Research Methods

Question 1

What is the purpose of Lab experiment?

Answer 1

To investigate causal relationships between and IV and DV under controlled conditions. Participants are aware they are taking part in the study but they may not be aware of the true aims of the study.

Question 2

What role does the experimenter play in a lab experiment?

Answer 2

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• The researcher directly manipulates the IV
• The experimenter/researcher measures the effect of the manipulation on the IV using the DV

Question 3

What is experimental control in a lab experiment?

Answer 3

• All other variables must be controlled (kept constant), this control allows us to assume that the only variable affecting the DV is the IV.
• Because the lab experiment is highly controlled cause and effect can be established.

Question 4

What are the strenghts of a lab experiment?

Answer 4

• Well-controlled. Extraneous/confounding variables are minimized, thus there is higher internal validity.
• Can be easily replicated demonstrating external validity.

Question 5

What are the limitations of a laboratory experiment?

Answer 5

• Artificial, a contrived situation- participants may know that they are being studied, materials may lack mundane realism, the environment may be unfamiliar. Therefore, participants may not behave naturally leading to lower ecological validity.
• Demand characteristics may be a problem.

Question 6

What is the scientific method?

Answer 6

1. Observe behavior
2. Propose a theory
3. Develop testable hypothesis
4. Design a study to test the hypothesis
5. Draw conclusions

Question 7

What is a field experiment?

Answer 7

To investigate causal relationships between an IV and DV in more natural surroundings. As with the lab experiment, the IV is still deliberately manipulated by the researcher and the researcher measures the DV. Participants are usually not aware that they are participating in an experiment so their behavior may be more natural.

Question 8

What are the strengths of a field experiment?

Answer 8

• Less artificial, usually higher mundane realism (mundane realism refers to how a study mirrors the real word), and higher ecological validity.
• Participants are usually not aware of being studied.

Question 9

What are the limitations of a field experiment?

Answer 9

• Less control of extraneous/confounding variables reduces internal validity.
• More time-consuming and thus more expensive.

Question 10

What is a natural experiment?

Answer 10

To investigate relationships between and IV and DV in situations IV cannot be directly manipulated for practical or ethical reasons. The IV varies ‘naturally’ whether or not the researcher was interested. The researcher records the effect of the IV on a dependent variable. The DV may be tested in a lab.

Question 11

What are the strengths of a natural experiment?

Answer 11

• Allows research were IV cannot be manipulated for ethical reasons.
• Enables psychologists to study ‘real’ problems such as the effects of a disaster or health (increased mundane realism ad ecological validity).

Question 12

What are the limitations of a natural experiment?

Answer 12

• Cannot demonstrate causal relationships because IV not directly manipulated.
• Randomly allocation not possible, therefore there may be confounding variables that can’t be controlled, a threat to internal validity.

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Question 13

What is a Quasi-experiment?

Answer 13

The IV is naturally occurring and the DV may be measured in a lab. The IV is simply a difference between people that exists..

Question 14

What are the strengths of a Quasi-experiment?

Answer 14

Allows comparison between different types of people.

Question 15

What are the limitations of a Quasi-experiment?

Answer 15

• Participants may be aware of being studied, reducing internal validity.
• The DV variable may be a fairly artificial task, reducing ecological validity.
• Lack of control of the IV - reduces the ability to draw conclusions.

Question 16

What is an independent variable?

Answer 16

Some event that is directly manipulated by an experimenter in order to test its effect on another variable (the dependent variable).

Question 17

What is a dependent variable?

Answer 17

The dependent variable is the variable that is measured/tested or observed.

Question 18

What does it mean to operationalize a variable/hypothesis?

Answer 18

Define the variable/hypothesis precisely.

Question 19

What is internal validity?

Answer 19

-Internal validity is concerned with what goes on inside the study.

Meaning:

• Whether it is actually the IV that produces a change in the DV.
• Whether the researcher tested what she/he intended to test.
• Whether the study passes mundane realism.

Question 20

How can internal validity be improved?

Answer 20

Internal validity can be improved by controlling as many relevant confounding and extraneous variables as possible.

Question 21

What is an extraneous variable?

Answer 21

Extraneous variables do not vary systematically with the IV but may have an effect on the DV. They are nuisance variables which make it more difficult to detect a significant effect.

Question 22

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 22

This is a variable that is not the IV but varies systematically with IV. Changes in the DV may be due to the confounding variable rather than the IV making the outcome meaningless.

Question 23

What is external Validity?

Answer 23

External Validity is the degree to which research findings can be generalized.

Population validity: can the results be generalized to other groups of people besides those who took part in the study?

Temporal validity: Can the results be generalized to the past or future?

Ecological validity: Can the results be generalized to other settings beyond the experimental setting, particular everyday settings?

Question 24

Why is it difficult to conduct observations?

Answer 24

It is difficult because:

• It is difficult to work out what to record and what not to record.
• It is difficult to record everything that is happening.

Question 25

What is an unstructured observation?

Answer 25

The researcher records all relevant behaviour but has no system.

Question 26

What is a structured observation?

Answer 26

Structured interviews fall into two categories:

a) Behavioural categories - what is needed is operationalisation. This involves dividing a target behaviour into a subset of behaviours, by breaking things down into a behavioural checklist.
b) Sampling procedures - Event sampling means counting the number of times behaviours occur. Time sampling means recording behaviours in a given time frame e.g every 15mins .

Question 27

What is observer bias?

Answer 27

Observer bias is when what someone observes is affected by their expectations. This can affect internal validity.

Question 28

What is reliability in terms of observations?

Answer 28

Observations should be consistent, to be reliable an observation must have high inter-observer reliability.

A general rule is that if the total number of agreements divided by the total number of observations is more than 80% then the data has a high inter-observer reliability.

Question 29

What is inter-observer reliability?

Answer 29

• Inter-observer reliability is the extent to which there is an agreement between 2 or more observers.
• IT checks if the observation is reliable.
• Researchers (observers), agree on the meaning of each category by operationalizing
• separately record observations
• Plot on scattergraph, if reliable should have a positive correlation.

Question 30

What is a naturalistic observation?

Answer 30

Naturalistic observation is an observation carried out in an everyday setting, In which the investigator does not interfere in any way but merely observes the behavior (s) in question.

Question 31

Give one strength and Limitation of a naturalistic observation.

Answer 31

Strength: Realism and natural behavior. The researcher can observe behaviour. The researcher can observe behaviour, which occurs, in a natural setting. Likely to have high ecological validity.

Limitations: Lack of control of variables cause and effect relationships cannot be established. They do not tell us why the behaviour takes place.

Question 32

What is a controlled observation?

Answer 32

Observe behavior but under conditions where certain variables have been organised by the researcher.

Question 33

Give one strength and one limitation of a controlled observation.

Answer 33

Strength: Due to control, the observer can focus on particular aspects of behavior.

Limitation Disturbing natural settings. This means that the setting is no longer natural. Observations of back validity.

Question 34

What is an overt observation?

Answer 34

In both a natural and controlled observation the people being observed may know that their behaviour is being observed.

Question 35

Give one strength and one limitation of an overt observation.

Answer 35

Strength: More ethical as participants know they are being observed.

Limitations: Likely to have an effect on the naturalness of participant’s behavior.

Question 36

What is a covert observation?

Answer 36

In both a natural and controlled observation the people being observed may not know that their behavior is being observed.

Question 37

Give one strength and one limitation of a covert observation.

Answer 37

Strength: Participant is unaware of being observed and thus their behaviour is more natural.

Limitation: Ethical issue - it is acceptable to observe people in a public place as long as the behaviors being observed are not private ones.

Question 38

What is Non-participant observation?

Answer 38

The observer, observes from a distance and does not interact with the people being observed.

Question 39

Give one strength and one limitation of a non-participant observation.

Answer 39

Strength: Observations are likely to be more objective because they are not part of the group being observed.

Limitation: may not gain special insights into behavior which can be gained from participant observation.

Question 40

What is a participant observation?

Answer 40

A particpant observation is an observation made by someone who is also participating in the observed, which may affect their objectivity.

Question 41

Give on strength and one limitation of a participant observation.

Answer 41

Strength: May provide special insights into behaviour from the inside that may not otherwise be gained.

Limitations:

• Participant observations is more likely to be overt and thus have issues of participant awareness.
• If it is covert then there are ethical issues

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Question 42

What is a self-report technique?

Answer 42

A self-report technique is the reporting of what you think and feel.

Question 43

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 43

A questionnaire is a set of written questions which is designed to collect information about a topic or topics.

Question 44

What does a question intend to do?

Answer 44

Questions aim to discover what people think and feel.

Question 45

What is clarity?

Answer 45

Clarity is when questions are written clearly so that the respondent understands what they are being asked. This means there should be no ambiguity.

Question 46

What reduces clarity?

Answer 46

Clarity is reduced with the use of double negatives. Which is where there are two negative words in a sentence e.g are you against banning capital punishment. It is also reduced via double-barreled questions such as ‘Do you suffer from sickness and headaches?’.

Question 47

What is bias in terms of questions?

Answer 47

Bias is when the question leads the respondent to be more likely to give a particular answer (as in a leading question).

Question 48

What is analysis? (in terms of interviewing, discuss open and closed questions).

Answer 48

Questions need to be written in a way that they are easy to analyze. Open questions may be harder to analyze but give a more representative and accurate/insightful answer. Whereas closed questions are much easier to analyze but they may be forced to select answers that don’t represent their thoughts and feelings.

Question 49

What is an open question?

Answer 49

Open-ended questions invite respondents to provide their own answer rather than on provided, this typically produces qualitative data.

Question 50

What is a closed question?

Answer 50

Closed questions have predetermined answers from which the respondent will select one, typically produces quantitative data.

Question 51

How can demand characteristics be avoided in a questionnaire?

Answer 51

By using filler questions. Which are irrelevant questions that distract the respondent from the true aims/purpose of the survey.

Question 52

Identify two strengths of a questionnaire.

Answer 52

• one designed and tested they can be easily distributed to large numbers of people cheaply and quickly.
• Respondents may feel more willing to reveal personal info.

Question 53

Identify two limitations of questionnaires.

Answer 53

• Can take long to design.
• Can be biased as only those who can read and write and those who are willing to answer will answer the questionnaire.

Question 54

What is a structured interview?

Answer 54

A structured interview has pre-determined questions, essentially making it a questionnaire that is delivered face to face (or over the telephone), with deviation from the original questions. It is conducted in real-time, the interviewer asks the questions and the interviewee replies.

Question 55

What are the strengths of a structured interview?

Answer 55

• The interview can be easily repeated because the questions are standardized. meaning that answers from different people can be easily compared.
• Answers are easier to analyze - this is due to the fact that answers are predictable making them easier to analyze.

Question 56

What are the limitations of a structured interview?

Answer 56

• The comparability may be a problem if the interviewer behaves differently on different occasions research like this has low reliability.
• The interviewer’s expectation may influence the answers the interviewee gives (this is an investigator effect known as interviewer bias), all interviewers have to be skilled to prevents this as much as possible.

Question 57

What are unstructured interviews?

Answer 57

New questions are developed during the course of the interview. The interviewer may begin with the general aims and some pre-determined questions but subsequent questions develop on the basis of given answers. Sometimes referred to as a clinical interview, as it’s similar to when you go to see the doctor.

Question 58

What are the strengths of an unstructured interview?

Answer 58

• Detailed information is obtained from respondents, as they can be more specific with questions.
• Gives a deeper insight into the thoughts and feelings of respondents which is commonly the overall aim of questions.

Question 59

What are the limitations of an unstructured interview?

Answer 59

• They require more skill to conduct as the interviewer develops new questions on the spot.
• Unstructured interviews are more expensive as they require well trained or specialist interviewers.

Question 60

Describe what is meant by ‘recording the interview’

Answer 60

An interviewer may take notes during answers to document them, this may affect/interfere with their listening skills it may also make the interviewee feel a sense of evaluation because if a researcher does not take everything thing down they may feel as though what they said was not valuable.

Question 61

Describe what is mean by ‘The effect of the interviewer’

Answer 61

If the interviewer is interested their presence may increase the information given by the respondent, even in an unstructured interview, meaning that the interviewers need to be more aware of behavior that demonstrates interest.

• Non-verbal communication- things like sitting with arms crossed or frowning shows disinterest. But things, like nodding and leaning forward, encourages the respondent to speak.
• Listening skills - the interviewer needs to know when and how to speak. So that they don’t interrupt often and include a range of encouraging comments.

Question 62

What questioning skills are required in an unstructured interview?

Answer 62

There are special skills to be learned about what kind of following questions should be asked. It is important to be aware of previously asked questions, to avoid repetition. IT is also useful to avoid much probing, as its better to ask more focused questions - both for the interviewee and also, later, for analysis of the answers.

Question 63

What is an aim?

Answer 63

A statement of the area or purpose of an investigation.

Question 64

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 64

• A statement of what the researcher believes to be true
• It is a formal and testable statement of the relationship between variables.

Question 65

What is a directional hypothesis?

Answer 65

A hypothesis that states the expected direction of results (one-tailed).

Question 66

What is a Non-directional hypothesis?

Answer 66

A hypothesis that states that there is a difference between two conditions but does not state the direction of the difference (two-tailed).

Question 67

In terms IV’s, what should the hypothesis of a study include?

Answer 67

The hypothesis should reflect two different levels of the IV.

Question 68

What does operationalizing a hypothesis mean?

Answer 68

It means writing the hypothesis in a testable form, meaning in a way that makes clear the specific way the experiment tests the hypothesis.

Question 69

Name the 3 types of experimental design.

Answer 69

1. Repeated measures design
2. Independant groups design
3. Matched pairs design

Question 70

What is a repeated measures design?

Answer 70

An experiment design where each participant takes part in every condition under test.

Question 71

Name two strengths of a repeated measures design.

Answer 71

• Fewer participants are required.
• It eliminates participant variables i.e differences between participants e.g gender

Question 72

What are the two limitations of a repeated measures design?

Answer 72

• The order of the conditions may affect performance (order effects), which can involve being less anxious on the second try or being more practiced. Others can do worse on their second attempt due to boredom effects.
• By doing the second test participants may guess the aims of the study (demand characteristics).

Question 73

State 2 methods of dealing with the limitations of a repeated measures design

Answer 73

Counterbalancing:

• Method 1: AB or BA divide participants into two groups: in group 1 each participant does A then B and in group 2 each participant does B then A.
• Method 2: ABBA all participants take part in each condition twice: Trial 1 - condition A (morning), Trial 2 - condition B (afternoon), Trial 3 condition B (Afternoon), Trial 4 - condition A (morning). Then compare scores on trials 1 and 4 with 2 and 3.

Question 74

What is the purpose of counterbalancing?

Answer 74

To control the impacts of order effects (practice, fatigue or boredom). This allows order effects to be evenly distributed across both conditions. Making the each condition of the IV occur as the first and the second task evenly.

Question 75

What is an independent groups design?

Answer 75

Independent group design is where participants are placed into sperate groups. Each group does one level of the IV.

Question 76

What are the strengths of an independent groups design?

Answer 76

• There are no order effects.
• Demand characteristics are less of a problem.
• The same test e.g word lists can be used in both conditions.

Question 77

What are the limitations of an independent groups design?

Answer 77

• Participant variables
• It needs more participants compared to a repeated measures design to obtain the same amount of data.

Question 78

What are the methods of dealing with the limitations of an independent groups design?

Answer 78

-Randomly allocating.

Question 79

What is a matched pairs design?

Answer 79

Pairs of participants are matched in terms of key/relevant variables such as age and IQ. One member of each pair is allocated to one of the conditions under test and the other person is allocated to the other condition.

Question 80

What are the strengths of a matched pairs design?

Answer 80

• There are no order effects.
• Participant variables are kept more constant between conditions.

Question 81

What are the limitations of a matched pairs design?

Answer 81

• It is very time consuming and difficult to match participants on key variables.
• It is not possible to control all participant variables. You can only match on variables known to relevant.

Question 82

What are the methods of dealing with the limitations of a matched pairs design?

Answer 82

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

Question 83

What is a participant variable?

Answer 83

Characteristics of a person e.g age, intelligence, experience, and gender.

• They only act as extraneous variables if an independent groups design is used.
• There are irrelevant participant variables which are variables that only have an effect in certain situations.

Question 84

How can participant variables be controlled?

Answer 84

• Repeated measures design.
• Matched pairs design.
• Random allocation in an independent groups design.

Question 85

What is a situational variable?

Answer 85

Features of research situation that may influence participants’ behavior e.g time of day, temperature and noise.

Question 86

How can situational variables be controlled?

Answer 86

By using a standardized procedure i.e all participants are tested at the same time, temperature, in the same room. So that the only variable that varies is the IV.

Question 87

What are investigator/experimenter bias effects?

Answer 87

Anything that the investigator does that has an effect on a participant’s performance in a study other than what was intended. Investigator effects may act as a confounding or extraneous variable. They are usually direct effects that come as a consequence of a poorly designed study.

Question 88

What is an expectancy effect?

Answer 88

What the researcher expects to find in the investigation can be communicated to participants through subtle cues e.g smiling, nodding, frowning, etc. They may unconsciously encourage participants.

Question 89

Explain the 3 types of investigator effects.

Answer 89

Indirect investigator effects:

1. investigator experimental design effect - e.g deliberately giving one group more time to complete a task to increase the chances of a noticeable effect.
2. Investigator loose procedure effect - Not clearly specifying the instructions or the procedure influencing the research.
3. Investigator fudging effect - The investigator deliberately fakes data.

Question 90

How can investigator effects be controlled?

Answer 90

• Use standardized procedure
• Double-blind procedure - neither the participants nor the investigator knows the aims/hypothesis of the study.

Question 91

What is a demand characteristic?

Answer 91

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

Question 92

What is a cue in terms of demand characteristics?

Answer 92

A cue is anything that gives away the true aims of the study this can lead to bias as the participants may try harder or sabotage the experiment.

Question 93

How can demand characteristics be controlled?

Answer 93

Single-blind procedure i.e the participant is not told the true aims of the study so they cannot seek cues about the true aims of the research.

Question 94

What is participant reactivity/ participant effects?

Answer 94

This refers to the situation in which the independent variable has an effect on behavior because the participants know they are being studied.

Question 95

How can participant reactivity be controlled?

Answer 95

Make the task have experimental realism i.e sufficiently engaging so that the participants pay attention to the task rather than the fact that they are being observed.

Question 96

What is social desirability bias?

Answer 96

A tendency for respondents to answer questions in a way that will present them in a better light.

Question 97

How can social desirability bias be controlled?

Answer 97

By ensuring the confidentiality of the participants.

Question 98

What is a pilot study?

Answer 98

It is a small-scale trial run of a study to test any aspects of the design, with a view to making improvements. It allows the researcher to check standardized procedures and design before investigating time and money. Any problems can then be adjusted.

Question 99

What can pilot study do in terms of impacting the validity of a study?

Answer 99

It can reduce sources of bias by identifying the participant and situational variables alongside participant reactivity.

Question 100

What is randomization?

Answer 100

Its the use of chance in order to control for the effects of bias when designing materials and deciding the order of conditions. This is an attempt to deal with investigator effects.

Question 101

What are ethics?

Answer 101

• Ethics are standards of conduct that distinguish between right and wrong.
• Set of moral principles used by a group of professionals.

Question 102

What is an ethical issue?

Answer 102

An ethical issue is a conflict between the rights of the participants and the needs of the researcher to conduct meaningful research.

Question 103

What is the ethical issue with informed consent?

Answer 103

Where from the researcher’s point of view, informed consent will reveal the true aims of the study, which will lead to them guessing the aims and so they may change how they behave. From the participant’s point of view they feel they should be told what they will be required to do so they can make an informed decision on whether they want to participate or not

Question 104

What is the ethical issue of deception?

Answer 104

Where the researcher feels it’s necessary to deceive participants about the true aims of the study so they do not alter their behavior. From the participant’s point of view, deception is unethical as it means that they can not give informed consent and means that the researcher is untrustworthy.

Question 105

What is the ethical issue of protection from harm?

Answer 105

From the researcher’s point of view, important questions may cause some distress to participant, they also argue that its difficult to predict the outcome. From the participant’s point of view, nothing should happen to them that causes harm. They believe they should leave in the same state in which they entered.

Question 106

What is the ethical issue of having the right to withdraw?

Answer 106

From the researchers’ point of view if some participants leave then those who don’t will not be representative e.g they may be more obedient. From the participant’s point of view they should have the right to withdraw at any given time.

Question 107

What is the ethical issue of confidentiality?

Answer 107

From the researcher’s point of view, this is difficult because they may want to publish the findings. From the participant’s point of view, the data protection act makes confidentiality a legal right.

Question 108

What is the ethical issue of privacy?

Answer 108

Where the researcher may find it difficult to avoid an invasion of privacy when studying participants without their awareness. From the participant’s point of view people do not expect to be observed by others in certain situations e.g in their own homes.

Question 109

Who controls the guidelines that psychologists must follow?

Answer 109

The British Psychological Society (BPS), They’ve produced a list of ethical guidelines to help psychologists know which behaviors are not acceptable and give guidance on how to resolves ethical dilemmas.

Question 110

What 4 principles does the BPS 2009 Code Of Conduct identify?

Answer 110

1. Respect
2. Competence
3. Responsiblitiy
4. Intergrity

Question 111

What is respect?

Answer 111

Psychologists should act with respect meaning they should respect the dignity of all persons e.g have a standard of privacy and confidentiality and informed consent for participants. Only use Deception when it is needed to protect the integrity of the research, participants should be aware at all times of the right to withdraw.

Question 112

How can acceptability of deception be judged?

Answer 112

By considering whether the participants are likely to object or show unease when debriefed.

Question 113

What is competence?

Answer 113

Psychologists should maintain high standards in their professional work.

Question 114

What is responsibility?

Answer 114

Where psychologists have a responsibility to their clients, to the general public and the science of psychology. This includes protecting participants from physical and psychological harm - as well as debriefing at the conclusion of their participation.

Question 115

What is integrity?

Answer 115

Where psychologists should be honest and accurate. This includes reporting the finding of any research accurately and acknowledging andy potential limitations. It also includes bringing an instance of misconduct by other psychologists to the attention of the (BPS).

Question 116

What are the strengths of the (BPS) Code Of Conduct?

Answer 116

-The rules and sanctions approach of the BPS gives clarity to psychologists.

Question 117

What are the limitations of the BPS’s code of conduct?

Answer 117

• The guidelines are not law the BPS can only bar a person from practicing as a psychologist.
• Guidelines are quite general and aren’t specific to certain studies, making them less useful and causes discussions about right and wrong.
• The guidelines absolve the searcher of any responsibility.

Question 118

How can informed consent be dealt with?

Answer 118

• Participants are asked to formally indicate their agreement to participate and should be based on comprehensive information concerning the nature and purpose of the research and their role in it.
• Give presumptive consent

Question 119

What is presumptive consent?

Answer 119

This can be done by asking a group of people whether they feel a planned study is acceptable. The researcher then presumes that the participants themselves would have said the same were they given the chance.

Question 120

What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with informed consent?

Answer 120

• Participants may know the true aims of the study, invalidating the purpose of the study
• informed consent does not guarantee that the participants know what they’re in for
• Presumptive consent is what people expect someone to thnk which can be different from actually experiencing it.

Question 121

How can deception be dealt with?

Answer 121

• The need for deception should be approved by the ethics committee, weighing up benefits of the study against the costs for the participants.
• Participants should be fully debriefed after the study and offered the opportunity to withhold their data.

Question 122

What is debriefing?

Answer 122

A method of dealing with deception is to debrief. It involves the researcher informing the participants of the true nature of the study. Participants discuss concerns and may withdraw their data if they wish to. A researcher also uses it as an opportunity to ask questions of their own.

Question 123

What are the limitations with the methods of dealing with deception?

Answer 123

• Cost-benefit decisions are flawed because they involve subjective judgements, and the costs are not always apparent until after the study.
• Debriefing can’t turn the clock back - a participant may feel embarrassed or have lowered self-esteem after the study.

Question 124

What are the methods of dealing with The right to withdraw?

Answer 124

Participants should be informed at the beginning of the study that they have the right to withdraw.

Question 125

What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with The right to withdraw?

Answer 125

• Participants may feel they shouldn’t withdraw because it will spoil the study.
• I many studies participants are paid or rewarded in some way (e.g. university students may be given course credits), so they may not feel able to withdraw.

Question 126

What are the methods of dealing with the Protection from harm?

Answer 126

• Avoid any risks greater than everyday life.
• Stop the study

Question 127

What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with Protection from harm?

Answer 127

Researchers are not always able to accurately predict the risks of taking part in a study.

Question 128

What are the methods of dealing with confidentiality?

Answer 128

Researchers should not record the names of any participants; they should use numbers or false names.

Question 129

What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with confidentiality?

Answer 129

It is sometimes possible to work out who the participants were on the basis of the information that has been provided, for example, the geographical location of a school. In practice, therefore, confidentiality may not be possible.

Question 130

What are the methods of dealing with privacy?

Answer 130

• Do not observe anyone without their informed consent unless it is in a public space.
• Participants may be asked to give their retrospective consent or withhold their data.

Question 131

What are the limitations with the methods used to deal with privacy?

Answer 131

• There is no universal agreement about what constitutes a public place.
• Not everyone may feel this is acceptable, for example, lovers on a park bench.

Question 132

What is an ethics committee?

Answer 132

Most institutions including universities have an ethics committee that reviews all proposed research. It consists of a group of individuals (typically researchers and administrators) whose role it is to protect the rights of participants in research studies. They weigh up the benefits of the research against the possible costs to the participants. They use a cost-benefit analysis.

Question 133

What are the limitations with ethics committees?

Answer 133

It is difficult if not impossible to predict both prior and after a study the costs and benefits.

Question 134

What is sampling?

Answer 134

It is a method used to select participants.

Question 135

What is a target population?

Answer 135

A group of people that share a given set of characteristics about which the researcher wants to draw conclusions.

Question 136

Why are target populations often too large to investigate?

Answer 136

• It would take too long.
• Cost too much.
• You might not be able to access all members of the target population.
• You need to select a sample.

Question 137

What is a sample?

Answer 137

A sub-set of the population

Question 138

What is a representative sample?

Answer 138

• Researchers want to generalize their findings from the sample to the target population.
• Therefore the sample must be representative.
• The more representative the sample the greater the population validity.

Question 139

What is Random sampling?

Answer 139

Every person in the target population has an equal chance of being selected.

Question 140

How do you obtain a random sample?

Answer 140

Random techniques: Draw numbers ‘out of a hat’ (or something similar), LORRWEt method/

1. Obtain a list of all the people in the population.
2. Put all the names in a lottery barrel or hat.
3. Select the number of names required.

Question 141

What are the strengths of random sampling?

Answer 141

Potentially unbiased because all members of the target population have an equal chance of selection.

Question 142

What are the limitations of Random sampling?

Answer 142

Does not guarantee that the sample will be representative of the whole population e.g you may obtain a biased sample e.g all males or females can be difficult to get a list of the whole population and to contact those selected.

Question 143

What is opportunity sampling?

Answer 143

The researcher picks anyone who is available to take part.

Question 144

How do you obtain an opportunity sample?

Answer 144

You approach anyone who is most convenient or most available.

Question 145

What are the strengths of an opportunity sample?

Answer 145

Easy. Saves time and money.

Question 146

What are the limitations of the opportunity sample?

Answer 146

• Biased because the sample is drawn from a small part of the population
• Ethical issue - As students may feel obliged to take part.

Question 147

What is a volunteer sampling?

Answer 147

Participants self-select i.e they put themselves forward for inclusion.

Question 148

How do you obtain a volunteer sample?

Answer 148

Advertise for volunteers. Put questionnaires in magazines/newspapers and ask people to send in their answers.

Question 149

What are the strengths of a Volunteer Sample?

Answer 149

Gives access to a variety of participants e.g all people who attend a particular day nursery making the sample less biased and more representative.

Question 150

What are the limitations of Volunteer Sampling?

Answer 150

• Volunteer bias-participants are usually more motivated than randomly selected participants.
• Only literate people may respond.

Question 151

What is systematic sampling?

Answer 151

A sample obtained by using every nth person (where n is any number)

Question 152

How do you obtain a systematic sample?

Answer 152

Use a predetermined system e.g. every 6th, 14th, 19th person in a phonebook.

Question 153

What are the strengths of a systematic sample?

Answer 153

Unbiased because participants are selected using an objective system.

Question 154

What are the limitations of systematic sampling?

Answer 154

Not truly unbiased unless you select a number using a random method and start with this person then select every nth person.

Question 155

What is a stratified sample and how is one obtained?

Answer 155

Subgroups within a population are identified. Participants are obtained from each of the subgroups in proportion to their occurrence in the population. Selection from the subgroup is done using a random technique.

Question 156

Give both methods of finding a stratified sample (mathematically).

Answer 156

Manual Method - Put male names in a hat, determine the proportion of males needed to mirror the number of males in the target population. Then find the proportion of the sample size that matches the proportion in which they occur in the target population, then draw out the names.

Random number table or computer method - do the same but name the people with a number and use a computer or table to select the sample.

Question 157

What are the strengths of a stratified sample?

Answer 157

More representative than other methods because there is a proportional and randomly selected representation of sub-groups.

Question 158

What are the limitations of a stratified sample?

Answer 158

Time-consuming to identify subgroups and to randomly select.

Question 159

What is peer review?

Answer 159

Peer review is where psychologists work is held up for scrutiny and that any work that is flawed or fraudulent is detected and its results ignored,

Question 160

What is the process of peer review?

Answer 160

• Other psychologists check the research report before deciding whether it could be published
• Independent scrutiny by other psychologists working in a similar field.
• Work is considered in terms of validity, significance, and originality.
• Assessment of the appropriateness of the methods and designs used.
• Reviewer can accept the manuscript as it is, accept with revisions, suggest the author makes revisions and re-submits or reject without the possibility of re-submission.
• Editor makes the final decision whether to accept or reject the research report based on the reviewers’ comments/recommendations.
• Research proposals are submitted to panel assessed for merit.

Question 161

What is the purpose of peer review?

Answer 161

• To ensure the quality and relevance of research
• To ensure the accuracy of the findings
• To evaluate proposed designs (aims, quality, and value of the research) for the research fundings.

Question 162

What are the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology’s views on what purposes peer review should serve?

Answer 162

• Peer review helps with the allocation of research funding - research is paid for by the various government and charitable bodies. The overall budget for science research in the year 2015-16 was £5.8 billion. Money must be spent responsibly.
• Allows research to be published in academic journals and books. Scientists can share their results.
• University departments are expected to conduct research and this is asses in terms of quality (Research Excellence Framework, REF). Future funding for the department depends on receiving good ratings from the REF peer review.

Question 163

What are the strengths of the peer review process?

Answer 163

• It helps to ensure work is methodologically sound and valid. It helps to prevent plagiarism. It helps to ensure that published work is original, relevant interesting and will add to our body of scientific knowledge.
• Helps to prevent unjustified claims being made, use of experts in the same field hopes to identify errors before they appear in the public domain, helps prevent poor quality work from being published, helps university departments to be rated and funded.

Question 164

What are the weaknesses of the peer review process?

Answer 164

1. Finding an expert - if an appropriate expert isn’t found they may pass poor research because they don’t understand it.
2. Anonymity - By being anonymous reviewers can be honest and objective. However, by being anonymous reviewers may try to settle old scores or bury rival research. Research is conducted in a social world where people compete for research grants and jobs and make friends and enemies.

Question 165

What are some other weaknesses of peer-review?

Answer 165

1. Publication Bias - Journals prefer positive results possible because editors want to research that has important implications in order to increase the standing of their journal. This results in a bias in published research that in turn leads to a misperception of the true facts. Journals also avoid publishing straight replications of a study, a fundamental part of research validation. Journals seek eye-catching research.
2. Preserving the status quo - Peer review results in a preference for research that goes with existing theory rather than dissenting or unconventional work.
3. It cannot deal with already published research.

Question 166

What are some additional weaknesses of peer review?

Answer 166

• Publication bias towards prestigious departments/universities.
• It can be slow, expensive and time-consuming.
• Bias against research that fails to reject null hypotheses.
• Bias against replications.
• Reviewers in the same field may be tempted to delay/prevent publication of a rival’s research (dangers of anonymity)
• Despite much success, the system may fail to prevent scientific fraud.

Question 167

What is the university research rating?

Answer 167

Universities conduct research to gain a university research rating. Which is assessed using the research excellence frame work. in order for the university to acquire future funding.

Question 168

What is Quantitative data?

Answer 168

Information that represents how much or how long, or how many etc. there are of something, i.e. a behaviour is measured in numbers or quantities.

The DV in an experiment in quantitative.

Closed questions in questionnaires collect quantitative data - numerical information about you age, how many hours you work in a week, how highly you rate different TV programmes etc.

Question 169

Give one strength and one limitation of quantitative data.

Answer 169

Strength: Easy to analyze so conclusions can be easily drawn.

Limitation: Oversimplify reality e.g. closed questions may force people to tick answers that do not really represent their feelings. Therefore the conclusions may be meaningless,

Question 170

What is Primary data?

Answer 170

Information observed or collected from first-hand experience. In psychological research, it is data collected by the researcher for the study currently being undertaken. The study might be an experiment, possibly with a questionnaire and. or an observational element measure the DV. Or the study could just involve a questionnaire and/or an observational element to measure the DV. The data collected would be specifically related to the aims and/or hypothesis of the study.

Question 171

Give one strength and one limitation of Primary data.

Answer 171

Strength: The researcher has great control over the data. The data collection can be designed so it fits the aims and hypothesis of the study.

Limitation: Very lengthy and therefore expensive process. Simply designing a study takes a lot of time and then time spent recruiting participants, conducting the study and analyzing the data.

Question 172

What is secondary data?

Answer 172

Information used in a research study that was collected by someone else or for a purpose other than the current one e.g. published data or data collected in the past. The researcher might use government statistics or use data held by an institution such as a hospital.

Question 173

Give one strength and one limitation of Secondary data.

Answer 173

Strength: It is simpler to just access someone else’s data and cheaper because significantly less time and equipment is needed.

Limitation: The data may not fit the needs of the study.

Question 174

What is qualitative data?

Answer 174

Data that express what people think or feel. It is represented in words. If participants complete an interview or questionnaire using open questions then it will produce some qualitative data.

Question 175

How is qualitative data analyzed?

Answer 175

Content analysis - This involves establishing categories and counting the number of instances when these categories are utilized within a text.

Question 176

How is qualitative data presented?

Answer 176

• Later the behavioural categories or theme may be listed.
• Examples of behaviour within the category may be represented using quotes from participants or descriptions of typical behaviours in that category.

Question 177

What needs to be done in order to complete content analysis

Answer 177

You need to ask participants an open-ended question. Tucky and Brewer 2003 identified the following likely behavioural categories that may be identified from answers from participants.

Question 178

Give one strength and one limitation of qualitative data.

Answer 178

Strength: Rich detail. It gains access to thoughts and feelings. It represents the complexities of human behavior.

Limitation: More difficult to detect patterns and draw conclusions due to a large amount of data usually collected.

Question 179

What are the advantages of content analysis?

Answer 179

• High ecological validity because based on direct observations of what people actually do.
• Allows other researchers to replicate the findings and test for reliability.

Question 180

What are the disadvantages of Content analysis?

Answer 180

• Observer bias because different people may interpret the meaning of behavioural categories differently.
• Culturally biased because interpretation of verbal or written content is affected by language.

Question 181

What is a measure of dispersion?

Answer 181

A descriptive statistic that provides information about how spread out a set of data are. Tells us the extent to which scores in a given set of data are similar or very different from each other.

Question 182

What is the range? And state one advantage and disadvantage of it.

Answer 182

Definition: The range is the arithmetic distance between the top and bottom values in a set of data.

Strength: Easy to calculate.

Limitations: Affected by extreme values and fails to take account of distribution of numbers.

Question 183

What is standard deviation? And state advantage and one disadvantage.

Answer 183

Definition: It assesses the spread of data around the mean. It is a measure of the average distance between each data item above and below the mean.

Advantage: More precise measure of dispersion because all values are taken into account, meaning it is less affected by extreme scores.

Disadvantage: May hide some of the characteristics of the data e.g extreme values.

Question 184

What are the descriptive statistics?

Answer 184

These are methods of describing quantitative data.

Question 185

What is a measure of central tendency?

Answer 185

These are descriptive statistics. They inform us about the central (or middle) values for a set of data. They are averages - ways of calculating a typical value for a set of data. The average can be calculated in different ways, each one appropriate for a different situation.

Question 186

Give one strength and one limitation of the mean and discuss how it applies to levels of measurement.

Answer 186

Strength: The most sensitive measure of central tendency because it takes account of the exact distance between all values of all the data.

Limitation: Extreme score can give a misleading impression of central tendency.

Levels of measurement: The mean can only be used with ratio and interval data. It cannot be used with nominal data, it does not make sense to use it with discrete values e.g average children in a family.

Question 187

Give one strength and one limitation of the median and discuss how it applies to Levels of measurement.

Answer 187

Strength: It is not affected by extreme scores.

Limitation: It is misleading when the scores are clustered in low and high groups.

Levels of measurement: The median can be used with ratio, interval, and ordinal data. Not as sensitive as mean because the exact values are not reflected.

Question 188

Give one strength and limitation of the mode and discuss how it applies to levels of measurement.

Answer 188

Strength: It produces a figure that appears in the sequence.

Limitation: It is not a useful way of describing data when there are several modes.

Levels of measurement: can be used with nominal data (categorical data), and is the method that can be used with such data. It is useful for discrete data such as average number of children in a family.

Question 189

What is the correlation?

Answer 189

A correlation is used to analyze the association between two co-variables. A co-variable is continuous i.e. it is a variable that can take on any value within a certain range An example could be liking football on a scale of 1 to 10.

Question 190

What is the correlation coefficient?

Answer 190

A number between -1 and 1 that tells us how closely the co-variables ina correlational analysis are associated.

Question 191

What are the strengths of correlations?

Answer 191

Correlations are very useful when it would be unethical or impractical to use an experiment.

If a correlation is statistically significant then further investigation is justified. If a correlation is not significant you can probably rule out a causal relationship.

Procedures in a correlation can usually be easily repeated again, which means that the findings can be confirmed

Question 192

What are the Limitations of Correlations?

Answer 192

In contrast to an experiment, there is no deliberate change to the IV in order to observe the effect on the DV in a correlation. Therefore no conclusion can be made about one co-variable causing the other. In other words, cause and effect cannot be established in a correlation like it can be in a laboratory experiment.

As experiments, correlations may lack internal/external validity e.g method used to measure IQ may lack validity or the sample may lack generalisability.

Question 193

What types of data applies to Histograms and Bar charts?

Answer 193

Bar charts: Data in categories (nominal data), does not work with continuous data, does not work with individual scores.

Histogram: Works with continuous data, can also be used with individual scores and do not use with nominal data.

Question 194

PIE CHARTS, DATA DISTRIBUTIONS, AND THE SIGN TEST ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THESE FLASHCARDS BUT HAVE A POSSIBILITY OF COMING UP.