Research Methods Flashcards
What is an aim
A statement of a study’s purpose
3 types of hypothesis
One tailed/directional, two tailed/non-directional and null
Directional Hypothesis
States the difference between conditions
Non directional hypothesis
States there will be a difference but doesnt say what the difference will be
Null hypothesis
There will be NO significant difference between the conditions
Independent Variable
The variable we’re changing/ manipulating
Dependent Variable
The variable we’re measuring
Control
The extent to which any variable is held constant or regulated by a researcher.
Random allocation
Everyone has an equal chance of doing either condition
Counterbalancing
Half the participants participate in condition A before condition B and vice versa. (overcomes order effects)
Randomisation
Materials are presented in a random order
Standardisation
Everything should be as similar as possible for all participants
Extraneous variables
Variables other than the IV that could influence your results
Confounding variables
Variables other than the IV which has influenced your results
Ethical guidelines
Standards of behaviour, promoting fairness, protecting rights, and minimising harm.
Informed consent
Knowing aims and giving your permission to take part in the study
Deception
Deliberately misleading or withholding information
Right to withdraw
Being able to leave when desired
Confidentiiality
Details should be kept private
Protection from harm
No more harm than daily life
Independent Groups
There are 2 separate groups of participants. One takes park in Condition A and the other in B
Independent Groups A+W
Fewer demand characteristics
No order effects
But more participants needed
Individual differences
Repeated Measures
One group that takes part in both conditions
Repeated Measures A+W
No individual differences as the same person does both conditions
Demand characteristics
Order effects
Matched Pairs
Two groups and they are matched into pairs for certain qualities such as age or intelligence. One does Condition A and the other B
Matched Pairs A+W
No order effects
Controls for individuals differences
Difficult to match people perfectly
Costly and time consuming
Field Experiment
Take place outside of the lab but still manipulates IV
Field Experiment A+W
Less Artificial
Avoids participant effects producing more natural behaviour
Less easy to control extraneous variables
Ethical Issues (pps unlikely to know they are being studied)
Laboratory Experiment
Controlled artificial environment where IV is manipulated
Laboratory Experiment A+W
Controlled environment
Minimises extraneous variables
Artificial environment
Pps may behave differently due to environment
What is meant by the term ‘double blind’?
Neither the participants or the researchers are aware of the aims of the investigation
What is meant by the term ‘single blind’?
Participants aren’t aware of the condition they are in
Attempts to control for the confounding effects of demand characteristics
Natural Experiment
Natural Environment. IV manipulated taking advantage of a naturally occuring event
Natural Experiment A+W
High ecological validity
Few ethical issues
Many extraneous variables
Naturally occuring events are infrequent limiting research opportunity
Quasi Experiment
The IV is a naturally existing characteristic between people and hasn’t been changed by anyone or anything
Quasi Experiment A+W
Done in labs so high in control
‘Real’ problems can be studied
Pps can’t be randomly allocated to conditions so there may be confounding variables. Meaning we can’t say cause and effects
What are behavioural categories?
Categories defined by the researcher to observe during the experiment
Event Sampling
Counting the number of times a certain behaviour occurs
Time Sampling
Recording behaviours in a given time frame
Controlled Observation
When the researcher has some measure of control over the environment
Controlled Observation S+W
Control over extraneous variables
Easy to replicate
Can’t be applied to real life setting
May be subjective towards what the researcher wants to see
Naturalistic Observation
Studying behaviour in a natural setting where everything has been left as it is normally
Naturalistic Observation S+W
High ecological validity
Natural Environment- generalised to everyday life
Replication is difficult
Uncontrolled extraneous variables
Covert Observation
The participants aren’t aware that they are being observed
Covert Observation S+W
No demand characteristics
Ethical Issues
Overt Observation
The participants are aware that they are being observed
Overt Observation S+W
Less ethical issues
Might be demand characteristics as they know they are being watched
Participant Observation
The observer acts a part of the group being watched
Participant Observation S+W
Experience situation and increases validity
Lose objectivity
Difficulty in recording observations
Non-participant Observation
The experimenter does not become part of the group being observed
Non-participant Observation S+W
More ethical, more objective
Less insight
Not experiencing the same things
Structured Observation
The researcher determines precisely what behaviours are to be observed and uses a standardised checklist to record the frequency with which they are observed within a specific time frame
Structured Observation S+W
Easy to gather relevant data because you know what you are looking for
Interesting behaviours could go unrecorded because they weren’t pre-defined as important
Unstructured Observation
The observer recalls all relevant behaviours but has no system
Unstructured Observation S+W
Interesting behaviours don’t go unnoticed
Difficult to gather relevant data because you don’t know what you are looking for
What is inter-rater reliability?
The test should give consistent results regardless of who administers it
This can be assessed by correlating the scores each researcher provides and compare. There should be an 80% agreement
How can inter-rater reliability be improved?
Offer a chance to discuss difficult issues or problems and monitor the quality of the data collection over time
Structured Interview
When the questions are decided in advance
Structured Interview S+W
Can be easily repeated (standardised questions)
Requires less skill than unstructured
Can be interviewer bias
Data collection will be restricted
Unstructured interview
When the interviewees answers to questions guide subsequent questions
Unstructured Interview S+W
Detailed and in depth information obtained
Insight into feeling and thoughts
Affected by interviewer bias
Hard to analyse answers
Semi-Structured Interview
Combination of structured and unstructured
Qualitative data
In-depth Information in a written form - words, texts, ideas
Quantative Data
Information that can be reduced to number and quantities
Reliability
Overall consistency of a measure
Internal Reliability
The extent to which a test is consistent within itself
Split-Half Method
Methods ensuring reliability
Compare an individual’s performance on two halves of a test
Test-retest method
Methods ensuring reliability
A person repeats a test a month or so after doing the test the first time
Concurrent Validity
Results from a new test can be compared to a previously well-established test
Predictive Validity
If diagnosis leads to successful treatment then the diagnosis is seen as valid
Temporal Validity
Assesses to what degree research findings remain over time
Content Validity
Involves asking experts in the field to check the content of the study
Ecological Validity
Generalisable to real life settings- generalising findings from one setting to other settings
Population Validity
Whether you can reasonably generalise the findings from your sample to a larger group of people
Bar Chart and why its different to a histogram
Used to present discrete data that are placed into categories
Columns do not touch and have equal width and spacing
Histogram
Used to represent data on a continuous scale
What is correlation analysis?
When two or more variables are measured in order to see if there is a relationship
(positive, negative or no correlation)
Correlation coefficient
Number between 1 and -1 telling us how strong the correlation is
Types of Correlation
Positive - both variables increase
Negative - One increases the other decreases
No correlation- no relationship
Positive and Negative Skew
Positive -more scores on the lower end of the data set
Negative - more scores on the higher end of the data set
What is an experimental group?
The participants are the experiment who the researcher is testing
What is a control group?
The other condition where participants are taking part in the experiment, but no manipulation is used
What are demand characteristics?
Participants may have determined the aims of the study (may act deliberately to please the researcher
How can demand characteristics be controlled?
Counterbalancing / randomisation
Name 2 self report methods
Questionnaires and Interviews
Interview
Used to gather qualitative data
Advantages and disadvantages of Interviews
Can get rich and detailed data
Time consuming and impractical
What are investigator effects?
Anything the researcher does which can effect how the participant behaves
What is researcher bias and how can it be avoided?
Researchers expectations can influence how they design their study.
Research assistant conducts the research using standardised procedures
What is content analysis?
Research analysing secondary data and data you’ve collected
Content analysis S+W
Inexpensive
Ethics - participants not directly involved
Subjectivity
Data analysis is time consuming
What is thematic analysis?
Making summaries of data and identifying key themes and categories
Mean
How its calculated and S+W
Adding up all the numbers and divide by the number of data items
Represents all the data
Effected by extreme values
Median
How its calculated and S+W
Middle value in an ordered list
Not affected by extreme values
Exact values not represented
Mode
How its calculated and S+W
Most common data item
Not affected by extreme values
Sometimes there are too many modes
Range
How its calculated and S+W
Difference between top and bottom values
Easy to calculate
Affected by extreme values
Standard Deviation
How its calculated and S+W
Measure of the average distance between each data item above and below the mean
Precise measure of dispersion
Affected by extreme values
Quantitative Data
Numbers
Primary Data
Data collected first hand by the researcher
Secondary Data
Data collected from another source
Pilot Study
A small scale investigation that takes place before the real investigation is conducted
Questionnaires
Set of questions used to assess a person’s thoughts and experiences
Questionnaires S+W
Produces quantitative data
Easily repeatable
Answers maybe chosen that don’t represent real thoughts
Poor/vague questions lead to incorrect results
Case study Definition + S+W
Intense description of a single individual case
Rich data, unique cases studied in detail
Can’t be generalised
What is a sample?
The people the researcher actively use in the research
Random Sampling
Each person has an equal chance of being selected. Chosen by a computer random generator
Random Sampling S+W
Fair
More likely to be representative
Can be biased if the sample is too small
Volunteer
Sampling method
People who are interested apply to be in the research
Volunteer S+W
Sampling method
Convenient and ethical
Sample is biased because the participants are likely to be more motivated (volunteer bias)
Opportunity
Sampling Method
The participants available at the time to take part in the research
Opportunity S+W
Sampling Method
Easy and quick method because you just use the first participants you find
Biased as the sample is drawn from a small part of the target population
Stratified
Sampling method
Selective people from every portion of your populations - in the same proportions
Stratified S+W
Sampling method
More representative
Time consuming as all participants need to be assessed and categorised
Systematic Sampling
Selecting every nth name from a list
Systematic Sampling S+W
Avoids bias as there is no control over who is being selected
Not necessarily representative if the pattern used for the sample coincides with a pattern in the population
Nominal
Levels of measurement
Data represented in the form of categories
Ordinal
Levels of measurement
Data which is ordered in some way
Interval / Ratio
Levels of measurement
Based on numerical scales that include units of equal precisely defined size
Role of Peer Review
This involves all aspects of psychological research being checked by a small group of experts in a particular field
Main Aims of Peer Review
To allocate research funding
To validate the quality and relevance of research
Implications for the economy
Attachment research would suggest both parents are equally capable of providing the necessary emotional support for development
What part of the research report should include the psychologists hypothesis
The introduction
What are the 5 ethical guidelines?
Informed consent
Deception
Right to withdraw
Confidentiality
Protection from harm
External Validity
The extent the results of the study can be generalised to others
Internal Validity
The study measures or examines what it claimed to measure or examine
