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Research Methods Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Primary data? + Evaluate

A

Data that the researcher collects first hand
+ Reliable, High control over EV’s
- Time-consuming

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2
Q

What is Secondary data? + Evaluate

A

Data that has already been collected by someone else and is not specific to the study
+ Faster, Cheaper
- Less reliable, reduced external validity

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3
Q

What is Meta-analysis? + Evaluate

A

Analyses multiple groups of secondary data and draws a new conclusion
+Larger sample, Generalisable
- Hard to analyse, lacks reliability & validity

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4
Q

What is Qualitative data? + Evaluate

A

Data that is expressed in words
+ Provides a deeper understanding
- Hard to analyse, provides more subjective data

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5
Q

What is Quantitative data? + Evaluate

A

Data that is numerical (correlations)
+ Easy to analyse
- Reduced external validity ( no depth)

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6
Q

What is a Laboratory experiment? + Evaluate

A

Takes place in an artificial enviroment, the researcher manipulates the IV to see the effect on the DV using standardised procedures
+ High EV control, high reliability
- Lacks external validity, demand characteristics

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7
Q

What is a Field experiment? + Evaluate

A

Takes place in a natural setting where the researcher has manipulated the IV to see the effect on the DV
+ Mundane realism
- Lack of control over EV’s

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8
Q

What is a Natural experiment? + Evaluate

A

Takes place in a natural setting where the IV is naturally occuring
+ High ecological validity
- Time-consuming, No EV control

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9
Q

What is a Quasi experiment? + Evaluate

A

An experiment which uses naturally occuring differences to group participants
+ High EV control, High validity
- Lack of external validity, demand characteristics

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10
Q

What is an Independent Groups design? + Evaluate

A

Separate groups take part in separate conditions, Results from each group are compared
+ Oder effects are not an issue
- Participant variables may affect DV, Less economical (more ppts needed)

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10
Q

What is a Repeated Measures design? + Evaluate

A

All participants take part in all conditions, data from the conditions are compared.
+ Participant variables are controlled, Economical (less ppts needed)
- Order effects: behaviour is adjusted for later conditions, due to knowledge gained from previous conditions

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11
Q

What is a Matched Pairs design? + Evaluate

A

Participants are paired together by characteristics (IQ, Gender, Age), each pair is assigned to different conditions each and results are compared
+ Order effects and Demand characteristics aren’t an issue
- Time consuming and Expensive (to match pairs and have 2 sets of ppts) , Participant variables are an issue and may effect the DV

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12
Q

What is a Naturalistic observation? + Evaluate

A

Observes behaviour in a natural setting
+ High ecological validity
- Hard to replicate and gain results (standardised procedure)

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13
Q

What is a Controlled observation? + Evaluate

A

Observes behaviour within a structured enviroment
+ Easy to replicate (using standardised procedures)
- Results may be ungeneralisable to real-world

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14
Q

What is a Covert observation? + Evaluate

A

When the researcher observes behaviour without the participants consent or knowledge
+ Mundane realism, avoids demand characteristics
- Unethical: no consent is given, invasion of privacy

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15
Q

What is an Overt observation? + Evaluate

A

Behaviour is observed with consent from participants
+ Ethical: consent is given
- May produce artificial behaviour

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16
Q

What is a Participant observation? + Evaluate

A

The researcher acts a participant and observes
+ Greater understanding of participants views
- May lack objectivity: researcher builds bond with ppts

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17
Q

What is a Non-Participant observation? + Evaluate

A

Researcher remains outside of the participant group that is being observed
+ Unlikely to lack objectivity
- Lack of insight into ppts views and behaviour

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18
Q

What is a Questionaire (types of questions)? + Evaluate

A

Pre-written questions which the participant responds too. Can have Open questions (collects in-depth information & Qualitative data) or Closed questions (fixed answers and limited amount of data)
+ Collects large amounts of data quickly, can have qualitative and quantitative data
- Untruthful answers are likely due to demand characteristics, can produce a response bias

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19
Q

What is a Correlation (types)? + Evaluate

A

The researcher investigates an association/ relationship between 2 variables (co-variables).
Positive= both variables increase
Negative= One increases, the other decreases
Zero= no relationship
+ Provides a measure of how variables are related, Quick and Economical: uses secondary data
- Doesn’t explain cause and effect (how variables are related), may include intervening variables

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20
Q

What is Correlation Co-efficient?

A

Shows how closely variables are related
-1.0: lowest, perfect negative
1.0: greatest, perfect positive

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21
Q

What is a Correlational Hypothesis?

A

States the expected relationship between the co-variables

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22
Q

What is a Structured Interview? + Evaluate

A

Questions are decided before the interview takes place, uses standardised procedures for every interview
+ Results are replicable
- Limits the depth and uniqueness of results

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23
Q

What is a Unstructured Interview? + Evaluate

A

Questions are decided during the interview (conversation), encourages depth within answers
+ Larger insight into ppts views, Flexible
- May collect irrelevant information, hard to make a conlusion

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24
Q

What is a Semi-Structured Interview?

A

Mostly prepared quesitons but the researcher is free to ask follow-up questions.

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25
Q

What are the 3 types of Central Tendancy? + Evaluate

A
  1. Mean: Calculates the average, used with no extreme values
    + Representative
    - Easily distorted by extreme values
  2. Median: middle value, used with extreme values
    + Not distorted by extreme values
    - Ignores extreme values
  3. Mode: Most common value, used with categorised data
    + Easy to calculate
    - Inaccurate: can have multiple modes
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26
Q

What are the 2 types of Dispersion? + Evaluate

A
  1. Range: used with simple data, a calculation of the dispersion in scores
    + Easy to calculate
    - Not representative
  2. Standard deviation: used with sophisticated data, calculate the difference between each value and the mean, add all up and divide by amount of variables= variance. Square root the variance.
    High=Bad Low=Good
    + Precise, Representative
    - Affected by extreme values
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27
Q

What is an Aim?

A

A general statement which describes the purpose of the study.
To investigate/see/examine…

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28
Q

What is a Hypothesis (types)?

A

A prediction between the variables relationship
-Directional: Predicts the direction in which the variables are expected to occur (improves/reduces)
-Non-Directional: Predicts a relationship but doesn’t state in which direction they will have an effect
-Null: States there will be no relationship between the co-variables

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29
Q

What is Operationalisation?

A

When the researcher clearly defines variables - how they will be measured

30
Q

What is a Pilot study?

A

A ‘Trial run’ which may not include the full amount of participants, used to identify any potential issues and modify the procedure.

31
Q

What is a Single-blind procedure?

A

Participants are unaware of the researchers aim, used to control demand characteristics

32
Q

What is a Double-blind procedure?

A

Neither the participants or the researcher are aware of the aims, used in drug-trials with placebos

33
Q

What is a control group?

A

No change is made to their procedure- No IV, used for comparison to those experiencing the IV

34
Q

What is a Target Population?

A

A group of people who the researcher is interested in.

35
Q

What is a Sample?

A

Drawn from the target population, a small group which take part in the investigation

36
Q

What is Random Sampling? + Evaluate

A

Uses a random number generator or names in a hat to select the sample
+ No researcher bias
- Difficult and time-consuming, may produce a sample that is unrepresentative

37
Q

What is Systematic Sampling? + Evaluate

A

Every nth member is selected to be apart of the sample
+ No researcher bias, fairly generalisable
- Impossible to be fully representative

38
Q

What is Stratified Sampling? + Evaluate

A

Composes equal amounts of participants from each strata (sub-group)
+ No researcher bias, representative
- Can’t reflect all differences between people, ungeneralisable

39
Q

What is Opportunity Sampling? + Evaluate

A

Selects anyone willing to take part
+ Convenient, Cheap, Efficient
- Research bias, Ungeneralisable results to the target population

40
Q

What is Volunteer/ Self-select Sampling? + Evaluate

A

Participants volunteer to take part (application)
+ Efficient, minimal effort
- Volunteer bias: certain type of people (outgoing), ungeneralisable

41
Q

What is demand characteristics?

A

Any cues from the researcher which may give away the purpose of the investigation.

42
Q

What is an extraneous variable?

A

Variables that do not vary systematically with the IV and can often be controlled before the experiment begins (environmental + external)

43
Q

What is a confounding variable?

A

Variables that do vary systematically with the Iv so we are unsure what changed the DV (Internal- PV, apparatus)

44
Q

What is external validity?

A

The degree to which results can be applied outside of the study

45
Q

What is internal validity?

A

Confidence in the cause + effects of the results

46
Q

What are ethical issues?

A

The conflict between participants rights and the researchers needs

47
Q

What is informed consent?

A

Making the participants aware of the aims, procedures , rights and how their data will be used. This could cause artificial behaviour

48
Q

How do you deal with informed consent?

A

Participants are given a consent form

49
Q

What are the types of consent?

A

Retrospective- when the participant gives consent after the research has taken place
Presumptive= A similar group of participants are asked if it would be acceptable or if they would consent
General- Participants consent to a number of studies

50
Q

What is deception?

A

Deliberately misleading or withholding information from participants, can be justified if no harm was caused

51
Q

What is protection from harm?

A

Participants should not be at any more risk then they would be in their everyday lives. Not to be embarrassed or put under pressure and given the right to withdraw

52
Q

What is privacy?

A

Participants can control what information about them is used

53
Q

What is confidentiality?

A

The right to have your personal data protected (Data Protection Act)
Participants should be referred to as numbers, not personal names

54
Q

What is the BPS?

A

British Psychological Society: ethical guidelines which must be followed by researchers, ensured participants are respected

55
Q

What is a structured observation? Evaluate

A

Behaviour categories are used, allows researchers to only collect necessary data
+ Quantitative data: easy to analyse
- Lacks depth

56
Q

What is an unstructured observation? Evaluate

A

No categories used, produces rich data as any information is recorded
+ Richer data collected
- Qualitative: harder and time consuming analysis

57
Q

What are Behaviour Categories? + Evaluate

A

Similar to operationalisation,
Target behaviours are defined and made observable and measurable
+Easy to observe target data
- Observer bias: Lacks validity

58
Q

What is event sampling? + Evaluate

A

Counting how many times a certain event/behaviour occurs
+ Good for infrequent behaviour
- Can overlook some behaviours

59
Q

What is time sampling? + Evaluate

A

Recording behaviour within a pre-established time-frame
+Reduces how often observations should occur
-May be unrepresentative of whole observation

60
Q

What is inter-observer reliability?

A

2 researchers should observe using standardised operationalised procedures
Increases validity and reduces bias , more objective results

61
Q

What is social-desirability bias?

A

Participants answer questions in a manner that researchers will favour

62
Q

What is Acquiescence bias?

A

A response bias on which participants tend to agree with the questions when in doubt

63
Q

What are investigator effects?

A

When a researcher unconsciously influences the results

64
Q

When is a table used?

A

When data has been converted to descriptive statistics, A summary paragraph must be underneath explaining results

65
Q

When are bar charts used?

A

With categorised/discrete data

65
Q

When are histograms used?

A

With continuous data

66
Q

When are scattergrams used?

A

Used for correlations , associations between co-variables

67
Q

What are line graphs used for?

A

to represent continuous data

68
Q

What is a normal distribution?

A

A symmetrical spread of data. has the same mean, mode, median

69
Q

What is a positive skew?

A

Most data is displayed towards the left
Mode is highest point, median then mean

70
Q

What is a negative skew?

A

Most data displayed on the right, Mean is the lowest (left side), median and then mode is the highest point

71
Q

What is peer review + conditions?
Why does it need to take place?

A

using specialists to ensure any research is high quality + accurate
Know where to allocate research funding, Validating quality and relevance of research, To suggest improvements to research
Anonymity: review used to sabotage other researchers
Publication bias: Only intriguing or positive results are published
Slowed rate of change: Reviewers may criticise new views which they don’t believe in

72
Q

How does Psychology affect the economy?

A

It can produce a ‘ripple effect’ in society as it shows new ideas, social change and modification.
Health: funding towards mental health due to new findings
Education: knowledge of how children learn and adapt
Leisure: To boost mental health
Depression: SSRI’s, drug therapy, CBT

Psychology (6 decks)

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