Research methods data Flashcards
what is a correlation
mathematical technique to see the relationship between two co variables to see the strength and direction with no manipulation of an ice so cannot establish cause and effect relationship
what are the different types of correlation
positive correlation as one variable increases the other variable also increases
how is experimental different to correlation
experimental is changing the independent variable and seeing the effecton the dependent variable wheras in correlation there is no manipulation so a cause and effect relationship cannot be conducted or observed
strength of correlation
it is quick and easy and economical to see the relationships between two co variables so a quick way to analyse data and information quickly
toolf for research by assessing the strength of a relationship and allows further investigations and experiments in order to establish a cause and effect relationship based on the variable
You can also investigate the relationship in unethical situations
what is the weakness of correlation
lack of manipulation of iv means that a cause and effect cannot be establishe so know there Is a relationship but don’t know what it is cause by
also there may be a third variable that link the two variables together which haven’t been accounted for so the correlation may be misinterprated
what is central tendency
Performance of a group using a number or a trend
what is the mean and advantages and disadvantages
Interpretation
the mean accounts for all the numbers in a sample so the most repesentetive add all the numbers and divide by the numbers present a strength is that it count for all numbers so take all values when creating a mean so most sensitive
includes outliers which can make the mean appear too large or too small which may not actually be representative of the sample
Higher mean would mean higher accuracy and scoring and lower in reaction time
what is the median advantages and disadvantages
the median is the middle value when ordered the information one strength is that it measures the middle number in the data and isn’t affected by outliers
however not sensitive as not data or values are included
what is the mode
the most occurring value in a data set it ignores outiers as not so sensitive
howver it doesn’t take into account all the values especially if there are different patterns and can stray from the mean and median significantly
Higher mode compared to another means better performance
what is dispersion
to see how the data and cores are spread out in a data set
what is the range
highest value minus the lowest value it is a strength as it accounts for all values in the data set and shows the overall range and easy to calculate
it can be distorted by an outlier so may be unrepesentitive
what is standard deviation
how much the values deviate from the mean the larger the spread of data the likelihood that the dv had been affected by other variables aside from the iv more consistency on the results
strength is that it take into account all the values and how it strays from the mean so repesentitive howveer it takes long and it can be affected by extreme values
what is normal distribution
most people are based in the middle of the graph median mean and mode the line never touches zero as values are always possible it occurs when a test is a right difficulty
what is a positive skew
most of the distribution is on the far left of the graph with the mode median and mean with a long tail on the right the pulls the tail to the right with those who have scored really highly so pull the mean to the right most people score low this may because the test is too difficult
what is a negative skew
most of the distribution is on the right of the graph the mode is far left then median then mean the test is too esy and the mean is distorted to the left by those who score poorly it is an easy exam so many score highly
different types of graphs
bar chart allows presentation of discrete data in bars it allows easy comparison
scatter graph allows correlation to be seen between two co variable sthe strength and direction of the relationship
histograms when continuos data it allows to see the data the x are equal ibntervals
line graph when plotting data against time
what is infernational statistics
to see whethe a hypothesis should be accepted or rejected and whether the relationship between variable should be significant or due to chance
how to measure the s value
State the hypothesis and gather all the data work out the difference between conditions and calculate the s value
If the difference calculated is positive then the value is a plus and if the difference calculate is a negative add up all the positive signs and then add up all the negative signs which ever sign is the least frequent is taken as the s value this is then compared to the critical value table
how to state whether you accept a hypothesis or reject
since the calculated s value is less or more than the critical value than the results aren’t significant for n= so p,0.05
what is peer review
when written investigation is subject to scrutiny by experts in the field they should be objective and unknown before publishing can occur
what do the researchers do in a perr review
they allocate funding to the research and compare the other researches that are going on and decides which requires more funding
validate the quality type of the research the ethics the hypothesis the finding the methodology and the statistical testto suggest amendment which need to be done before it can be approved for publishing
Otis tested for validity originality and credibility
Accepted rejected or amendments needed
what is the strength of peer review
it ensure accuracy and validity of the research as it has been analysed by other researchers and it has been approved
what is the weakness of peer review
although anonymity is recommeneded the resaecrher can come across researcher they beiev they may have across in the past and they make look at their research biased
burying those views of the research they agree with and understandbetter they are more likely to publish them ad when reviewing contradictory to journals that they don’t agree with they may be more critical
publication bias only publish the news grabbing headline and not publishing the rest of the truthful stuff
primary data and strength and weakness
is data originally collected by the researcher from participants first handed and it is collected for their own research to meet their aims
strength is that it is highly accurate and reliable as it has been collected by the researcher less time consuming to sift through unessecary information which isn’t needed as all the information meets the aims
weakness it is time consuming to collect the data for the study
secondary data
information that has already existed before the study collected by another researcher for a different aim and research and the significance is known
it is inexpensive and quick to use as the data doesn’t need to be collected by the researcher themselves
may not be authentic and may take time to remove irrevlevant and find relevant information
What is the difference between one tail and two failed test
In one tailed test the hypothesis has a direction and two way test hypothesis has no direction
What is a p value
Probablitily that finding occurred due to chance it informs us whether the conditions are flukes or significant enough to be due to manipulation of the iv
What is the significance level that psychologist use
Less than 5% so less than five percent chance that the difference v was due to chance
What is the role of inferential statistics
It’s to see whether the differences in iv are significant or due to chance and are as a result of manipulation of the iv it is objective
What are the conditions for hypothesis testing
It needs to be a repeated measure design it needs to have two categories and the data should be a Ken to be categorised
What is a meta analysisy
Process of drawing broader conclusions about an investigated factor by looking at findings from a broad range of study within a field
What is the strength of meta analysis
It prevents the effects of anolomolus results having a great impact of the finding as large amount of valid representice sample balances out the few anolous
What is weakness of meta analysis
If the study is flatly or is flawed it may lead to all the three stidies be flawed
