Research Methods 2 revision cards

Question 1

What you need to know for Research Methods 2

Answer 1

The use of scientific methods which aim for objectivity

Procedures for each method of investigation:

• Survey methods
• Questionnaires including closed and open questions
• Interviews including structured and unstructured
• Observation including categories of behaviour and inter-observer reliability
• Case study

Advantages and disadvantages of each method of investigation (including ecological validity)

Target populations and sampling methods

• Random
• Opportunity
• Systematic
• Stratified

Correlation including an understanding of association between two variables, and of correlation relationship (without computation of formulae).

Advantages and disadvantages of using correlations

Calculations including

• Mean
• Mode
• Median
• Range
• Percentages

Anomalous results and their possible effects

Graphical representations including bar charts and scatter graphs

Ethical issues as outlined in the BPS code of ethics

Ways of dealing with each of these issues.

Question 2

Define the following terms

Target population

Sample

Representative

Answer 2

Target population

The large group of people the researcher wants to study

Sample

The small group of people who represent the target population and who are studied

Representative

The sample of participants is made of people who have the same characteristics and abilities as the target population and therefore can be generalised

Question 3

What are the 4 sampling methods? Explain them

………………….. sampling

………………….. sampling

…………………. sampling

………………….. sampling

Answer 3

The sample is made up of the participants in the research. They should be as REPRESENTATIVE as possible of the target population. The more representative the sample the more confident the researcher can be that the results can be GENERALISED to the target population. However in reality very few samples are truly representative because of the difficulties of sampling methods (choosing participants).

The sampling methods we could use are:

[ROSS]

• Random sampling;
• Opportunity Sampling
• Systematic sampling
• Stratified sampling.

Random Sampling

Every member of the target group has an equal chance of being selected. All members of the target population are identified and then selected out of a hat/ with a computer programme.

Opportunity Sampling

Opportunity sampling means choosing people who are members of the target population and are available and willing to take part (e.g. friends and in field studies).

Systematic Sampling

Systematic sampling means selecting participants at fixed intervals from the target population. ( “nth” member). EG if the researcher decides that ‘n’ will be ‘7’ – every 7th person in the target population is selected.

Stratified Sampling

To obtain this type of sampling, the different sub groups in the target population are identified; then people are randomly selected from these subgroups in proportion to their numbers in the target population. It’s the most complex of the sampling methods. The researcher must identify the subgroups in the target population and work out what proportion of that target population each group represents.

E.g. conducting a survey of women to ask questions about their attitude to childcare. You pick out the relevant characterises as the types of work women do, so you need to find out what proportion of females in the whole population are: self-employed, professions, manual workers. Unemployed etc. (You can get this info from census data). These categories must be represented in the same proportion in your sample. E.g. If 10% are self employed then in a sample of 50, 5 should be self employed and so on. To get the required number in each category, participants should be random-selected from the target population.

Question 4

Advantages and disadvantages of sampling methods

[ROSS]

Random sampling

Opportunity Sampling

Systematic sampling

Stratified Sampling

Answer 4

Random sample

Pro

• It is quick, easy and convenient
• No researcher bias. This sampling method is fair and not biased because the researcher cannot choose the individual participants.

Con

• It might still not be representative because, for example, the researcher could draw out too many females, just by chance.
• It can be very time consuming and is often impossible to carry out, particularly when you have a very large target population.

Opportunity sample

Pros

• Quick cheap and easy

Con

• There’s a possibility of researcher bias (for example a researcher choosing people they know and they might try to ‘help’ the researcher so their results could be unreliable).
• Not likely to be representative of the target population because you’ve taken only people who happen to be available/ willing

Systematic sample

Pro

• Fairly cheap and fast
• No researcher bias because the researcher cannot choose the individuals.

Con

• The sample may not be representative
• The researcher needs to make sure that the list doesn’t contain a hidden order (periodicity)

Stratified sample

• Provides a sample that is in proportion, in the relevant characteristic, to the target population. It’s therefore very representative

Con

• It’s very time consuming and expensive. You have to work out what proportion needs to be selected at the beginning

Question 5

METHODS OF INVESTIGATION

Answer 5

• Survey Questionairres
• Survey Interviews
• Case studies
• Observational studies

Note you’re also looking at Correlational studies but they are Not a research method.

Question 6

What is a survey

Answer 6

Surveys – interviews and questionnaires

What is a survey?

“A method used for collecting information from a large number of people by asking them questions, either by using

• a questionnaire
• an interview.”

Question 7

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 7

“A set of standard questions about a topic that is given to all the participants in the survey”

• The researcher designs a set of questions that all the respondents answer. They can be OPEN or CLOSED.
• The questions need to provide the information that’s needed for the investigation.
• A survey questionnaire collects large amounts of info from a group of people eg spread across the country.

Question 8

Overall advantage and disadvantage

of survey questionnaires

Answer 8

Strength [choose 1]

• Large samples can be used, including people who are geographically distant
• They’re ethical as respondents can consent and withdraw.

Weakness [choose 1]

• The return rate is uncertain (it can be from 5/ 50%)
• There’s no way of knowing whether the respondents lied in their answers or misunderstood the questions.

Question 9

Closed questions

Answer 9

“A question where the possible responses are fixed”

• Often as ‘yes’ or ‘no’ options”
• The range of possible answers is set by the researcher, e.g. yes/no; never, sometimes, often

Advantage

• Easy to quantify and quick to collate

Disadvantages [choose 1 Allie]

• There’s little detail in the answers given.
• Frustrating and restrictive for respondents because they can’t explain their answer.

Question 10

Open Questions

Answer 10

“A question where the person answering can given any response they like”

Advantages [choose 1]

The answers to these questions provide lots of detail because respondents can explain their answers

+ Respondents get less frustrated because they’re not forced to choose an answer that doesn’t reflect what they want to say.

Disadvantages [choose 1]

It’s hard to collate and find patterns because there’s so much data

It’s difficult to compare people’s answers.

Question 11

What is meant by unambiguous?

Answer 11

“Something that has only one meaning”

When researchers are designing survey questions they must be clear and unambiguous

Question 12

What is ecological validity?

Answer 12

“the reseults of the investigation can be said to apply to real-life behaviour. They are an accurate account of behaviour in the real world.”

Question 13

Interviews

Answer 13

“A method in which a researcher collects data by asking questions directly.”

Usually face to face but can also be done on the phone

Most interviews use a questionnaire. The researcher puts the answers directly on a questionnaire. Or they can record the interview and play it back to analyse later

Question 14

General strength and weakness of the

Interview method

Answer 14

Weakness [choose 1]

• Can’t be sure if the interviewee is telling the truth and understands the question
• Respondents may give answers that they think the interviewer wants to hear

Strength [choose 1]

• Produce large amounts of data because lots of people can be involved

Question 15

What is an interviewee?

Answer 15

“The person/ respondent who answers the questions in an interview”

Question 16

What is a structured interview?

Answer 16

“An interview in which all the questions are pre-set, given in a fixed order and every interviewee is asked the exact same questions.”

Mostly use closed questions, though they could have some open.

Question 17

Strength and weakness of a structured interview

Answer 17

Strength

• Usually fast to collate and easy to analyse

Weakness

• The respondent could be frustrated by the restrictions of the structure

Question 18

What is an unstructured interview?

Answer 18

“An interview in which only the first question is set and all the other questions are determined by the answers of the interviewee.”

So the researcher has a starter question and an idea of main themes, but after the first question the interviewer lets the interviewee respond how they like and they ask the next question based on the answer

Question 19

Strength and weakness of an unstructured interview

Answer 19

Strength [choose 1]

Data is high in ecological validity because it’s the person’s own responses about their thoughts and feelings

Detailed information about thoughts and feelings

Weakness

Difficult to analyse and compare the data

Question 20

What is an observation study?

Answer 20

What is an observation study?

“A method of collecting information about behaviour by watching and recording people’s actions.”

Can be a

Field study

Sometimes researchers do make something happen so that a natural response can be recorded. The place where it’s carried out has been organised by the researcher e.g. Hofling’s study – H changed one thing in an otherwise natural environment: the hospital

Natural

Researcher doesn’t intervenes, just observes people in their usual environments

E.g. St Helena study

Lab Study

Sometimes conducted in a lab setting where a room/ place has been organised so that the participants can be observed e.g. the Smoke Filled Room experiment Latane and Darley

Question 21

Strenghts and weaknesses of observational studies

Answer 21

Strengths [choose 2 Allie]

• Very high in ecological validity because they’re (more) natural
• Observation studies record whole behaviour rather than little bits like in a memory test (Person/ Underwood)
• For much behaviour this is the most sensible way of finding out what people do

Weakness [choose 2 Allie]

• You can observe the behaviour, but not necessarily WHY it occurred
• Observers can make a mistake when they’re recording behaviours
• If Participants don’t know they’re being observed they can’t give their consent
• If they do know it can lead to a change in behaviour (demand characteristics)
  *

Question 22

What are categories of behaviour?

Answer 22

“The separate actions that are recorded as examples of the target behaviour”

Behaviour categories are used to make it clear how to record the actions that have been seen

E.g. in a playground study you might have

Running Hopping Skipping Standing as your categories

Question 23

What is inter-observer reliability?

Answer 23

“When this is high, the records made by more than one observer in a study are considered to be accurate because they match or are very similar to each other.”

It’s really hard to make sure that a researcher catches every time behaviour happens. Once that behaviour is gone it can’t be seen again (imagine a hop in the playground example)

Therefore 2 or more observers are used.

If they’ve been recording consistently they’ll have matching / very similar records

= high inter-observer reliability

If they have very different record sheets then

= low in inter observer reliability

Question 24

What is a case study?

Answer 24

What is a case study?

“An in depth investigation of an individual, a small group or organisation”

It might include:

• Interviews
• Other date e.g. records
• Observations
• Personality tests

Sometimes a case study is carried out

To deepen our understanding of human behaviour

E.g. Freud did case studies on his patients. Little Hans

To establish what treatment should be offered for an individual

E.g. a child in school having difficulties – what strategies to put in place

Question 25

Strengths and weaknesses of Case studies

Answer 25

Strengths [top 1 and 1 more Allie]

• Case studies are high in ecological validity and provide detailed information about individuals
• Records behaviour over time so that we can see changes
• Inform the basis for further research
• Can be useful for treating individual problems or studying unusual people

Weaknesses [2 of the following Allie]

• Data can’t be generalised because it’s such a small sample
• Relies on the individual’s memory and this could be inaccurate
• Psychologists could be biased
• Ethical issues: to consider - Confidentiality; Right to withdraw particularly with regard to vulnerable people

Question 26

What is a relationship on a graph?

Answer 26

“A connection between two or more variables”

Question 27

What is a Variable?

Answer 27

“A factor that can change - it varies.”

Question 28

What is correlational study?

Answer 28

“A (statistical) technique used by researchers to establish the strength of a relationship between two variables.”

It is NOT a research method.

While an experiment tries to establish cause and effect (by controlling the extraneous variables)

a correlation study doesn’t CHANGE the variables it just measures the relationship between the variables

We can make predictions from the variables that are measured

E.g. in Adorno’s study. He found a correlation between prejudice and Authoritarian traits

Question 29

What are the strenghts and weaknesses of

Correlational studies

Answer 29

Correlational studies

Strength

• Can be used when it would be unethical to carry out experiments e.g. smoking data
• CS allow us to make predictions and so can be a Good starting point for further research

Weakness

• Doesn’t tell us which of the variables cause the relationship to occur (e.g. more puddles and more umbrellas doesn’t tell us that puddles are caused by rain
• Needs to be large amount of data for a pattern to be seen

Question 30

What is a scatter graph?

Answer 30

“A graph for representing correlations”

Question 31

How to plot a scatter graph

Answer 31

[They might ask you to draw a graph but more likely they’ll just ask you to describe it and explain]

• Draw X and Y axis
• Draw crosses for each measurement
• Line the crosses up where they intersect
• Write top title ALWAYS like this: “Relationship between …” DON’T suggest that one variable caused another
• Label the measurements
• At the bottom write whether it is a positive or a negative correlation, or no correlation

Question 32

What is a positive correlation?

Answer 32

“A relationship between two variables in which, as the value of one variable increases, the value of the other variable also increases.”

E.g. as the temperature increases so does the sale of ice creams

Question 33

What is negative correlation?

Answer 33

“A relationship between two variables in which, as the value of the one variable increases, the value of the other variable decreases”

E.g. in Raine’s study the lower the grey matter in the brain (in peeps with APD) the more antisocial behaviour.

Question 34

What is meant by ‘no correlation’?

Answer 34

“There is no relationship between the two variables”

Question 35

_{Statistics/ caluculations}

81.

Graphical representations: Bar charts

Blue card

Answer 35

Once the data has been calculated, it is often useful to present it as a graph to make it easier for people to interpret and understand. A bar chart is one way to display data in categories. To make a bar chart.

1. Plot the categories along the horizontal (X) axis
2. Plot the frequencies (how often something occurs) along the vertical (Y) axis.
3. Don’t let the bars or rectangles touch each other!
4. Arrange them in ascending / descending order.
5. Label both axes.
6. Give an appropriate title

Question 36

_{Statistics/ calculations}

82.

Graphical representations:

Line graphs

Blue Card

Answer 36

Once the data has been calculated, it is often useful to present it as a graph to make it easier for people to interpret and understand. A line graph is often used to display data that are connected to each other to show the relationships between each point.

1. List the categories along the horizontal axis (X)
2. List the frequencies (how often something occurs) along the vertical (Y) axis.
3. Plot the scores using a dot according to the frequencies
4. Join the dots together
5. Arrange them in ascending / descending order.
6. Label both axes.
7. Give an appropriate title

Question 37

_{Statistics/ calculations}

75.

Use of and Types of calculations

Blue Card

Answer 37

Once the investigation has been conducted we need to look at the data that have been collected. For quantative data (numerical data) there are various calculations that can be used to analyse and provide some meaning at the end of a study. These include:

mean

median,

mode

range

percentages.

Question 38

_{Statistics/ calculations}

76.

The mean

Blue card

Answer 38

The mean is often referred to as the average.

Add up all of the scores in a condition and divide by the number of participants in the condition.

E.g. in a study of 20 people standing on one leg for as long they could – you would add up all of their standing on one leg times and divide by 20 to get the mean standing on one leg time.

The mean is useful because it makes use of all the scores. Sometimes though you can get a score that’s different to the others (an anomaly) and extreme. E.g. one person gets 0. This is known as anomalous. This can really mess up the mean.

Question 39

_{Statistics/ calculations}

77.

The Median

Blue card

Answer 39

The median is calculated by looking at the middle score in a set of data. First you have to place all of the scores in the order of value. In an odd number of figures the mean is the middle number. In an even number of figures the mean is the mean of the middle two numbers (i.e. take the two middle numbers add them together and divide by 2).

Question 40

_{Statistics/ calculations}

78.

The mode

Blue card

Answer 40

Mode is French for fashion. The mode is the most fashionable number. The most frequently score that occurs.

Question 41

_{Statistics/ calculations}

79.

The range

Blue card

Answer 41

The range is a measure of dispersion. This means the difference between the highest and the lowest score in a condition.

Question 42

_{Statistics / calculations}

80.

Percentages

Blue card

Answer 42

If we want to work out the percentage for each participant we would divide the score they achieved by the total maximum score and then multiply by 100. E.g. for 45 out of 60 – we divide 45 by 60 x 100 = 75%

Question 43

Allie is not happy with her total. She thinks it’s an unfair indication of the time she normally takes to leave the house when we’re going out. What is an anomalous result and how might it have affected her overall result?

Explain which result in the chart above could be considered an anomalous result. Give an explanation for why this may have been so.

Answer 43

An anomalous result is an extremely high or low result that does not match the other results in a set of scores

It can have a large effect on the MEAN value and the RANGE for a set of scores/ for Allie’s scores. Her overall mean was higher than her father’s when most days her times were lower.

Explain which result in the chart above could be considered an anomalous result. Give an explanation for why this may have been so.

The anomalous result is the 41 minutes result.

Perhaps she was on the phone and unaware she had to leave

Perhaps she was running late due to being sick

Question 44

What are the advantages of the mean, median and the range as statistical calculations?

Answer 44

The advantage of the mean -

• They take every score into account
• the difference/ similarity between groups is easy to compare

Advantage of medians

• They are unaffected by anomalous scores
• the difference/ similarity between groups is easy to compare

Advantages of the range

• They look at the differences between the highest and lowest scores in each condition
• the similarity between groups is easy to compare

Question 45

what is the BPS code of ethics?

What do the BPS guidelines stipulate about privacy and confidentiality?

What must researchers do to ensure they have informed consent from participants?

Participants have a right to withdraw. Explain.

Explain the use of deception in Psychological research. What do the BPS guidelines say?

Why are you, Allie, not allowed to give someone psychological advice?

What is protection from harm?

Answer 45

• What is the BPS code of ethics?

The ethical guidelines produced by the BPS in its code of ethics governs psychologists including students

• What do the BPS guidelines stipulate about privacy and confidentiality?

Privacy of participants must be protected. This includes in public places when they’re being observed. They can only be observed in ways that they could reasonably expect to be observed by others

Confidentiality

Participants identities and data must be kept anonymous unless they give consent to be identified e.g. as in some case studies

• What must researchers do to ensure they have informed consent from participants?

Participants should know what they are consenting to and be told what the study is about before they take part. This is not always possible without ruining the experiment, so the code of ethics outlines how debriefing must happen as soon as and whenever possible. If participants are under 16 special care must be taken, and consent sought from the young person and guardians

• Participants have a right to withdraw. Explain.

Participants have the right to withdraw themselves or their data and any time during or after the study

• Explain the use of deception in Psychological research. What do the BPS guidelines say?

It’s important to avoid misleading people about the reason and nature of studies. However the BPS recognises that some research would be impossible if everything was revealed at the beginning. Therefore researchers must inform ps as soon as possible about minor deception.

• Why are you, Allie, not allowed to give someone psychological advice?

Competence – Psychologists should only give advice if they’re qualified to do so. GCSE students are not.

• What is protection from harm and distress?

The risk of distress or harm should not be greater than the risk in every day life. Researchers and psychologists have a duty to protect participants from physical and psychological harm.

Researchers need to consider whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

Question 46

Definition of anomolous result

Answer 46

An anomalous result is an extremely high or low result that does not match the other results in a set of scores

It can have a large effect on the MEAN value and the RANGE for a set of scores