Research Methods Flashcards
Longitudinal study
Study carried out to show how behaviour changes over time
Case study
An in-depth investigation of an individual or a small group of an organisation
BPS guidelines
British Psychological society guidelines
Govern work of practising and research psychologists and psychology students in U.K.
Debriefing
At end of investigation researchers must make sure participants fully understand true aim of research & that they are happy to still be included
Mean
Add altogether and divide by how many there are
Mode
Most frequent occurring
Median
Middle value of set arranged in smallest to biggest
Range
Difference between lowest and highest
Anomalous result
A extremely high or low result which doesn’t match the other results
Percentage
Proportion expressed as a fraction of 100
Ethical issues
Points of concern about what is morally right
- informed consent
- protection from harm
- deception
- right to withdraw
- privacy
- confidentiality
Informed consent
Participants should be told about aim of study before they agree
U16 = permission from parent/guardian
Protection from harm
Physical and mental health of participants must not be at risk
Deception
Must not be misled about research
Participants must be informed asap
Right to withdraw
Participants must be able to stop taking part at any stage of investigation
Privacy
If being observed participants must be in a public place
Confidentiality
Must be impossible to identify participants from results
Must not know name, address, dob
Raw data
Scores collected in a study that have not been analysed or summarised
Ecological validity
Results of an investigation can be said to apply to real life behaviour
Objectivity
Not affected by personal biases
Randomisation
Using chance to produce an order for procedure
Instructions
Written/verbal info given to participants during experiment
Control
Way of making sure procedures are the same when necessary
Counterbalancing
Procedure for evening out the order in which participants complete both conditions of experiment
Random allocation
Procedure for putting participants into conditions by chance
Standardised procedures
Set order of carrying out a study that’s applied to all participants when necessary
Participant variables
Differences between people who take part in study
May affect results of experiment
Generalised
Results from sample can be applied to target population
Representative
Sample of participants is made up of people who have the same characteristics and abilities as target population
Repeated measures
One group of participants
Same participants take part in every condition
Matched pairs
Participants pre tested then marched into groups according to abilities
One member of pair takes part in one condition and other member of pair takes part in other condition
Order effect
This occurs when participant’s performance in second condition of experiment is affected because they have already done first condition
Participant
Person who is selected to take part in study
Sample
Small group who represent target population and who are studied
Target population
Where sample in selected from:
- random
- opportunity
- systematic
- stratified
Random sampling
Every member of target population has equal chance of being selected
Opportunity sampling
People who are members of target population who are available and willing to take part
Systematic sampling
Every nth member of target population selected from a list
Stratified sampling
Different subgroups in target population are identified
Then people are randomly selected from subgroups
Cause and effect
Ability to establish a link between the independent variable and the dependent variable
Population validity/generalisation
Ability to apply results to the target
Practical application
When a psychological concept has been applied to the real world to help people. This can be a treatment or help them recall info.
Practical implication
When psychological concept has been applied to the real world to help people, but has issues surrounding it, this can include broken ethical guidelines
Repeated groups
Participants take part in both conditions
Independent groups
Two or more groups - each group experiences one condition once
Matched pairs
Very similar pairs assigned different treatments
Laboratory experiment
Carried out in an artificial setting, the independent variable is manipulated
Field experiment
Carried out in a natural setting but the independent variable is still manipulated
Natural experiment
Carried out in a natural setting, the independent variable is naturally occurring
