Research Methods

Question 1

What is normal distribution?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Identify the problem - how to identify the problem?

Answer 2

based on observation, previous research, theories or intuition

Question 3

What are the 6 steps involved in the scientific method?

Answer 3

1. identify the problem
2. gather information
3. generate a hypothesis
4. design and conduct experiments
5. analyze data and formulate conclusions
6. restart the process

Question 4

Gather information - how to gather information?

Answer 4

review scientific literature and examine theories of behavior

Question 5

Develop a hypothesis - how to make a hypothesis?

Answer 5

make a hypothesis or prediction about the experiment

Question 6

Design and conduct an experiment - how to conduct an experiment?

Answer 6

collect the data previous to the experiment and when conducting the experiment.

Question 7

Analyze the data and draw conclusions - what does that entail?

Answer 7

must compare the data collected and the hypothesis, and see if they align. If they do, the a conclusion can be made.

Question 8

Restart process - what does that mean?

Answer 8

may want to redo, modify or use a different experiment to collect data on another group.

Question 9

What are the 4 descriptive methods of conducting research?

Answer 9

1) naturalistic observation
2) participant observation
3) case studies
4) surveys

Question 10

What are the main conditions of naturalistic observation? 4

Answer 10

• observe behavior without manipulation
• representative of real world behavior
• no control over behavior
• difficult to determine exact cause of behavior

Question 11

What are the main components of participant observation? 3

Answer 11

• interacting with the public
• allows insight on participants perspective
• may be subjected to biases (hawthorn’s effect)

Question 12

What are the main components of case studies? 4

Answer 12

• a report of a single person, group, or situation
• collects a lot of information
• can’t prove causation
• can not be generalized

Question 13

What is the pro and con with these study methods?

Answer 13

it allows us to study a small group, but it is not representative of the larger population

Question 14

How do researchers get the opinion of the larger population?

Answer 14

By taking surveys

Question 15

What are some biases from participant and researcher when it comes to surveys?

Answer 15

• sampling biases which lack representation (volunteer bias)
• wording effect
• illusory
• socially desirable bias
• aquiescent

Question 16

What are the 4 types of response biases?

Answer 16

• acquiescent ( agree with everything)
• socially desirable bias
• illusory bias ( better than average effect)
• volunteer bias (only fraction of population is interested)

Question 17

What are the 2 criteria for participation?

Answer 17

• decisional impairments (diminished capacity)
• situational vulnerability (freedom of choice compromised)

Question 17

What are some ethical principles?

Answer 17

• sound experiment
• positives outweigh risks
• participants are informed
• protection of privacy

Question 17

What are the 5 ethical principles of psychology?

Answer 17

A: beneficence and nonmaleficence
B: fidelity and responsibility (report unethical)
C: integrity (honest/ teach)
D: justice (equality)
E: respect for people’s rights and dignity (consent/ privacy)

Question 18

What are the forms of consent?

Answer 18

• informed consent: from parents/ guardian
• assent: from potential participant

Question 19

What are the 3 types of correlations and explain?

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

What are the 3 types of participant samples?

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

What are the types of groups in a study and explain their role?

Answer 21

experimental group- is exposed to the independent variable

controlled group - not exposed to variable and is used to compare to eG

Question 22

What is a placebo?

Answer 22

the effect of a treatment that arises from a patient’s expectations but not the independent variable

Question 23

What are the 2 types of validities?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What is range, standard deviation and variance?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

What happens when the variation increases?

Answer 25

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

Question 26

What is the 5% rule?

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

What are the standard deviations by 10 from 50?

Answer 27

40 and 60

Question 28

what are the 3 types of variables?

Answer 28

• independent variable: what the experimenter changes
• dependent variable: what the participant does
• extraneous: uncontrolled events