research methods Flashcards
what is a hypothesis?
a precise, measurable and testable statement about the effect of what will happen for the IV, DV or E-Vs being investigated
what is a null hypothesis?
states there will be no difference (or relationship is correlation) between variables (or co-variables if correlation)
what is an aim?
a general statement that explains the purpose of the study (aim always starts with ‘to investigate’)
what is a correlation?
relationship, association or link between co-variables
what is the independent variable?
the variable that is varied/changed to see if it affects the dependent variable
what is the dependent variable?
the variable that will be measured by a researcher to see if changing the IV has had any effect
what is the extraneous variable?
any variable, apart from the IV, that may have an effect on the DV
what happens when we don’t control extraneous variables?
we cannot establish cause and effect
what is reliability?
consistency of measurement. every time a thing is measured, the result should be the same
what is validity?
whether a result is true and reflects real-life
what is test-retest reliability?
the extent to which you get similar findings when you repeat the same text/questionnaire again over a period of time
what is inter-rater(observer) reliability?
the extent to which two or more people are similar in their assessment of behaviour
what is opportunity sampling methods?
produced by selecting people who are willing and available to take part
what are quantitative methods?
any research method that gathers numerical information (e.g quantitative data)
what are qualitative methods?
any research method that gathers non-numerical data (e.g qualitative data)
what is the experimental method?
involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in 1 variable cause changes in another variable
what is a lab experiment?
experiment carried out in an unnatural, controlled environment. the IV is deliberately changed by experimenter
what is a field experiment?
experiment carried out in a naturally occurring environment. researcher deliberately changes the IV, and measures the effect of the IV on the DV
what is a natural experiment?
research carried out into the effect that changes in the IV has on the DV, but which are outside the control of researchers that assign people to conditions of the IV (e.g age or gender), can be real-life setting or lab
what is an experimental design?
how the pp’s are allocated to the conditions of an experiment
what are the 3 experimental designs?
independent groups design
repeated measures design
matched pairs design
what is the independent groups design?
pp’s are allocated to different groups where each groups represents one experimental condition (level of the IV) e.g condition A/ condition B or control condition
what is the repeated measures design?
when pp’s take part in all the conditions of the experiment (both levels of the IV)
what is the matched pairs design?
pairs of pp’s are grouped in terms of variables relevant to the study. one member of each pair partakes in condition A and the other in condition B
what are standardised procedures?
a same method and set of instructions are used for all pp’s in the same condition when carrying out a study
what are standardised instructions?
using exactly the same written or spoken information provided to participants before and during a study
what is randomisation?
using equal chance- such as tossing a coin or picking names from a hat to control for the effects of bias when designing a research study
what is counterbalancing?
used in repeated measures to control for order effects. half the pp’s complete the conditions in one order, and the other half in the opposite order
what are research procedures?
the method and instructions used in a research study
what is internal validity?
extent that we are confident that the IV is the only factor affecting the DV due to well controlled procedures and no extraneous variables
what is quantitative data?
numerical information, typically numbers or a tally (can be counted, usually given as numbers)
what is qualitative data?
non-numerical information, typically words
what is the mean?
average. calculated by adding all scores and dividing by number of scores that there are
what is the median?
middle value in a set of data when they have been put in order from lowest to highest
what is the mode?
most common value(s) in a set of data
what is the range?
measure of spread/dispersion in a set of data- lowest score is subtracted from highest score
what does a frequency table show?
displays a record of how often an event occurs
what does a bar chart show?
frequency of each variable is represented by the height of the bar. categories on x-axis have no fixed order and no true zero
what does a histogram show?
frequency of each category of continuous data is represented by height of bar. has a true zero and a logical sequence, with no space between bars
what is a scatter diagram for correlation?
a type of graph that represents the strength and direction of a relationship between co-variables in a correlation
what is normal distribution?
symmetrical spread of frequency data that forms a bell-shaped curve. mean, median and mode are all the same point (highest peak)
what are order effects?
sequence participants perform the conditions in affect their performance, reducing validity
what are demand characteristics?
aspects of the investigation that may make it easier for pp’s to work out the aim of the study
what is external validity?
extent to which the results from the study can be generalised beyond the study to other settings
what is mundane realism?
extent to which the procedure used in the investigation reflects the way to measure that behaviour in real life
