Research Methods Flashcards
A variable which either acts randomly, affecting the DV in all levels of the IV or systematically, so as to obscure the effect of the IV.
Extraneous
A level of the IV in an experiment from which the IV is absent and is compared to one or more experimental condition(s).
Control Condition
An experimental design in which a different group of participants is used for each level of the IV condition.
Independent Measures
Features of the experimental situation which give away the aims that can cause participants to try to change their behavior which reduces the validity of the study.
Demand Characteristics
The extent to which the findings of research in one situation would generalize to other situations.
Ecological Validity
An ethical guideline relating to ensuring that participants know that they can remove themselves, and their data, from the study at any time.
Right to Withdraw
An ethical guideline relating to avoiding the invasion of participants’ emotions and physical space.
Right to Privacy
An ethical guideline stating that participants’ results and personal information should be kept safely and not released to anyone outside the study.
Right to Confidentiality
An ethical guideline stating that participants should know enough about a study to decide whether they want to agree to participate.
Informed Consent
After the research is over the participant must be given a general idea of what the researcher was investigating and why, and their part in the research should be explained.
Debriefing
The definition of variables so that they can be accurately manipulated, measured or quantified and replicated.
Operationalization
An implanted piece of information that is recalled by an individual as if it had really happened to them.
False Memory
Extraneous factors that affect the performance of participants.
Confounding Variables
In an experiment, a way to keep a potential extraneous variable constant.
Control
A confounding variable caused by an aspect of the environment, e.g. the amount of light or noise.
Situational Variable
The group or people or animals with one or more characteristics in common from which a sample is drawn.
Population
The group of people or animals selected to participate in a study.
Sample
The method used to obtain the participants for a study from the population.
Sampling Technique
A technique for obtaining participants which chooses participants because they are readily available, and it is convenient.
Opportunity Sampling
A technique for obtaining participants by inviting them to participate through advertisements via email or notices.
Volunteer Sampling
Numerical results about the quantity of a psychological measure such as pulse rate or a score on an intelligence test.
Quantitative Data
Descriptive, in-depth results indicating the quality of a psychological characteristic, such as responses to open questions in self-reports or case studies, or data from detailed observations.
Qualitative Data
A mathematical way to find the typical or average score from a data set, using the mode, median or mean.
Measures of Central Tendency
A mathematical way to describe the variation or dispersion of data around the mean within a data set.
Measure of Spread
A typical visual way to display data from a correlational study.
Scatter Graph
The extent to which a procedure, task, or measure is consistent, for example that it would produce the same results with the same participants on each occasion.
Reliability
How widely findings apply, e.g. to other settings and populations.
Generalizability
The extent to which the researcher is testing what they claim to be testing.
Validity
The consistency between two researchers observing the same event, i.e. whether they will produce the same records.
Inter-observer Reliability
A simple measure of validity indicating whether a measure appears to test what it claims to, i.e. whether it does so at ‘face value’.
Face Validity
