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A-level Psychology > research methods > Flashcards

research methods Flashcards

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1
Q

What’s mundane realism?

A

how a study mirrors the real world

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2
Q

What’s an confounding variable?

A

A variable that isn’t the IV but systematically varies with the it. Changes in the dependent variable may be due to the confounding variable rather than the IV, and therefore the conclusion is meaningless

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3
Q

What’s an extraneous variable?

A

a variable that is not the independent variable but does not vary systematically with the IV

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4
Q

What’s historical validity?

A

how well you can generalise a study over time

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5
Q

What’s population validity?

A

type of external validity. which describes how well the sample can be extrapolated to a population as a whole

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6
Q

What is external validity?

A

is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalised to and across other situations.

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7
Q

What is Construct Validity?

A

A type of internal validity, it’s how accurate the idea behind the research

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8
Q

What is ecological validity?

A

A type of external validity, meaning how well you can generalise a study to different places or settings.

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9
Q

What is a lab experiment?

A

a type of experiment that takes place in a highly controlled environment

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10
Q

What is a field experiment?

A

it’s an experiment conducted outside a laboratory where behaviour is measured in a natural environment.

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11
Q

What is a Quasi experiment?

A

Studies that are “almost” experiments.
The IV doesn’t vary at all it’s a condition that exists.
The researcher records the effects of the”quasi Iv” on a DV

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12
Q

What is a Natural experiment?

A

A type of experiment where the researcher hasn’t manipulated the IV directly. The researcher records the effect of the IV on the dependent variable.

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13
Q

What are independent groups?

A

It’s a type of experimental design where participants randomly placed into different groups so each participant experiences one level of the IV

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14
Q

What are repeated measures?

A

a type of experiment design where each participant takes on every condition of the experiment

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15
Q

What is a control group?

A

group that receives no treatment

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16
Q

what are the types of sampling

A 
volunteer
opportunity
random
systematic
stratified
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17
Q

What are demand characteristics?

A

when the participants form an idea of the experiment’s purpose and alter their behaviour to either please the researcher or do the opposite.

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18
Q

What is an experiment group?

A

the group that receives the treatment

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19
Q

What is volunteer sampling?

A

When people actively volunteer to be in a study by responding to a request for participants advertised.

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20
Q

What is Opportunity Sampling?

A

A type of sampling technique where the researcher asks whoever is willing and available.

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21
Q

What is random sampling?

A

A type of sampling technique either done manually or by a computer so every member of the target group has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.

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22
Q

What is systematic sampling?

A

A sample obtained by selecting the first person randomly then selecting the rest every nth interval from a sampling frame.

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23
Q

What is Stratified Sampling?

A

A sample of participants produced by identifying subgroups according to their frequency in the population.

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24
Q

name the different types of observation

A 
Naturalistic.
Controlled
covert
overt
participant
non-participant
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25
Q

definition of directional hypothesis

A

it states the direction of the predicted difference between two conditions or two groups of participants. e.g People who do homework without watching TV produce better results from those who watch tV whilst doing homework.

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26
Q

definition of non-directional hypothesis

A

It predicts simply that there is a difference between two conditions or two groups of participants, without stating the direction of the difference

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27
Q

when do researchers use non-directional hypothesis

A

when there is no past research

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28
Q

when do researchers use directional hypothesis

A

when there is past research that suggests that the findings will go in a particular direction.

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29
Q

What is a matched pairs design?

A

pairs of participants are matched in terms of key variables such as age and IQ

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30
Q

What is the order effect?

A

it’s when a extraneous variable arises from the order in which conditions are presented

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31
Q

What is volunteer bias?

A

form of sampling bias because volunteer participants have special characteristics e.g being highly motivated.

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32
Q

What is bias

A

a systematic distortion

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33
Q

what’s internal validity

A

the degree to which an observed effect was due to experimental manipulation rather than other factors like extraneous and confounding variables.

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34
Q

What is a naturalistic observation?

A

an observation carried out in an everyday setting, in which the investigator does not interfere in any way, but merely observes the behaviour(s) in question

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35
Q

What is a pilot study?

A

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

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36
Q

What is Participant Observation?

A

observations made by someone who is also participating in the activity being observed

37
Q

What’s observer bias?

A

observers’ expectations affects what they see or hear which reduces the validity of the observations.

38
Q

What’s non-participant observation?

A

the observer is seperate from the people being observed

39
Q

What is cost- benefit analysis?

A

a systematic approach to estimating the negatives and positives of any research

40
Q

What are ethical guidelines?

A

a set of principles designed to help professionals behave honestly and with integrity

41
Q

What is a controlled observation?

A

a form of investigation in which behaviour is observed but under conditions where certain variables have been organised by the researcher

42
Q

What is a intervening variable?

A

a variable that comes between two variables that are used to explain the association between those two said variables.

43
Q

What is meta-analysis?

A

a researcher looks at the findings from a number of different studies and produces a statistic

44
Q

What is event sampling?

A

an observational technique in which a count is kept of the number of times a certain behaviour (event) occurs

45
Q

What is time sampling?

A

an observational technique in which the observer records behaviours in a given time frame.

46
Q

What are behavioural categories?

A

dividing a target behaviour into a subset of specific and operationalised behaviours

47
Q

What is a structured observation?

A

A type of observational technique where the researcher uses various systems to organise observations,( such as behavioural categories and sampling procedures)

48
Q

What is a structured interview?

A

any interview in which the questions are decided in advance

49
Q

What is a unstructured interview?

A

the interview starts out with some general aims and possibly some questions and lets the interviewee’s answers guide subsequent questions

50
Q

What is the most recent Code of Ethics

A 
Informed consent
deception
right to withdraw
protection from harm
confidentiality
privacy
51
Q

What are the experimental designs?

A

matched pairs
independent groups
repeated measures

52
Q

What is the aim of a study?

A

What you want to achieve from it

53
Q

What is controlled observation?

A

An observation that takes place in an artificial environment

54
Q

What is a one tailed test?

A

A test used for directional hypotheses

55
Q

What is a two tailed test?

A

A test used for non - directional hypotheses

56
Q

What is the level of significance?

A

The confidence in the result

57
Q

What are the degrees of freedom

A

The values that are free to change (which is the no.of participants minus 1).

58
Q

What is content analysis?

A

Similar to an observational study in which behaviour is usually observed indirectly visual, written or verbal material.

59
Q

What is thematic analysis?

A

A technique used when analysing qualitative data. themes or categories are identified and then data is organised according to these themes

60
Q

What is Coding?

A

The process of placing qualitative and quantitative data into categories.

61
Q

What is a independent variable?

A

It’s a variable directly manipulated by the researcher.

62
Q

What is a dependent variable?

A

it’s the variable that you think will be affected by changes in the independent variable.

63
Q

Name the measures of central tendency?

A

Mean
Median
Mode

64
Q

name the measures of dispersion?

A

Range

Standard deviation

65
Q

What is nominal data?

A

Data that is measured in several categories.

66
Q

What is ordinal data?

A

Data ordered in some way. e.g list of football teams in order of liking

67
Q

What is standard deviation?

A

It’s a measure of the average distance between each data item above and below the mean, ignoring plus or minus values

68
Q

What is a normal distribution?

A

a symmetrical bell-shaped frequency distribution. It occurs when certain variables are measured e.g IQ. The mean, median and mode are at the midpoint.

69
Q

What is a positive skewed distribution?

A

It’s where most of the scores are bunched towards the left. The mode is to the left of the mean because the mean is affected by extreme scores tailing of the right.

70
Q

What is a skewed distribution?

A

it’s skewed because the tail is longer than the other, showing that there are extreme values to one side or the other of the mid-score

71
Q

What is a negative skewed distribution?

A

Most of the scores are bunched towards the right. The mode is to the right of the mean coz the mean is affected by extreme scores tailing of to the left.

72
Q

What is a histogram?

A

A type of frequency distribution in which the no.of scores in each category of continuous data are represented by vertical columns. There is no true zero and no spaces between the bars.

73
Q

What is Time Sampling?

A

An observational technique in which the observer records behaviour in a given time frame.

74
Q

What is Structured Observation?

A

A type of observational technique where a researcher uses various systems to organise observations e.g behavioural categories and sampling procedures

75
Q

What are Behavioural Categories used for?

A

For dividing a target behaviour into a subset of specific and operationalised behaviours.

76
Q

What are the ways to deal with demand characteristics and investigator effects (investigator bias)?

A

Single blind design
double blind design
experimental realism

77
Q

What is a single blind design?

A

It this design the participant is not aware of the research aims and/or which condition of the experiment they are receiving.

78
Q

What is a double blind design?

A

A design where both the participant and the person conducting the experiment are “blind” to the aims and/or hypotheses. Therefore the person conducting the investigation is less likely to produce cues about what he/she expects.

79
Q

What is experimental realism?

A

when the researcher makes an experiment task sufficiently engaging the participant pays attention to the task and not the fact that they are being observed.

80
Q

What are standardised procedures?

A

A set of procedures that are the same for all participants in order to be able to repeat the study

81
Q

What is the sign test?

A

A statistical test to determine the significance of a sample of related items of data.

82
Q

When do you use a sign test?

A
  1. used when looking at paired or related data.
  2. the two related pieces of data could come from a repeated measures design.
  3. can also be used with matched pairs design since the participants are paired and therefore count as one person tested.
83
Q

What are the steps of calculating the sign test?

A

Step 1: state the hypothesis
step 2 : record the data and work out the sign
step 3 : Find the calculated value.
Step 4: Find the critical value of S
Step 5 : Determine whether the result is in the right direction.

84
Q

What’s an unstructured interview?

A

it’s an interview that starts out with some general aims and possibly some questions, and lets the interviewee’s answers guide subsequent questions

85
Q

what type of data are the measures of central tendency used for

A
  1. Mean - ratio and interval level
  2. median - ordinal, ratio and interval
  3. Mode - nominal ,interval and ordinal
86
Q

Describe the levels of measurement

A

Nominal - data in separate categories
Ordinal - data are ordered in some way
Interval - data are measured using units of equal interval.
ratio - there is a true zero point as in most measures of physical quantities.

87
Q

What is a bar chart?

A

A graph used to represent the frequency of data; the categories on the x-axis have no fixed order and there’s no true zero.

88
Q

What’s a histogram?

A

Type of frequency distribution in which the no.of scores in each category of continuous data are represented by vertical columns. There’s no true zero and no spaces between the bars

A-level Psychology (27 decks)

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