research methods

Question 1

what is informed consent

Answer 1

participants should be told the purpose of research and that they can leave at any time

Question 2

what is deception

Answer 2

participants should not be lied to or misled about aims.

Question 3

what is privacy

Answer 3

participants have the right to control information about themselves

Question 4

what is confidentiality

Answer 4

personal data must be protected and respected

Question 5

what is reliability

Answer 5

a measure of consistency

Question 6

what is random sampling

Answer 6

each person has equal chance of selection.

Question 7

what is opportunity sampling

Answer 7

selecting people available

Question 8

what is systematic sampling

Answer 8

selecting every nth person from list of target population

Question 9

what is stratified sampling

Answer 9

selecting participants in proportion to frequency in target population

Question 10

what is validity

Answer 10

relates to whether a result is a true reflection of real world behaviour

Question 11

what is a structured interview

Answer 11

interviewer reads list of questions. can have prepared follow up questions

Question 12

what is an unstructured interview

Answer 12

some questions prepared before.
new questions created depending on what the interviewee says

Question 13

what is a semi structured interview

Answer 13

some questions decided before but follow up questions emerge

Question 14

what is a questionnaire

Answer 14

prepared list of questions which can be answered in writing, over the phone or on the internet

Question 15

what is a strength of a questionnaire

Answer 15

can gather information from many people.
easy to analyse as often use closed questions

Question 16

what is a lab experiment

Answer 16

experimenter has high control over what happens.
takes place in a laboratory

Question 17

what is a strength of a lab experiment

Answer 17

EV’s can be controlled, so cause and effect is established.
use of standardised procedures permits replication, this can demonstrate validity

Question 18

what is a weakness of a lab experiment

Answer 18

behaviour in a lab is less normal, so difficult to generalise. Participants may change their behaviour because they are aware of being watched

Question 19

what is a field experiment

Answer 19

takes place in a natural setting,
IV manipulated by experimenter

Question 20

what is a natural experiment

Answer 20

takes place in a natural or lab setting. IV is not changed by experimenter. It varies naturally

Question 21

what is independent groups

Answer 21

different group of participants for each level of the IV

Question 22

what is repeated measures

Answer 22

all participants take part in all levels of the IV

Question 23

what is matched pairs

Answer 23

participants are tested on variables relevant to the study. Participants then matched and one member of each pair goes under each condition

Question 24

what is a case study

Answer 24

an in depth investigation of an individual, group, event or institution