Research Methods Flashcards
What are the three designs of experiment?
Independent groups, matched pairs and repeated designs
What are the methods of experiments?
Quasi, laboratory, field, observation, natural
What are the two types of observation?
Overt (open) and covert (secret)
What types of sampling methods are there?
Stratified, volunteer, opportunity, random, and systematic.
What is meant by reliability?
How much a study and its findings are repeatable/replicable
What is meant by validity?
How much a study’s findings are correct/accurate
What is face validity?
If a study/experiment is testing what it says it’s testing.
What is temporal validity?
If a study’s findings are relevant throughout the years.
What is cultural validity?
If a study can be generalised across all cultures.
What is concurrent validity?
If a study’s findings are supportive of another study’s findings.
What is nominal data?
Categorised data
What is ordinal data?
Ordered data (can’t show by how much)
What is interval data?
Ordered data (shows by how much)
What level of significance is most commonly used?
P<0.05 (greater or equal to)
What are the measurements of spread?
Range and standard deviation
What are the measurements of averages?
Mean, median, mode
What is the null hypothesis?
Opposes the hypothesis.
How would you write a non-directional hypothesis?
“There will be a difference between [condition A] and [condition B]”
How would you write a directional hypothesis?
“[Condition A] will do better than [condition B]”
When would you use a directional hypothesis?
When there’s already previous evidence that indicates a certain result.
What is a pilot study?
A study preceding the original study to test whether the method, variables and instructions are all in order.
What does a debriefing need to contain?
The study’s primary aims, the right to withdraw their information and any necessary help/contacts.
What’s the difference between a blind condition and a double blind condition?
A blind condition is where the participant doesn’t know something (e.g. in a drug trial they won’t know if they’re taking the real drug or a placebo) and a double blind is where neither the participant nor the experimenter knows something (neither of them know if the participant takes the drug or the placebo).
How do you control for order effects in a repeated measures design? What is this called?
Counter balancing
Have two groups - swap the order of the tasks for each group.
What’s the difference between extraneous and confounding variables?
Extraneous variables are the variables that might possibly interfere with an experiment, but confounding variables are variables which will definitely interfere with an experiment.
What is internal validity?
Whether or not an experiment is actually testing what it says it’s testing.
What is ecological validity?
The extent to which results in one setting can be generalised to another setting
What’s the difference between quantitative data and qualitative data?
Quantitative data is something that can be measured (time, numbers, etc.), whereas qualitative data can’t be measured (opinions, emotions, skill, etc.)
Give a strength and a weakness for correlational analysis.
Strength: Allows us to make predictions of an outcome.
Weakness: Correlation doesn’t imply causation.
What is thematic analysis?
A method used to identify patterns of meanings and themes within qualitative data.
Give two self-report techniques.
Questionnaires and Interviews
Name the non-parametric statistical tests.
Mann Whitney, Wilcoxon, Chi-squared, Sign and Spearman’s
Name the parametric statistical tests.
Pearson’s, Unrelated t-test and Related t-test
What needs to be included in a psychology write-up?
Abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, references, and appendices.
What is a paradigm?
A general theory or law that is accepted by the overwhelming majority of scientists in a particular field of study.
How does a paradigm shift come about?
1) Pre-science: no theories that are generally accepted
2) Normal science: a paradigm emerges
3) Revolution: an existing paradigm is replaced by a new one (a paradigm shift).
Difference, nominal data with independent groups. What test is used?
Chi-squared
Difference, nominal data with repeated measures or matched pairs. What test is used?
Sign test
Difference, ordinal data, with independent groups. What test is used?
Mann Whitney
Difference, ordinal data with repeated measures or matched pairs. What test is used?
Wilcoxon
Correlation and ordinal data . What test is used?
Spearman’s
Correlation and internal data. What test is used?
Pearson’s
Difference, interval data with independent groups. What test is used?
Unrelated t-test
Difference, interval data with repeated measures or matched pairs. What test is used?
Related t-test
What are investigator effects?
Where the investigators results are altered due to a bias/expectation/stereotype.
