Research methods Flashcards
Ethical- Informed consent
Everyone who participates in research should have consented fully understanding their involvement.
Ethical- Right to withdraw
The participant should be made aware of their right to drop out of the research whenever they want
Ethical- Deception
Should not lie, the purpose of the experiment and what was happening.
Ethical- confidentiality
Should not be named/no public.
Ethical- Protection from harm- protection of participants
Not to harm participation.
Sample- Chosen participants
A good sample is important so that we can make generalisations. Apply what we have learnt from research to the general population.
Methods: Simple random sample
Random selection of a number of individuals from a sampling frame. S: like to be representative W: Could exclude key groups. Can be through e.g. names from a hat.
Methods: Stratified random sample
Divide the population into strata of relevant characteristics. S: representative, including key groups W: example/difficult
Methods: Opportunity sample
Using people who are available. S: Convenience, W: Introduces bias into the sample; unlikely to be representative
Methods: Volunteer sample
Any participants who want to join. S: Good for selecting people with particular characteristics ( with a particular mental health condition or certain social characteristics) W: introduces bias into the sample; unlikely to be representative. often recruited through e.g. an advertisement
Experiments- A field experiment
S: set in a natural environment. W: Lack of control of extraneous variables
Experimenta- Natural experiment
S: The IV is naturally occurring e.g. earthquake. W: Lack of control of extraneous variables. Not possible to randomly allocate participants
Extraneous
Not directly connected with or related to something. Extra, might affect the experiment
When does deception happen?
Usually occurs during a debrief, where the aims and intended outcomes of a study are fully disclosed
How is deception dealt with?
That researchers keep participants records in a safe and secure place, and destroy them after a suitable amount of time, as agreed with participants
When does protection happen?
Researchers should highlight any aspect of a procedure that may cause individual psychological harm and minimise these risk. Incentives should not be used to encourage participants to endure harm that is beyond what they may experience in everyday life
When does the right to withdraw happen?
Being able to withdraw their results for an agreed time after the study is complete. A participant should never be offered an incentive, such as money, to forgo their right to withdraw
Experiments- Laboratory experiment
Is an investigation that takes places in a controlled environment. The aim is to discover the cause and effect between the IV and DC variables by controlling or eliminating other extraneous variables. S: Cause and effect can be established between the IV and DV, which can help with internal validity. W: Conducted in an unnatural environment
Experiments- A field experiment
In an experiment conducted in a natural environment. An IV that is manipulated by the researcher and a DV that is measured. S: Conducted in a naturalistic environment, so the behaviour is natural W: Not all extraneous variables can be controlled because it is a real-life environment
Experiments- Natural experiment
Also occurs in a real-life environment and has an IV and DV, but researchers themselves do not manipulate the IV as it occurs naturally. S: The IV is naturally occurring and not manipulated W: It is not possible to randomly allocate participants to conditions of the IV, so there may be issues with participants variables that can influence the findings
