research methods Flashcards
what causes human behaviour?
hormones, childhood, culture, lifestyle, genetics.
what is an extraneous variable?
other variables that could affect the dependant variable.
what is a confounding variable?
a variable which is not the independent variable that can bring change in the dependant variable.
what are demand characteristics?
where participants guess the purpose of the research and try to please the researcher by giving the right result.
what are investigator effects?
ways in which the researcher unconsciously influences the result. An accent or tone of voice can influence the results along with nodding or smiling.
what are these?
lab experiments
field experiments
natural experiment
lab - highly controlled, unnatural behaviour
field - slightly less controlled, natural behaviour
natural - no control, any behaviour
what is a lab experiment?
it has the highest level of control over variables and are widely used.
sophisticated technical equipment can be used and accurate cognitive processes are often carried out as lab experiments.
advantages - high degree of control, replication, cause & effect
disadvantages - experimenter bias, demand characteristics
what is a field experiment?
carried out in a natural environment e.g schools or on the street. The researcher still deliberately manipulates an IV to produce a change in the DV.
advantage - improved ecological validity - findings can be generalised to real-life situations
disadvantage - establishing controls - can be difficult to replicate precisely compared to a lab experiment.
what is a natural experiment?
researchers still measure the effects of the IV on the DV. the researcher has no control over the IV and can’t change it. The DV may also be naturally occurring.
advantage - reduction of demand characteristics - participants are less conscious.
disadvantage - loss of control - investigator has no control over the IV and DV so greatly increases the likely hood of confounding variables affecting the result.
what’s a quasi-experiment?
has to have an IV that is based on an existing difference between people (age/gender)
no one has manipulated the variable, it is simply exits and can’t be changed like in a natural experiment.
as with a natural experiment, the DV may be natural occurring.
what are observational techniques?
involve watching and recording behaviour. most observations are naturalistic but can occur under controlled conditions.
participant observations - observers are involved in the situation being studied.
non participant observations - researchers are actively involved in the research.
observations can be overt - when participants know there being observed or covert - where participants remain unaware of the fact there being observed.
advantage - value as a preliminary tool - can lead to the identification of appropriate hypothesis for further investigation.
disadvantage - replication - may be difficult due to lack of control over variables.
what is a hypothesis?
a testable statement and prediction
directional hypothesis
predicts the direction of results
non directional hypothesis
predicts there will be a difference but doesn’t predict the direction of the results
what is a null hypothesis
predicts the iv won’t affect the dv
what is random sampling
each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
what is opportunity sampling
selecting participants who are available and willing to take part
what is systematic sampling
taking every nth person from a list to create sampling
what is stratified sampling
small scale reproduction of a population, involves dividing a population into characteristics important for the research.
what is a pilot study
small scale practice investigations carried prior to the research to identify problems
when to use a sign test
used when a difference in predicted between 2 sets of nominal data and has a repeated measures design.
what are type 1 and 2 errors
type 1 is a false positive this happens to chance factors, type 2 is false negative this happens when there aren’t enough chance factors.
