research methods Flashcards
deception
participants shouldn’t be lied to or misled about the aims. lying and simply withholding some information are both forms of deception,
sometimes it can be justified.
informed consent
at the beginning of the study people should be informed the purpose of it and their role. they should know their rights so they can make a decision to take part.
protection from harm
participants can’t be placed at risk. both physical and psychological, including no embarrassment or stressed.
privacy
people expect to control information about themselves.
confidentiality
identity should be protected, anonymous
qualitative data
data in words may include quantitative data too
longitudinal
often carried out over long periods so you can see how behaviour changes. may also collect retrospective case history.
validity
weather a result is ‘true’ valid research represents something that is real.
reliability
concerns the consistency of a measurement everytime a thing is measured the result should be the same.
primary data
data that has been obtained first hand.
secondary data
second hand data from other studies or government statistics.
quantitative data
numbers but can measure thoughts and feelings
laboratory experiments
is a controlled environment and the experimenter has control over everything
strength- extra variables can be controlled, meaning the researcher can be more certain or any changes in the DV are due to the IV
weakness- they may not be like every day life, their behaviour may be different than what it is
field experiment
take place in natural setting, researcher still changes the IV to see what effect this has on the DV
strengths- more realistic because it is natural and participants don’t know about it so is more valid
weakness- ethical issues as participants don’t know
researcher can lose control of extra variables
natural experiment
when the change in IV is not controlled by the researcher
strengths- usually have high validity because it’s real-life in a natural setting
weakness- the natural event that is wanted to be studied may only happen rarely, meaning its fewer opportunities for this kind of research.
order effects
in a repeated measures design, and extra variable arising from the order in which conditions are presented
control groups
a group of participants who receive no ‘treatment’, their behaviour is a baseline against which the effect of the IV may be measured
control condition
the condition in a repeated measures design that provides a baseline measure of behaviour without the experiment treatments
allocation to conditions
random allocation is an unbiased method used to control for participant variables
counterbalancing
used in repeated measures designs to control for order effects, half the participant complete the conditions in one order, the other half in the opposite order.
hypothesis
a clear precise testable statement that is written at the beginning of an investigation. it states the relationship between the variables being investigated.
dependent variable
DV is the variable that is measured by the researcher. only thing that affects it is a change in the IV
independent variable
IV is the thing the experimenter deliberately changes, what the researcher manipulates
extraneous variable
these are any unwanted “extra” variables that may interfere with the relationship between the IV and the DV
random sample
produced by using a random technique win which every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected.
opportunity sample
produced by selecting people who are willing and available at the time
systematic sample
produced by selecting every nth people of a list of the target population
stratified sample
produced by selecting participant in proportion to their frequency in the target population
matched pairs
participants tested on variables relèvent to the study, then matched and one member of each pair goes in each condition
strength- no order effects. fewer participant variables
weakness- takes time to match participants. doesn’t control all participants variables
independent groups
different groups of participants for each level of the IV.
control and experimental groups.
strength- order effect are not a problem because participants only do experiment once.
weakness- different participants in each group. participant variables can act as extra variables
repeated groups
all participants take off in all levels of the IV.
strengths- no participant variables. fewer participants needed, so less expensive
weakness- order effects reduce validity
open question
one that invites responders to provide their own answer rather than select one of those provided.
they tend to produce qualitative data.
closed question
one that has a fixed range of possible answers, they produce quantitative data.
structured interviews
interviewer reads out a list of prepared questions to the interviewee
unstructured interview
is like a conversation, develops questions based on the answers given.
convert-
participants are not aware behaviour is being recorded
overt-
told in advance they are being observed
inter observers
two observers should produce the same record of behaviour. researchers watch at the same time, and correlate data
