Research Methods Flashcards
What is normal distribution?
Figure out what the standard deviation is, about 68% of the data falls in the middle. About 95% fall between +/- 2. about 99% fall between +/- 3
Identify the problem - how to identify the problem?
based on observation, previous research, theories or intuition
What are the 6 steps involved in the scientific method?
- identify the problem
- gather information
- generate a hypothesis
- design and conduct experiments
- analyze data and formulate conclusions
- restart the process
Gather information - how to gather information?
review scientific literature and examine theories of behavior
Develop a hypothesis - how to make a hypothesis?
make a hypothesis or prediction about the experiment
Design and conduct an experiment - how to conduct an experiment?
collect the data previous to the experiment and when conducting the experiment.
Analyze the data and draw conclusions - what does that entail?
must compare the data collected and the hypothesis, and see if they align. If they do, the a conclusion can be made.
Restart process - what does that mean?
may want to redo, modify or use a different experiment to collect data on another group.
What are the 4 descriptive methods of conducting research?
1) naturalistic observation
2) participant observation
3) case studies
4) surveys
What are the main conditions of naturalistic observation? 4
- observe behavior without manipulation
- representative of real world behavior
- no control over behavior
- difficult to determine exact cause of behavior
What are the main components of participant observation? 3
- interacting with the public
- allows insight on participants perspective
- may be subjected to biases (hawthorn’s effect)
What are the main components of case studies? 4
- a report of a single person, group, or situation
- collects a lot of information
- can’t prove causation
- can not be generalized
What is the pro and con with these study methods?
it allows us to study a small group, but it is not representative of the larger population
How do researchers get the opinion of the larger population?
By taking surveys
What are some biases from participant and researcher when it comes to surveys?
- sampling biases which lack representation (volunteer bias)
- wording effect
- illusory
- socially desirable bias
- aquiescent
What are the 4 types of response biases?
- acquiescent ( agree with everything)
- socially desirable bias
- illusory bias ( better than average effect)
- volunteer bias (only fraction of population is interested)
What are the 2 criteria for participation?
- decisional impairments (diminished capacity)
- situational vulnerability (freedom of choice compromised)
What are some ethical principles?
- sound experiment
- positives outweigh risks
- participants are informed
- protection of privacy
What are the 5 ethical principles of psychology?
A: beneficence and nonmaleficence
B: fidelity and responsibility (honest w/ participants and their data)
C: integrity (honest/ non-biased teaching/ practices)
D: justice (equality)
E: respect for people’s rights and dignity (consent/ privacy)
What are the forms of consent?
- informed consent: from parents/ guardian
- assent: from potential participant
What are the 3 types of correlations and explain?
- perfect positive: as one variable goes up, so does the other
- perfect negative: as one variable goes up, the other goes down
- no correlation: the variables don’t have any correlation
What are the 3 types of participant samples?
- simple random: everyone has equal chance
- stratified random: divided into subgroups and take representative samples
- non-random: due to study constraints, not equal chances
eg. convenience sample: with what you
have
What are the types of groups in a study and explain their role?
experimental group- is exposed to the independent variable
controlled group - not exposed to variable and is used to compare to eG
What is a placebo?
the effect of a treatment that arises from a patient’s expectations but not the independent variable
What are the 2 types of validities?
internal - the degree of confidence that the causal relationship is from the independent variable and not other factors
external - the degree to which results can be generalized
What is range, standard deviation and variance?
r - subtract lowest from highest data values
sD (points)- spread of data around mean; variance sq rooted
v- average of squared deviation score ; standard deviation squared
What happens when the variation increases?
the more variation there is, the more standard deviation there is. Therefore it deviates from the mean.
- ex. the more people away from the mean will increase the standard deviation
What is the 5% rule?
If the probability is that it happened 5% or less that means that it didn’t happen by chance. If the probability that something happen by chance is more than 5%, then it probably did.
What are the standard deviations by 10 from 50?
40 and 60
what are the 3 types of variables?
- independent variable: what the experimenter changes
- dependent variable: what the participant does
- extraneous: uncontrolled events
