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Research Methods Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the dependent variable?

A

The variable that is affected by the independent variable and is not manipulated by the researcher.

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1
Q

What are extraneous variables?

A

Undesirable variables which affect the dependent variable but are at the independent variable.

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2
Q

What is an independent variable?

A

The variable the researcher manipulates. It directly affects the dependent variable.

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3
Q

Define and evaluate laboratory experiments.

A

An experiment which takes place in a laboratory setting and the independent variable in measured by the researcher. E.g. Asch 1951.

✅ - HIGH CONTROL

 - CAUSE AND EFFECT 
 - RELIABILITY

❌ - DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS.
- LOW ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY.

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4
Q

Define and evaluate field experiments.

A

An experiment which take place in a natural setting but the IV is still manipulated by the researcher. E.g. Bickman 1974.

✅ - FEW DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS.
- HIGH ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY + GENERALISABILITY.

❌ - LOW CONTROL - EX V - NO CAUSE AND EFFECT.
- LOW RELIABILITY - SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT.

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5
Q

Define natural experiments.

A

An experiment in which the IV is naturally occurring. It can take place in a natural or laboratory setting.

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6
Q

Evaluate natural experiments.

A

✅ - REDUCTION IN DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS.

 - ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY. 
 - LACK OF DIRECT INTERVENTION. 
 - ETHICS

❌ - LOW CONTROL
- LOW RELIABLITY

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7
Q

Define a null hypothesis.

A

A statement that affirms there is no relationship between the IV and DV. Consequently the results are due to chance or confounding factors and are not significant in terms of supporting the idea being investigated.

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8
Q

Define alternative/experimental hypothesis.

A

A statement that predicts there is a relationship between the IV and DV. Therefore the results are not caused by chance and should be significant in supporting the idea being investigated.

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9
Q

Define one - tailed/directional hypothesis.

A

Predicts the nature if the hypothesis. E.g. Duration of STM increases with age.

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10
Q

Define two-tailed/non-directional hypothesis.

A

Predicts that the IV will have an effect on the DV but this effect is not specified. E.g. duration of STM changes with the increase of age.

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11
Q

Define relationship.

A

The way in which one variable affects another.

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12
Q

Define difference.

A

Whether two groups of experiments get the same results or not.

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13
Q

Attractive forced will attributed more positive traits than less attractive ones.

A

Direction + difference.

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14
Q

There will be a difference in a level grads of students taught using active learning compared to those using traditional methods.

A

Non-directional and difference.

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15
Q

As stress increases so will illness.

A

Relationship and directional.

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16
Q

In order to carry out an observation you need to…

A

1) Decide WHERE to carry out your research.
2) Decide HOW to carry out your research.
3) Decide to OPERATIONALISE variables.
4) Decide how to RECORD BEHAVIOUR.
5) Consider EVALUATIONS.

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17
Q

Define controlled observation.

A

An experiment in which the researcher manipulates the independent variables.

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18
Q

Define naturalistic observation.

A

An experiment which involves recording participants behaviour in their natural setting.

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19
Q

Define covert observation.

A

An experiment in which the researcher’s presence is not made clear to the participants.

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20
Q

Define overt observation.

A

An experiment in which the participants know that they are being watched by the researcher.

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21
Q

Define non-participant.

A

When a researcher does not take part in the experiment they are observing to avoid him/herself identifying Tom far with the group and giving biased opinions.

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22
Q

Define participant observation.

A

The researcher takes part in the activities of the research group in order to get into the mindset of the participants.

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23
Q

Define Operationalising variables.

A

Turning a viewable into something that be measured. E.g. Decibels of sound rather than noise.

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24
Q

Define behavioural categories.

A

Making behavioural categories involves creating a system of categories so that the observer can count the number of times each behaviour occurs. E.g. Hitting another participants.

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25
Q

Define event sampling.

A

Recoding all occurrences of a particular type of behaviour over a period of days or weeks to build up a pattern of someone’s behaviour. All other types of behaviour are ignored.

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26
Q

Define time sampling.

A

A record lasting for a pre-determined amount of time is made at regular intervals.

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27
Q

Define tally chart.

A

A system containing separate operationalised variables that can be marked each time a variable is displayed. Gives quantitative data.

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28
Q

Define inter-rater reliability.

A

The degree to which different researchers/raters give consistent estimations of the same phenomenon.

  • Could lead to unreliable data because results may not be consistent.
  • If they are unreliable, variables need tot be re-operationalised.
29
Q

Define the term interview.

A

A self report method in which participants answer questions face to face, over the phone or in online situations.

30
Q

Define the term structured interview.

A

Pre-planned, identical questions are read to each participant whilst interviewers write down their answers. They are easy to conduct.

31
Q

Define the term unstructured interview.

A

Involves an informal discussion on a particular topic or issue. Interviewers can explore interesting answers by asking follow up questions that are not pre planned.

32
Q

Define the term semi-structured interview.

A

Involves combing unstructured and structured techniques which produce quantitative and qualitative data.

33
Q

Evaluate unstructured interviews.

A

✅ - BODY LANGUAGE IS INTERPRETABLE - LYING DECREASED.

 - TACKLES COMPLEX ISSUES - interviewers can make participants feel relaxed and able to talk. 
 - TACKLES EASE OF MISUNDERSTANDING - any misunderstood questions can be explained. 
 - PRODUCE RICH AND QUALITATIVE DATA.

❌ - OFF TOPIC - USELESS DATA.

 - ETHICAL ISSUES - interviewers may cause physical or mental harm by making participants reveal more than they wish. They may also be derived about the purpose of the interview if it goes off topic and wish to withdraw their consent.
 - INTERVIEWER EFFECTS - SOCIAL DESIRABILITY MAY LEAD TO INTERVIEWERS BIAS QUESTIONS TO MEET THEIR RESEARCH (depending on who they're talking to). DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS. 
  - NOT SUITED TO ALL PARTICIPANTS - like participants who cannot put their feelings into words easily or cent rate for long periods of time e.g. ADHD or autism sufferers. 
  - TRAINING IS REQUIRED TO DEAL WITH SENSITIVE ISSUES.
34
Q

Evaluate structured and semi-structured interviews.

A

✅ - BODY LANGUAGE IS INTERPRETABLE - LYING DECREASED.

 - REPLICATION - MORE STRUCTURED = MORE RELIABLE = HIGHER CONSISTENCY. 
- MORE STRUCTURED = MORE ANALYTICAL DATA DUE TO QUANTITATIVE DATA. (Semi-structured produce both qualitative and quantitative).
  • TACKLES EASE OF MISUNDERSTANDING - any misunderstood questions can be explained.
    • PRODUCE RICH AND QUALITATIVE DATA.

❌ - ETHICAL ISSUES - interviewers may cause physical or mental harm by making participants reveal more than they wish. They may also be derived about the purpose of the interview if it goes off topic and wish to withdraw their consent.

 - INTERVIEWER EFFECTS - SOCIAL DESIRABILITY MAY LEAD TO INTERVIEWERS BIAS QUESTIONS TO MEET THEIR RESEARCH (depending on who they're talking to). DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS. 
  - NOT SUITED TO ALL PARTICIPANTS - like participants who cannot put their feelings into words easily or cent rate for long periods of time e.g. ADHD or autism sufferers. 
  - TRAINING IS REQUIRED TO DEAL WITH SENSITIVE ISSUES.
35
Q

List the 3 types of correlation and what they show.

A

🔹 Positive - as one variable increases so does the other.
🔹 Negative - as one variable decreases so does the other.
🔹 No correlation - no relationship between variables.

36
Q

Write a checklist for when drawing scatter graphs.

A 
🔹 Labelled axis starting at 0. 
🔹 Title 
🔹 Scale with equal units. 
🔹 Operationalised variables. 
🔹 Line of best fit (to show relationship between variables). 
🔹 Use as much paper as possible.
37
Q

What is Spearman’s Rank Coefficient?

A

A measure of the gradient of the line of best fit. It never goes above +1 or below -1. Human behaviour rarely shows perfect correlation.

38
Q

Evaluate correlations.

A

✅ - ALLOWS FOR INVESTIGATION PF HYPOTHESISE THAT CANNOT BE STUDIED FOR ETHICAL REASONS - RESEARCHERS USE PRE-EXISTING DATA.

 - REPLICABLE - USES DATA FROM OTHER RESEARCHERS - CONSISTENT. 
 - ALLOWS FOR STUDY OF VARIABLES THAT HAVE ALREADY OCCURRED - CONSISTENT - RELIABILITY.

❌ - RELATIONSHIPS THAT DO NOT EXIST BETWEEN VARIABLES MAY BE SEEN.

- CAUSE + EFFECT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ESTABLISH - CANNOT CONCLUDE WHICH VARIABLE CAUSES THE OTHER - UNVALID CONCLUSIONS. 
- CAN ONLY MEASURE NON LINEAR RELATIONSHIPS.
39
Q

Define the term questionnaire.

A

A self report method in which participants record their answers to a pre-set lost of questions.

40
Q

Define the closed questions.

A

Questions that involve fixed answers such as yes or no answers. They are quick, reliable, replicable and produce quantitative date that is easily analytical.

41
Q

Define open questions.

A

Questions that allow participants to answer in their own words. They produce quantitate data and allow for freedom of expression and detailed, elaborative answers.

42
Q

Evaluate questionnaires.

A

✅ - QUICK - large amounts of data can be collected in a short amount of time.

- LACK INTERVIEWER EFFECTS - FEWER DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS - since researcher is not present. 
- EASILY ANALYTICAL - QUANTITATIVE. 
- HIGHLY DETAILED - QUALITATIVE.   
- REPLICABLE + RELIABLE - SET QUESTIONS - CONSISTENT.

❌ - MISUNDERSTANDING - due to ambiguity of words - MISSING DATA.

 - BIASED SAMPLES - NOT GENERALISABLE - certain types of people (who have free time and are willing to) complete surveys. 
 - LOW RESPONSE RATES - uneconomical and waste of resources. 
 - SUPERFICIAL ISSUES - not suitable for sensitive questions requiring detailed understanding. 
  - SOCIAL DESIRABILITY/IDEALISED ANSWERS DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS - such as lying to change how they're viewed.
43
Q

Evaluate quantitative data.

A

✅ - EASILY ANALYTICAL

 - EASILY COMPARABLE. 
 - RELIABLE 
 - CHEAP 
 - QUICK

❌ - SIMPLE - LACK DETAIL - LOSES RICHNESS OF REALITY.

44
Q

Evaluate qualitative data.

A

✅ - DETAILED IN DEOTH ANSWERS - CAPTURES RICHNESS OF REALITY.
- USUALLY USED IN INTERVIEWS WHERE INTERVIEWS CAN TACKLE COMPLEX QUESTIONS.

❌ - HARD TO ANALYSE - CAN’T FIND A TREND.
- MORE DIFFICULT TO OPERATIONALISE !!

45
Q

Define hypothesis.

A

A precise, testable study of what researchers predict will be the outcome of the study. It ink vickers proposing a relationship between the IV and DV.

46
Q

Name the ethical issues.

A 
🔹 Deception. 
🔹 Protection from physical/mental harm. 
🔹 Confidentiality. 
🔹 Right to withdraw. 
🔹 Informed consent.
47
Q

Why is protection an ethical issue and how can it be prevented? How does it link to Milgram’s study?

A

🔹 Does not leave participant in the state they entered.
🔹 Could leave them with life long/fatal implications.
🔸 Do not deceive them and debrief.

🔹 Milgram’s - the thought of killing someone could mentally scar them.

48
Q

Why is deception an ethical issue and how can it be prevented? How does it link to Milgram’s study?

A

🔹 Could cause harm or scare participant and abuse the right to informed consent.
🔸 Do not lie and debrief.

🔹 Milgram - confederates weren’t actually lied to.

49
Q

Why is right to withdraw an ethical issue and how can it be prevented? How does it link to Milgram’s study?

A

🔹 Not letting a participant may cause harm.
🔸 Allow participant to leave whenever they wish and let them know they can at the beginning of the experiment.

🔹 Milgram - Researchers gave verbal prods to carry on.

50
Q

Why is confidentiality and privacy an ethical issue and how can it be prevented? How does it link to Milgram’s study?

A

🔹 It opens the participant up to harassment from the public and others.
🔹 It may go against the participant’s wishes.
🔸 No filming, fake names, gain permission to use their name/footage.

🔹 Milgram - experiment was videoed.

51
Q

Why is informed consent an ethical issue and how can it be prevented? How does it link to Milgram’s study?

A

🔹 If deceived, they may have been made to take part in an experiment they did not wish to.
🔹 Makes participants feel uncomfortable as they are forced to do something they do not wish to.
🔸 Be truthful about the purpose of the research and debrief.

🔹 Milgram - The advert posted was not very informal.

52
Q

Describe a case study that links to ethics.

A

🔹 Genie - was abused as a child. She was locked in a room all her life with only potty and frequently hit.
🔹 After being rescued she lived with her psychologists so that her behaviour and development could be tracked.
🔹 This abused her protection from mental harm, deception and informed consent.
🔹 It would have been better to place her with careers who will not over examine her and film her behaviour unknowingly for analysing.

53
Q

Define sampling.

A

The process of selecting participants to study from a target population. Since findings will be generalised results need to be representative of a whole population. Sufficient sample sizes should be used but not so small/big to make it time consuming/unethical.

54
Q

Define and evaluate random sampling.

A

A sample in which every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected to be tested.

✅ - Large numbers - REPRESENTATIVE - UNBIASED.
- GENERALISABLE - UNBIASED.

❌ - IMPRACTICAL - hard to find lots of participants details. - BIASED

55
Q

Define and evaluate systematic sampling.

A

A sample in which every participant to be tested is selected because they are the every nth person on a list.

✅ - QUICK

 - UNBIASED + REPRESENTATIVE. 
 - VARIETY - GENERALISABLE.

❌ - DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE DUE TO TIME AND EFFORT.

- NOT REPRESENTATIVE. 
- PERIODIC TRAITS MAY COINCIDE WITH FREQUENCY OF TRAIT - BIASED RESULTS COLLECTED THEREFORE.
56
Q

Define a target population.

A

A target population is the total group of individuals from which the sample might be drawn.

57
Q

Define and evaluate stratified sampling.

A

A sample in which all the target population is divided into strata (sub-categories) and samples of strata are chosen to be tested. The samples are in proportion to the actual population.

✅ - REPRESENTATIVE - since effort is made to identity different characteristics of each sample and unbiased.

❌ - TIME CONFUSING - to do calculations.
- KNOWLEDGE (of population characteristics) MAY BE REQUIRED - THESE MAY BE UNAVAILABLE.

58
Q

Define and evaluate volunteer (self-selected) sampling.

A

A sample in which participants put themselves forward to be tested either in response to being asked or an advert.

✅ - CONVENIENT - ease of formation.

- ETHICAL - made on consent.  
- UNBIASED BY RESEARCHER - since they did not pick the participants. 
- LESS LIKELY TO DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS/SABOTAGE - since participants want to take part.

❌ - UNREPRESENTATIVE - LOW GENERALISABILITY.
- TIME CONSUMING - LOW RESPONSE RATES.

59
Q

Define and evaluate opportunity sampling.

A

A sample in which participants available at the time of research are selected to be tested. E.g. A lecturer using his students at university.

✅ - QUICK + CONVENIENT - EASE OF FORMATION.

 - ECONOMICAL. 
 - COMMONLY USED METHOD. 
 - ETHICS - NATURAL EXPERIMENT.

❌ - UNREPRESENTATIVE - BIASED
- IF A PARTICIPANT DISAGREES - ETHICS BECOME INVOLVED - BECOMES VOLUNTEER.

60
Q

Define the term experimental design

A

Experiment design is

61
Q

What is a repeated measure design?

A

An type experimental design in which each participants perform all conditions of the experiment.

62
Q

Evaluate a repeated measure design.

A

✅ - QUICK - fewer participants need to be tested.
- GROUP DIFFERENCES DECREASED (caused by participant variables).

❌ - ORDER EFFECTS

 - DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS - since they take part in both experiments. 
  - TAKES MORE TIME - a GAO may be needed between conditions to give participants a chance to rest.
63
Q

What is an independent measure design?

A

An experimental design in which each participant only performs one condition.

64
Q

Evaluate independent measure designs.

A

✅ - AVOIDS ORESER EFFECTS - since only take part in one condition.

 - LESS TIME TAKEN - participants can be tested at the same time. 
 - FEWER DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS - LOW EX/HIGH VALIDITY.

❌ - LOW VALIDITY - due to participant variables.
- TIME CONSUMING - WEAKENS WASE OF FORMATION - since more people needed to be found than in a repeated measure.

65
Q

What is a matched pair design?

A

A form of experimental design in which participants are paired with another participant due to similar characteristics e.g. age and gender. One of the lair perform only one of the conditions.

66
Q

Evaluate a matched pair design.

A

✅ - NO ORDER EFFECTS - since only taking part in one condition.

 - FEWER DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS - since one condition gives them less time to work out the purpose of research. 
 - LESS GROUP DIFFERENCES - due to pairing of similar characteristics.

❌ - TIMELY - more participants need to be found than for a repeated measure.

 - DIFFICULT - it is impossible to match all variables, extraneous variables may be left unmatched. 
 - GROUP DIFFERENCES ARE INEVITABLE - people are tired at different times of the day.
67
Q

What are order effects?

A

Order effects are changes to results that may have been caused by effects created by carrying out two or more conditions. E.g. Fatigue.

68
Q

What is counterbalancing?

A

Counter balancing is a type of experimental design in which all the possible orders of presenting the variables are included. For example, one group does condition B whilst the other group do condition A before swapping over.

69
Q

What are participant variables?

A

Participant variables are the ways in which participant vary from each other and how this may affect results.

70
Q

What is a group difference?

A

A group difference is any difference better groups of people in an experiment who recurred different treatment we part of another group.

Psychology AS (6 decks)

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