research methods

Question 1

what is a hypothesis?

Answer 1

a precise, measurable and testable statement about the effect of what will happen for the IV, DV or E-Vs being investigated

Question 2

what is a null hypothesis?

Answer 2

states there will be no difference (or relationship is correlation) between variables (or co-variables if correlation)

Question 3

what is an aim?

Answer 3

a general statement that explains the purpose of the study (aim always starts with ‘to investigate’)

Question 4

what is a correlation?

Answer 4

relationship, association or link between co-variables

Question 5

what is the independent variable?

Answer 5

the variable that is varied/changed to see if it affects the dependent variable

Question 6

what is the dependent variable?

Answer 6

the variable that will be measured by a researcher to see if changing the IV has had any effect

Question 7

what is the extraneous variable?

Answer 7

any variable, apart from the IV, that may have an effect on the DV

Question 8

what happens when we don’t control extraneous variables?

Answer 8

we cannot establish cause and effect

Question 9

what is reliability?

Answer 9

consistency of measurement. every time a thing is measured, the result should be the same

Question 10

what is validity?

Answer 10

whether a result is true and reflects real-life

Question 11

what is test-retest reliability?

Answer 11

the extent to which you get similar findings when you repeat the same text/questionnaire again over a period of time

Question 12

what is inter-rater(observer) reliability?

Answer 12

the extent to which two or more people are similar in their assessment of behaviour

Question 13

what is opportunity sampling methods?

Answer 13

produced by selecting people who are willing and available to take part

Question 14

what are quantitative methods?

Answer 14

any research method that gathers numerical information (e.g quantitative data)

Question 15

what are qualitative methods?

Answer 15

any research method that gathers non-numerical data (e.g qualitative data)

Question 16

what is the experimental method?

Answer 16

involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in 1 variable cause changes in another variable

Question 17

what is a lab experiment?

Answer 17

experiment carried out in an unnatural, controlled environment. the IV is deliberately changed by experimenter

Question 18

what is a field experiment?

Answer 18

experiment carried out in a naturally occurring environment. researcher deliberately changes the IV, and measures the effect of the IV on the DV

Question 19

what is a natural experiment?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

what is an experimental design?

Answer 20

how the pp’s are allocated to the conditions of an experiment

Question 21

what are the 3 experimental designs?

Answer 21

independent groups design
repeated measures design
matched pairs design

Question 22

what is the independent groups design?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

what is the repeated measures design?

Answer 23

when pp’s take part in all the conditions of the experiment (both levels of the IV)

Question 24

what is the matched pairs design?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

what are standardised procedures?

Answer 25

a same method and set of instructions are used for all pp's in the same condition when carrying out a study

Question 26

what are standardised instructions?

Answer 26

using exactly the same written or spoken information provided to participants before and during a study

Question 27

what is randomisation?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

what is counterbalancing?

Answer 28

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

Question 29

what are research procedures?

Answer 29

the method and instructions used in a research study

Question 30

what is internal validity?

Answer 30

extent that we are confident that the IV is the only factor affecting the DV due to well controlled procedures and no extraneous variables

Question 31

what is quantitative data?

Answer 31

numerical information, typically numbers or a tally (can be counted, usually given as numbers)

Question 32

what is qualitative data?

Answer 32

non-numerical information, typically words

Question 33

what is the mean?

Answer 33

average. calculated by adding all scores and dividing by number of scores that there are

Question 34

what is the median?

Answer 34

middle value in a set of data when they have been put in order from lowest to highest

Question 35

what is the mode?

Answer 35

most common value(s) in a set of data

Question 36

what is the range?

Answer 36

measure of spread/dispersion in a set of data- lowest score is subtracted from highest score

Question 37

what does a frequency table show?

Answer 37

displays a record of how often an event occurs

Question 38

what does a bar chart show?

Answer 38

frequency of each variable is represented by the height of the bar. categories on x-axis have no fixed order and no true zero

Question 39

what does a histogram show?

Answer 39

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

Question 40

what is a scatter diagram for correlation?

Answer 40

a type of graph that represents the strength and direction of a relationship between co-variables in a correlation

Question 41

what is normal distribution?

Answer 41

symmetrical spread of frequency data that forms a bell-shaped curve. mean, median and mode are all the same point (highest peak)

Question 42

what are order effects?

Answer 42

sequence participants perform the conditions in affect their performance, reducing validity

Question 43

what are demand characteristics?

Answer 43

aspects of the investigation that may make it easier for pp's to work out the aim of the study

Question 44

what is external validity?

Answer 44

extent to which the results from the study can be generalised beyond the study to other settings

Question 45

what is mundane realism?

Answer 45

extent to which the procedure used in the investigation reflects the way to measure that behaviour in real life