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Psychology > Research Methods > Flashcards

Research Methods Flashcards

1
Q

Alternate/ Experimental Hypothesis

A

A clear, precise, testable statement that includes named variables which are operationalised and includes and prediction.

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2
Q

Null Hypothesis

A

A statement of coincidence chance.

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3
Q

Direction/ One-Tailed Hypothesis

A

Predicts the direction in white change is expected to occur, using previous research to suggest what direction the change may be while using words such as faster/ slower, bigger/ smaller and more/ less.

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4
Q

Non-directional/ Two-Tailed Hypothesis

A

Predicts change but does not specifiy direction. This is used when there is no previous research, is non-specific and uses words like effect, change and difference.

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5
Q

Laboratory Experiment

A

An artificial experiment where all conditions are controlled.

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6
Q

Field Experiment

A

A more realistic experiment where the variables and conditions cannot be controlled.

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7
Q

Natural Experiment

A

An experiment into the effects of things already happened.

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8
Q

Quasi Experiment

A

Investigation into a naturally occurring independent variable e.g. age or autism.

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9
Q

Laboratory Experiment Evaluation

A

+ Complete control of variables.
+ Forces pace of research.
+ Reliable
+ Quantitative Data
+ Able to use technical equipment
- Lacks ecological validity.
- Demand characteristics
- Sampling bias
- Ethics

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10
Q

Field Experiment Evaluation

A

+ Ecologically valid
+ Reduce demand characteristics
- Cannot control variables as easily
- Unable to control research pace
- Harder to replicated
- Unable to use technical equipment

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11
Q

Natural Experiment Evaluation

A

+ High ecological validity
- No control over variable
- Ethically wrong- might help more people

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12
Q

Quasi Experiment Evaluation

A

+ Reduction of demand characteristics
+ Lack of direct intervention
- Loss of control over variables

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13
Q

Demand Characteristics

A

A subtle queue that makes participants aware what the experimenter expects, influencing their behaviour.

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14
Q

Social Desirability

A

The participant changes their behaviour or answers to look good and be deemed social acceptable.

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15
Q

Investigator Effect

A

The researcher influences the outcome of the research, possibly due to their body language, or their own expectations.

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16
Q

Situational Variables

A

Outside influences on the experiment affecting the results.

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17
Q

Order Effect

A

Influences like practice, boredom and fatigue that often occur when a task is undertaken more than once.

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18
Q

Counterbalancing- order effect

A

Used in repeated measures design- changes the order of the tasks to reduce order effect.

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19
Q

Randomisation- order effect

A

Randomising the order of tasks/ presentation of data.

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20
Q

Individual Differences

A

Differences between participants such as intelligence, age, gender, social class, fitness, etc.

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21
Q

Repeated Measures Design

A

Involves the same participant in each condition.

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22
Q

Repeated Measures Design Evaluation

A

+ Control for individual differences
+ Need fewer participants
- Generates order effect
- Vulnerability to low validity

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23
Q

Independent Measures Design

A

Uses different participants in each condition

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24
Q

Independent Measures Design Evaluation

A

+ High validity
+ Control for order effect
- Reduced control for individual differences
- More participants

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25
Q

Matched Pairs Design

A

Different participants with similar characteristics in each condition.

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26
Q

Matched Pairs Design Evaluation

A

+ Controls for individual differences if identical twins.
+ Order effect
- Harder to find participants
- Expensive

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27
Q

Naturalistic Observation

A

People are studied in their natural environment. Researcher doesn’t interfere in any way and are often looking for a certain behaviour.

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28
Q

Controlled Observation

A

The environment is artificial and completely controlled - like an experiment.

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29
Q

Structured Observation

A

Researcher decides in advance what sort of behaviour they are looking for and devises a checklist. This generates quantitative data (numbers).

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30
Q

Unstructured Observation

A

Researcher records everything that happens collecting qualitative or quantitative data.

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31
Q

Event Sampling

A

Keeping count of when behaviours occur.

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32
Q

Time Sampling

A

The observer decides on a time interval and notes any behaviours that are displayed during that time.

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33
Q

Inter-rater Reliability

A

Using multiple observers to increase the reliability- must be trained in the same way and achieve an agreement level of 80%.

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34
Q

Covert Observation

A

Participants are unaware they are being observed.

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35
Q

Overt Observation

A

Participants are aware they are being observed.

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36
Q

Participant Observation

A

The researcher is part of the action they are observing. Can lead to observer bias.

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37
Q

Questionnaire

A

Self-reported paper questions.

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38
Q

Interview

A

Oral questions.

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39
Q

Open question

A

All participants to elaborate on their answers and give more detail.

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40
Q

Closed Questions

A

Force participants to choose an option.

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41
Q

Contingent Questions

A

Questions depend on answer to preceding question.

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42
Q

Likert Scaling

A

Generates quantitative data by assessing strength of opinion. At risk of invalid data if people choose middle answer.

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43
Q

Overuse of Jargon

A

Using technical/ complicated language.

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44
Q

Emotive Language

A

Influencing a viewpoint with emotion.

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45
Q

Leading Questions

A

Prompting a desired answer.

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46
Q

Double-barrelled questions

A

Confusing two part questions.

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47
Q

Double Negatives

A

Confusing/ complicated

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48
Q

Interviews Evaluation

A

+ Reliable
+ Ethical
+ Quantitative and qualitative
+ Quick and easy
+ Lots of questions
- Researcher/ volunteer bias- lack validity
- DC & SD
- Order effect
- Leading questions = bias
- Difficult to control sample

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49
Q

Correlations

A

Look for relationships between two variables.

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50
Q

Positive Correlation

A

Both variables move in same direction.

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51
Q

Negative Correlation

A

Variables move in opposite directions.

52
Q

Correlation Co-efficient

A

Strength of a relationship from -1 to +1.

53
Q

Correlation Evaluation

A

+ Good starting point
+ Quick, easy and cheap.
- No cause of the relationship between variables.
- Validity can be affected by how variables measured.

54
Q

Random Sampling

A

Equal chance of being selected by a random selection tool.

55
Q

Random Sampling Evaluation

A

+ Unbiased
+ Fair
- Representation not guaranteed
- People may not consent
- Can be time consuming and expensive
- May be difficult to obtain list.

56
Q

Stratified Sampling

A

Target population split into sub sets e.g. age, gender, class, etc and a random sample is then taken.

57
Q

Stratified Sampling Evaluation

A

+ Representative
+ More generalisable
- May be biased.
- Time consuming/ expensive
- Doesn’t always reflect the way people are different.

58
Q

Opportunity Sampling

A

Selecting anyone available at the time.

59
Q

Opportunity Sampling Evaluation

A

+ Convenient
+ Saves time and money
- Not representative
- Vulnerable to bias

60
Q

Self-Selected Sampling

A

Participants volunteer to be apart of the investigation

61
Q

Self-Selected Sampling Evaluation

A

+ Consensual
+ Quick and easy
+ Participants engage
- Volunteer bias
- Less representative
- Participants often similar

62
Q

Systematic Sampling

A

Selected from a list at fixed intervals.

63
Q

Systematic Sampling Evaluation

A

+ Can be representative
- Somewhat bias
- Time consuming
- Expensive
- Random sampling more efficient
- May not consent

64
Q

Snowball Sample

A

Access a hidden population by asking participants to recruit others.

65
Q

Snowball Sample Evaluation

A

+ Access hidden populations
+ Representative
+ No researcher bias
- Consent
- May be unethical- exposing them to harm
- No information guaranteed

66
Q

Reliability

A

Consistency of a test/ procedure

67
Q

Validity

A

Accuracy of a test/ procedure

68
Q

Face Validity

A

Does it seem okay? Starting point.

69
Q

Predictive Validity

A

Predicts future performance.

70
Q

Concurrent Validity

A

Compares two methods of testing to see if results are comparable.

71
Q

Ecological Validity

A

Can the findings be generalised to other settings beyond the lab?

72
Q

Temporal Validity

A

Are they relevant/ true today?

73
Q

Primary Data Evaluation

A

+ Specific
- Researcher bias
- Time consuming

74
Q

Secondary Data Evaluation

A

+ Cheap
+ Quick
+ No preparation
+ Ethical
- Unfocused
- Might not be any data
- Out of date
- Incomplete

75
Q

Meta-analysis

A

Using primary and secondary data to come to a conclusion.

76
Q

Triangulation

A

Using multiple data sources/ research methods to improve reliability and validity.

77
Q

Standard Deviation

A

Shows how far, on average, each score is from the mean.

78
Q

Normal Distribution

A

Curve showing mode median and mean on a graph.

79
Q

Positive Skew

A

Mode closer to origin, median and mean further.

80
Q

Negative Skew

A

Mode further from the origin, median and mean closer.

81
Q

Bimodal

A

Two modes on the graph.

82
Q

Ethics

A

Standards of conduct outlined by the British Psychological Society that psychologists must follow.

83
Q

Informed Consent

A

Participants must give consent with all important information provided so they can come to an educated decision.

84
Q

Deception

A

Hiding information from or misleading participants.

85
Q

Protection From Harm

A

Must protect the participants from being physically or psychologically injured.

86
Q

Confidentiality

A

Participants information and behaviour must not be publicly shared.

87
Q

Withdrawal

A

Participants have the right to withdraw at any time.

88
Q

Debriefing

A

Investigators should explain everything after the investigation is concluded.

89
Q

Peer Review

A

Evaluation of work by one or more people of similar competence to the producers. This helps maintain quality standards, improve performance and provide credibility.

90
Q

Peer Review Evaluation

A
  • Anonymity- may unfairly criticise those they have a grudge against.
  • Publication Bias- file drawer effect- only publish statistically significant research.
  • Burying ground breaking research- research that questions existing theories are often not published.
  • Peers are in competition for scarce funding.
91
Q

Attachment Research

A

Research shows that mothers can work, making more money for the economy.

92
Q

Psychopathology Research

A

Anything to do with treatment and people ability to work and contribute to the economy as effective members of society.

93
Q

Memory Research

A

Can help reduce costs in the justice system with cognitive interviewing and eye witness testimonies.

94
Q

Statistically Significant

A

95% confidence

95
Q

Type 1 Error 1+

A

False positive- rejecting the null when there is a possibility that the results were due to chance. Not being cautious enough.

96
Q

Type 2 Error 2-

A

False negative- accepting the null when there’s a chance the results were significant. Being over cautious.

97
Q

Statistical Test Table

A

. Diff. Aso
Level of Measure Ind. Rep. Cor
Nominal. Chi2. Sign. Chi2
Ordinal MW. Wil. Spear
Interval UT-t. RT-t. Pear

98
Q

Nominal Data

A

Frequency/ categorisable e.g. food types

99
Q

Ordinal Data

A

Rank order e.g. placements

100
Q

Interval

A

On a scale e.g. minutes, percentage, number

101
Q

Sign Test

A
  1. Determine if the test is one tailed or two tailed.
  2. Determine the direction of influence for the results (+-x)
  3. Add the number of times the least frequent sign appears. S = this number.
  4. Look at the critical value table and obtain the critical value for S looking in the 0.05 column and comparing with the number of participants - the no change ones.
  5. If S is the same or less than the critical value reject the null, if it is more, accept the null.
102
Q

Content Analysis

A

Observe the presence of certain words, images or concepts within secondary data. Researchers count and examine the presence of certain words.

103
Q

Content Analysis Evaluation

A

+ Quick and easy
+ Quantifies the meaning of text
+ Internally reliable
+ Ethical
- Accuracy of focus
- Researcher bias

104
Q

Thematic Analysis

A

Looking for emergent themes in data, coding them and interpreting their meaning.

105
Q

Thematic Analysis Evaluation

A

+ Flexible
+ Theoretically free
+ Detailed
- Researcher bias
- Time consuming
- Subjective
- Quality of coding
- Theme identification bias
- Specificity

106
Q

Top-down analysis

A

Start with an idea and apply knowledge.

107
Q

Bottom-up analysis

A

Open ended- no initial assumptions.

108
Q

Case Study

A

An in-depth study using a range of methods on one person or a small group.

109
Q

Case Study Evaluation

A

+ In-depth specific evaluation of data
+ Can help give insight into specific situations and scenarios
+ Can prompt further more generalisable research
- Little control over variables- poor reliability
- Extremely ungeneralisable
- Small sample in a specific situation
- Vulnerable to researcher bias
- Time consuming/ expensive

110
Q

Thomas Kuhn- Definition of a Science

A

Should have a set of assumptions, scientific methods and terminology. Provide precise, operationalised hypotheses which can be tested.

111
Q

Falsification

A

Should be able to test whether something is false or not.

112
Q

Predictive Power

A

Theories should all predictions of future behaviour.

113
Q

Nomothetic

A

Apply to who population

114
Q

Idiographic

A

Apply to a set of individuals

115
Q

Scientific Paradigms

A

Kuhn argues that psychology is fundamentally different to physical sciences, and does not have one unifying theory upon which ideas could be tested.

116
Q

Ethical Considerations

A

We cannot isolate and test variables without being unethical.

117
Q

Reports Structure

A

Title, Content page, Abstract, Introduction, Procedure, Results, Discussion, References, Appendices

118
Q

Abstract

A

Brief summary of entire investigation in 100-150 words and is written last. Must include one sentence summary, sampling/ participants, procedure description, results description and implications.

119
Q

Introduction

A

Review background research and quote your aim.

120
Q

Procedure

A

Four sub-titled sub-sections:

  • Design and overview- method, design, variables, controls, ethics.
  • Participants and investigators- who were they and how were they selected?
  • Apparatus- equipment
  • Procedure- explain how you did the investigation from start to finish.
121
Q

Results

A

Descriptive results with a summary and graphs.

122
Q

Analysis of Results

A

Refer to inferential statistics/ statistical significance. Reject/ accept the null.

123
Q

Discussion

A
  • Explanation of findings
  • Limitations and modifications
  • Implications and suggestions
124
Q

References

A

Last Name. Initials. (year) Title in italics. Publisher place: Publisher

125
Q

Appendices

A

Any additional information like calculations, raw data, stimulus material, instructions and debrief etc.

Psychology (11 decks)

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