Research Methods Flashcards
What is an aim of a study?
a straight forward expression that identifies the purpose of an investigation
What is a hypothesis?
a precise, testable statement of what the researcher predicts will be the outcome of a study
What is an experimental/alternative hypothesis?
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
What is a directional (one tailed) hypothesis?
a hypothesis that states the expected direction of the results
e.g. adults will recall more words than children
What is a non-directional (two tailed) hypothesis?
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
What is a null hypothesis?
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
Independent variable (IV)
what is manipulated (changed)
Dependent variable (DV)
what is measured (effected by change)
What is operationalisation?
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
What is standardisation?
keeping factors the same for all participants so that the investigation is fair
What are extraneous variables?
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
What are extraneous variables?
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’
What is a confounding variable?
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
What is mundane realism?
how a study mirrors the real world
the research environment is realistic to the degree to which experiences encountered occur in the real world
What is internal validity?
the degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors e.g. CV
What is external validity?
the degree to which research findings can be generalised to other settings (ecological)
to other groups of people (population)
over time (historical)
What is a pilot study?
a small- scale trial run of a study to test any aspects of the design, with a view of making improvements
What are demand characteristics?
a cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of a study or helps them work out what the researcher expects to find
What are investigator effects?
anything that an investigator does that has an effect on a participants performance in a study other than what was intended.
What is an experimental design?
a set of procedures used to control the influence of factors such as participant variables in an experiment
What is the repeated measures design?
all participants receive all levels of the IV and we compare the performance (DV) of the participant on the 2 tests
What are limitations of the repeated measures design?
- 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
What is the independent groups design?
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
What is a method of dealing with order effects?
- counterbalancing: ensuring that each condition is tested first or second in equal amounts
What are limitations of the independent group design?
- 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
What is a method of dealing with the independent group design?
- random allocation: theoretically distributing participant variables evenly
can be done through a random generator
What is the matched pairs design?
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
What are limitations of the matched pairs design?
- 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
What is a method of dealing with the matched pairs design?
- 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
