Research Methods Definitions

Question 1

Controlled Observations

Answer 1

participants observed in a lab, so increases control and reliability but decreases ecological validity

Question 2

Correlation

Answer 2

The extent to which two variables are related to each other.

Question 3

Covert observation

Answer 3

Participants do not know they are being observed
- reduces demand characteristics
- raises ethical concerns

Question 4

experiment

Answer 4

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

Question 5

Field Experiment

Answer 5

conducted in real life setting
- reduces control on extraneous variables
- increases ecological validity

Question 6

Interviews

Answer 6

Self report method where participants answer questions in face to face situations

Question 7

Lab experiment

Answer 7

conducted in a controlled
- can control extraneous variables

Question 8

Natural Experiment

Answer 8

independent variable already exists is tested in its natural environment
- reduces control on extraneous variable
- allows experiment of variables that cannot be ethically be created

Question 9

Naturalistic Observation

Answer 9

Participants observed in their natural environment
- increases ecological validity
- decreases control over extraneous variables

Question 10

Non-participant observation

Answer 10

when the researcher observes Behaviour without participating in that behaviour
- reduces insight that could be received with participant
- allows higher objectivity

Question 11

Observation

Answer 11

type o data collection in which participants’ behaviours are being watched

Question 12

Overt observation

Answer 12

Participants know they are being observed
- increases demand characteristics
- increases chance of screw you or please you effect
- informed consent taken

Question 13

participant observation a

Answer 13

research method in which investigators systematically observe people while joining them in their routine activities
- highly valuable qualitative data can be collected
- reduces objectivity of the researcher

Question 14

Quasi experiment

Answer 14

An experiment in which investigators make use of control and experimental groups that already exist in the world at large. Also called a mixed design.
‘ natural experiment’

Question 15

Questionnaires

Answer 15

self report techniques in which participants are given pre decided questions, allows anonymity

Question 16

Structured Interviews

Answer 16

interviews in which all applicants are asked the same set of standardized questions, usually including situational, behavioral, background, and job-knowledge questions
- consists of closed questions
- repeatable

Question 17

unstructured interview

Answer 17

no fixed set of questions and no systematic scoring procedure
involves asking probing questions to find out what the applicant is like

Question 18

Aims

Answer 18

purpose of the experiment

Question 19

Behavioural categories

Answer 19

Used during observations in which participants behaviours are operated into more specific components

Question 20

confounding variables

Answer 20

a type of extraneous variable that is related to the independent variable

Question 21

Counterbalancing

Answer 21

makes half of the participants go through the conditions of the experiment in one order and the other half go through the conditions in the opposite order

Question 22

Demand Characteristics

Answer 22

changes in the participants behaviours to either go with or against the researchers hypothesis

Question 23

Event sampling

Answer 23

used in observations when the researcher records every time the participants behave a certain way or an event occurs

Question 24

Extraneous variables

Answer 24

variables other than the independent variable that have an effect of the dependent variable

Question 25

hypothesis

Answer 25

prediction of outcome of the experiment

Question 26

independent groups

Answer 26

different participants involved in different conditions

Question 27

investigations effects

Answer 27

unconscious changes to the investigation behaviour to comply with the hypothesis

Question 28

matched pairs

Answer 28

participants in different conditions are matched on certain variable to reduce the effect of participant variables

Question 29

operationalisation

Answer 29

clearly stated or objectifies the variables

Question 30

opportunity sampling

Answer 30

obtaining a sample of people from the population who are willing and available at the time of collecting the sample

Question 31

peer review

Answer 31

work assessed by other people with similar expertise of the field

Question 32

pilot studies

Answer 32

mock study to ensure clarity of the investigation

Question 33

repeated measures

Answer 33

same participants undergo all the conditions of the experiment

Question 34

stratified sampling

Answer 34

establishing sub groups within the population and picking participants to create a representative sample

Question 35

systematic sampling

Answer 35

to pick participants evenly distributed throughout the population

Question 36

time sampling

Answer 36

observer records specific behaviours in specific time intervals

Question 37

volunteer sampling

Answer 37

using participants that volunteer to take part in the study

Question 38

one-tailed test

Answer 38

A hypothesis test in which rejection of the null hypothesis occurs for values of the test statistic in one tail of its sampling distribution.
for directional hypothesis

Question 39

two-tailed test

Answer 39

A hypothesis test in which rejection of the null hypothesis occurs for values of the test statistic in either tail of its sampling distribution
for non directional hypothesis

Question 40

Mean

Answer 40

Most sensitive, representative and can be easily distorted by anamolies

Question 41

Median

Answer 41

Not affected by extreme values but is less sensitive than the mean

Question 42

Mode

Answer 42

Easy to calculate but is crude and unrepresentative

Question 43

Range

Answer 43

Easy to calculate but may be unrepresentative of the whole data set

Question 44

Standard deviation

Answer 44

Much more precise than the range but can be easily distorted by extreme values

Question 45

Peer review

Answer 45

Funding, validation, improvements

Question 46

Correlation coefficient

Answer 46

Represents strength ad direction of relationship

Question 47

Case studies

Answer 47

Detailed analysis of an unusual individual or event

Question 48

Content analysis

Answer 48

A form of observation in which communication is studied indirectly

Question 49

Internal validity

Answer 49

The extent to which something measures what it was deigned to measure

Question 50

External validity

Answer 50

Whether findings can be generalised

Question 51

Ecological validity

Answer 51

Whether findings can be generalised from one setting to other settings

Question 52

Temporal validity

Answer 52

Whether findings hold true over time

Question 53

Face validity

Answer 53

Wether a test measures what it is suppose to one the face of it

Question 54

Concurrent validity

Answer 54

Whether results match with a previously established test

Question 55

meta analysis

Answer 55

the process by which the researcher collates a wide rage of previously conducted research in the specific area and is reviewed together