Research Methods

Question 1

What is an aim of a study?

Answer 1

a straight forward expression that identifies the purpose of an investigation

Question 2

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 2

a precise, testable statement of what the researcher predicts will be the outcome of a study

Question 3

What is an experimental/alternative hypothesis?

Answer 3

a hypothesis where there is a relationship between the two variables being studied (one variable has an effect on the other)

e.g. participants who read digits out loud will later recall a greater number of digits than participants who read in their heads

Question 4

What is a directional (one tailed) hypothesis?

Answer 4

a hypothesis that states the expected direction of the results

e.g. adults will recall more words than children

Question 5

What is a non-directional (two tailed) hypothesis?

Answer 5

a hypothesis that states an expected difference, but does not state the direction of the results

e.g. there will be a difference in how many numbers are correctly recalled by children and adults

Question 6

What is a null hypothesis?

Answer 6

a hypothesis that predicts no difference between 2 variables and no relationship between the variables being investigated

e.g. there will be no difference in the number of digits recalled in the loud reading condition and silent reading condition

Question 7

Independent variable (IV)

Answer 7

what is manipulated (changed)

Question 8

Dependent variable (DV)

Answer 8

what is measured (effected by change)

Question 9

What is operationalisation?

Answer 9

ensuring that variables are in a form that can be easily tested

this ensures readers understand what was done and enables the research to be replicated to test for reliability/validity

Question 10

What is standardisation?

Answer 10

keeping factors the same for all participants so that the investigation is fair

Question 11

What are extraneous variables?

Answer 11

variables that do not vary systematically with the IV, so do not act as an alternative IV - but may have an effect on the DV

nuisance variables that muddy the waters and make it more difficult to detect a significant effect

Question 12

What are extraneous variables?

Answer 12

variables that do not vary systematically with the IV, so do not act as an alternative IV - but may have an effect on the DV

nuisance variables that muddy the waters and make it more difficult to detect a significant effect

sometimes called ‘uncontrolled variable’

Question 13

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 13

a variable under study that varies systematically with the IV

changes in the DV may be due to the confounding variable rather than the IV - therefore the outcome is ‘meaningless’

has definitely interfered with the Dv

cant confidently establish cause and effect

Question 14

What is mundane realism?

Answer 14

how a study mirrors the real world

the research environment is realistic to the degree to which experiences encountered occur in the real world

Question 15

What is internal validity?

Answer 15

the degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors e.g. CV

Question 16

What is external validity?

Answer 16

the degree to which research findings can be generalised to other settings (ecological)
to other groups of people (population)
over time (historical)

Question 17

What is a pilot study?

Answer 17

a small- scale trial run of a study to test any aspects of the design, with a view of making improvements

Question 18

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 18

a cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of a study or helps them work out what the researcher expects to find

Question 19

What are investigator effects?

Answer 19

anything that an investigator does that has an effect on a participants performance in a study other than what was intended.

Question 20

What is an experimental design?

Answer 20

a set of procedures used to control the influence of factors such as participant variables in an experiment

Question 21

What is the repeated measures design?

Answer 21

all participants receive all levels of the IV and we compare the performance (DV) of the participant on the 2 tests

Question 22

What are limitations of the repeated measures design?

Answer 22

• order effects: an extraneous variable arising from the order in which conditions are presented
• participants may guess the aims of the experiments after doing it more than once - may affect behaviour

Question 23

What is the independent groups design?

Answer 23

participants are placed in separate (independent) groups representing levels of IV
each group does one level of the IV, we compare the performance (DV) of the 2 groups

Question 24

What is a method of dealing with order effects?

Answer 24

• counterbalancing: ensuring that each condition is tested first or second in equal amounts

Question 25

What are limitations of the independent group design?

Answer 25

• the researcher cannot control the effects of participant variables (i.e. different abilities in each group - confounding variable
• more participants needed in order to have the same amount of data as repeated measures

Question 26

What is a method of dealing with the independent group design?

Answer 26

• random allocation: theoretically distributing participant variables evenly
  can be done through a random generator

Question 27

What is the matched pairs design?

Answer 27

pairs of participants are matched in terms of key variables
e.g. age, gender, IQ
each member of pair given given a level of IV to test

Question 28

What are limitations of the matched pairs design?

Answer 28

• very time consuming
  difficult to participants on key variables, researcher may have to start with a large group to obtain matches
• not possible to control all participant variables as you can only match variables known to be relevant

Question 29

What is a method of dealing with the matched pairs design?

Answer 29

• restricting the number of variables to match on to make it easier
• conduct a pilot study to consider the key variables that might be important when matching