research methods AO3 Flashcards
what are the advantages of independent group design?
avoids order effects - as participants only do one condition
what are the disadvantages of independent group design?
- larger number of participants required
- individual differences may affect results (as two separate groups have different participants)
what are the advantages of repeated measures design?
- minimises individual differences (as same people in each condition)
- fewer participants required
what are the disadvantages of repeated measures design?
- order effects (as same people do both conditions)
- demand characteristics (easier to guess aim of study)
- different set of materials required
what are the advantages of matched pairs design?
- minimises order effects
- minimises individual differences
what are the disadvantages of matched pair design?
difficult to achieve good match as it is time consuming (they are still not exactly the same)
what are the advantages of a questionnaire?
- can gain large amounts of data quickly and easier data analysis
- questionnaires dont have interviewer bias so it is easier to replicate
what are the disadvantages of questionnaire?
response bias and social desirability
what are the advantages of interviews?
- more detailed so gives qualitative data (follow up points etc)
- reduce social desirability so can build rapport with interviewee
- no response bias
what are the disadvantages of interviews?
- harder to replicate
- difficult data analysis (statistically)
- interview bias
why are closed questions better than open ones in some studies?
easier to analyse using statistics as they generate quantitative data
why are open questions better than closed ones in some studies?
gives qualitative data so easier to make conclusions and more detailed
what are the strengths of random sampling?
the sample will likely be unbiased as there is no researcher bias and will end up with a representative sample
what are the weaknesses of random sampling?
- time consuming especially if large target population
- could still be biased/unrepresentative
what are the strengths of stratified sampling?
- very representative of population as everyone represent correctly
- avoids researcher bias
what are the weaknesses of stratified sampling?
- time consuming and difficult
- smaller groups may not represent all the types of people in target population
what are the strengths of opportunity sampling?
convenient to do as quick and easy
what are the weaknesses of opportunity sampling?
- tends to be less representative as taken from small section of population
- researcher bias
what are the strengths of volunteer sampling?
quick and easy as participants come to researcher
what are the weaknesses of volunteer sampling?
participants likely to be similar more eager to please and more willing so reduces generalisability
what are the strengths of systematic sampling?
avoids researcher bias as people are systematically chosen
what are the weaknesses of systematic sampling?
- time consuming and they may refuse to take part
- could be unrepresentative (could potentially miss out whole groups)
what are the advantages of lab experiments?
- extraneous variables can be controlled
- can be replicated due to control
what are the disadvantages of lab experiments?
- can be artificial and could lack ecological validity
- demand characteristics
- lack of mundane realism - hard to generalise tasks to real life
what are the advantages of field experiments?
- ecologically valid
- more mundane realism
- reduce demand characteristics as less aware of taking parts of study
what are the disadvantages of field experiments?
- extraneous variables are harder to control
- more difficult to replicate
- ethics unaware of taking part of study and invade their privacy
what are the advantages of natural experiments?
- allow study of phenomena which may not be possible for ethical reasons
- high ecological validity as studying real life
what are the disadvantages of natural experiments?
- loss of control extraneous variables and so unsure if IV affecting DV
- conditions not always possible to find
what are the advantages of quasi experiments?
- extraneous variables controlled
- can be replicated due to high control
what are the disadvantages of quasi experiments?
can’t randomly allocate participants which may lead to confounding variables
what are the strength of naturalistic observation?
- high ecological validity
- lack of control
what are the weakness of naturalistic observation?
- harder to replicate
- more extraneous variables
- lower internal validity
what are the strengths of controlled observations?
- control of extraneous variables
- higher internal validity
what are the weaknesses of controlled observations?
- can’t be generalised into real life
- lower ecological validity
what are the strengths of an overt observation?
informed consent given so more ethical
what are the weaknesses of an overt observation?
- more investigator effects
- demand characteristics
- participant reactivity
- lower internal validity
what are the strengths of a covert observation?
- less investigator effects
- less demand characteristics
- high internal validity
what are the weaknesses of a covert observation?
- goes against privacy
- ethical issues
what are the strengths of participant observations?
- allow first hand account
- high external validity
what are the weaknesses of participant observations?
lose objectivity
what are the strengths of non participant observations?
more objective
what are the weakness of none participant observations?
less valuable insight as removed from first hand situations
what are the strengths of correlations?
- useful preliminary tool as it can investigate how variables are related to suggest further ideas for research
- quick and easy to carry out as usually using secondary data
what are the weaknesses of correlations?
- can’t demonstrate cause and effect (no infer of causation)
- third variable may cause link between variables so may not be related at all
what are the strength of meta analysis?
good population validity so can be generalised across larger populations
what are the weaknesses of meta analysis?
publication bias so may not select all relevant data so data may be biased (file drawer problem)
what are the strengths of primary and secondary data?
- all data relevant to study as its purpose is only for that
- less time consuming as data already exists
what are the weaknesses of primary and secondary data?
- more time consuming to collect data as have to carry out study
- data purpose not for study
what are the advantages of case studies?
- rich interesting data so high ecological validity
- allow study of rare cases where large samples unavailable
- starting point for further researcher
what are the disadvantages of case studies?
- low reliability as unable to replicate
- may be subjective as relationship between interview and case may impact study
- large amount of data may lead to bias when selecting
- lack of population validity
- could be less considered due to idiographic nature
what are the strength and weaknesses of mean as a measure of central tendency?
+ uses all data so most representative of data as a whole
- can be distorted due to extreme values
what are the strength and weaknesses of median as a measure of central tendency?
+ not affected by extreme values
- doesn’t take account of all the values in data
what are the strengths and weaknesses of mode as a measure of central tendency?
+ easier to calculate
- crude measure
- may not be useful
what are the strengths and weaknesses of range as a measure of dispersion?
+ easy to calculate compared to standard deviation
- only looks at extreme values so may be unrepresentative
what are the strengths and weaknesses of range as a measure of dispersion?
+ more precise as it includes all data into calculation
+ more representative
- can be distorted by extreme values
- difficult to calculate
what are the strengths and weaknesses of peer review?
+ anonymity so peers more likely to produce honest criticism of work
- publication bias as editors and journalists may choose more headline grabbing work to increase circulation so some research can be ignored
- burying ground breaking research as it may oppose mainstream theories as peers are more critical of work that doesn’t match their own so work follows current ideologies
