Research Methods Flashcards
The researcher used volunteers for this study. Outline one disadvantage of using volunteers to take part in this study.
sample is biased, lacking representativeness, more confident/helpful/curious which could affect how they respond to therapy or represent other offenders.
Explain how the researcher could allocate the volunteers randomly to the conditions of the experiment.
All the volunteers are identified either by name or number.
The 50 names/numbers are put in a container or computer.
Assign alternate names/numbers drawn to Group 1 then Group 2 and so on until there are 25 in each group or alternative system OR set parameters for two groups of 25 to be randomly generated.
Students often claim that listening to music helps them to concentrate. A psychologist was not aware of any previous research in this area. She decided to investigate this claim.
‘Do you think that you concentrate on your work ‘better’, ‘worse’ or ‘the same’ if you listen to music while working?’
Should the hypothesis for this study be directional? Explain your answer
a non-directional hypothesis is suitable or ‘it should not be directional,’ (1) as there is no reference to evidence that allows the psychologist to predict the direction of the results
Discuss the purpose of counterbalancing.
it controls the impact of order effects (practice, fatigue or boredom).
allows order effects to be distributed evenly across both conditions.
making each condition of the IV occur as the first task and the second task equally.
counterbalancing does not eliminate order effects which will be present because there are two separate tasks to be completed by each person.
Apart from using random allocation, suggest one way in which the psychologist might have improved this study by controlling for the effects of extraneous variables. Justify your answer.
testing all participants in the same room
making sure that all participants hear the same instructions
ensuring that all participants are tested by the same researcher.
Explain how the psychologist could have used random allocation to assign the 15 participants in Condition B into the 5 groups.
all the participants allocated a number from 1 to 15.
the 15 numbers are put in a hat.
assign first three numbers drawn to a group and repeat process for other 4 groups.
At the end of the study the psychologist debriefed each participant. Write a debriefing that the psychologist could read out to the participants in Condition A.
explanation of the aim: to see if creativity is affected by the presence or absence of others
information about the other condition – in an independent design people need to know about the condition in which they did not take part.
• specific ethical issues, eg right to withdraw data/be informed of results/check of welfare • general ethical considerations, eg respect for participants.
Outline how the researchers could have avoided investigator effects having an impact on the study.
Discussion of separate observation by the two researchers and comparison – inter-rater reliability
Having ‘blind’ rating of the discussion by someone who is unaware of the aim or research hypothesis
Filming the discussions so there is a permanent record that can be checked by peer review of the data to confirm the scores/ratings.
Explain how the researchers should have addressed two ethical issues in the investigation.
Consent – to be part of what is in essence two studies. Participants should be forewarned – a briefing.
Protection from harm – at the end of participation all will have to be fully aware that they were rated for their social care interest and a low score might indicate they are ‘uncaring’. They may wish to withdraw their data.
Right to withdraw – being made aware that they can at any time stop participating and at the end of their participation they can withdraw detail of their behaviour in the research.
