Research methods Flashcards
What is meant by a closed question?
A closed question is a question that has one fixed answer.
What is meant by an open question?
A question which allows a person to expand and explain their answer.
Aim
The aim is a general statement (not a prediction!!) about the purpose of the investigation.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is a precise testable statement about the expected outcome of the investigation.
Experimental/alternative hypothesis
Experimental hypothesis is a hypothesis used in the context of the experiment.
The Null hypothesis
Null hypotheses state that there is no effect on the two variables.
Directional/one tailed hypothesis
This is a hypothesis which includes a prediction of the direction that the results are expected to go.
Non-directional/two tailed hypothesis
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.
What is a variable?
A variable is something that can be changed.
Independent variable
An independent variable is the variable that the researcher manipulates to have an effect on the dependent variable.
Dependent variable
A dependent variable is the variable that is affected by the changes in the independent variable.
What is reliability?
Two or more
measurements/observations of the same psychological event are consistent with each other.
Operationalise
Devising a way to measure a variable.
External reliability
When the same results have been produced every time that the test is carried out.
Internal reliability
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.
How can reliability be improved?
- 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
What is validity?
Validity means you are measuring what you actually say you are measuring.
Internal validity
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.
External validity
The extent to which findings can be generalised to settings other than the research setting.
What are extraneous variables?
Any variables other than the IV that MIGHT affect the DV. When they actually do affect the DV, they become confounding variables.
Situational variables
Extraneous variables concerned with the research situation: temperature, lighting, noise, (the environment)
Participant variables
Extraneous variables connected to the research participants: age, gender, tiredness, health
What are demand characteristics?
Things that encourage participants to act in a certain way.
What is a cue?
A clue of what the aim of a study is.
What is social desirability?
When the participant behaves in a way to purposefully support or not support the study or to make themselves look better, disrupting the results.
What are investigator/experimenter effects?
The influence the researcher may have if they unconsciously behave in a way as to bring about their prediction.
What are ways to control demand characteristics and/or investigator effects?
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.
What are the problems with the single blind technique?
- 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