would involve someone else carrying out the data collection on behalf of the experimenter.

Question 27

What are the problems with the single blind technique?

Answer 27

• there could be issues with ethics if the participant doesn’t know what they are in a study for and if they disagree with it
• experimenter effects could still impact the results
• experimenter could influence results by choosing certain participants to involve