research methods - em2 Flashcards
what are ethical issues?
conflicts about what is acceptable
what are ethical issues a conflict between?
1) what the researcher needs to do to conduct useful research
2) the rights of participants
what are ethical guidelines and who provided them?
a set of principles that guide psychologists on how to handle ethical issues
↳ BPS (british psychological society)
what does informed consent mean?
revealing the true aims / happenings of the study
downside of informed consent
telling ppts the true aim of the study may change their behaviour
what happens after participants are fully informed?
ppts are given a consent form
who must sign a consent form?
both the researcher and the ppts
what should a consent form include?
-the purpose of the study where possible
-the role of the participant
-expectations
-explanation of participant rights
-any risks
-an opportunity to ask questions
how do children consent?
under 16s – parents’ permission is required in addition to the child
what is deception?
when information is deliberately withheld from participants / they are knowingly misled
why is deception unethical?
-it prevents participants from giving fully
informed consent, this means they might be taking part in research that goes against their views or beliefs
why is deception allowed sometimes?
if to the experiment has significant benefit & low risk then the BPS will accept it
how to deal with deception at the end of a study:
-at the end of study, participants should be fully debriefed & told the true aim of the research
-the participant should be given the right to withdraw the publication of their
results
-the contact details of the experimenter
should be given if participants have any further questions
what is a debrief?
a post research interview designed to…
-tell the ppt the true nature of the study -restore them to the state they were in at the start of the study
what should be included in a debrief?
-the real purpose of the study
-info on the participant’s right to withdraw their data at any time
-how confidentiality will be maintained & wat will happen to their data
-opportunity for participants to ask any questions/air concerns
-details of where any further support/info can be obtained
-thank them for taking part
what is the right to withdraw?
-participants have the right to withdraw
at any stage (even after the research has been conducted)
why is the right to withdraw unethical if broken?
-participants who are not given the right to withdraw may feel stressed and are therefore not protected from harm
how to deal with the right to withdraw throughout a study:
-at the beginning of the study in the consent form the ppt should be informed of their right to withdraw
-at the end of the study the participants should be fully debriefed & given the right to withdraw the publication of their
results
what is privacy and confidentiality?
-privacy is the right of individuals to decide how information about them will be communicated to others
-confidentiality is where a participant’s
personal information is protected by law
why is privacy and confidentiality unethical if broken?
-a researcher may obtain more
information from a participant than they
wish to give which could be an invasion of privacy, the participant may later
feel ashamed or embarrassed
-a person’s details or data may be used by other parties against the participant’s wishes
how to deal with privacy and confidentiality
-the researcher should explain to
participants how their information will be protected and kept confidential
-participants are provided with a fake
name, number or initials to protect their identity
what is protection from harm ?
-psychologists have the responsibility to
protect their participants from harm,
including stress
-the risk of harm must be no greater than that which they are exposed to in
everyday life
why is protection from harm unethical if broken?
-participants should leave the research in the same state as they entered it
-if they are harmed, they may suffer from long‐term effects
how to deal with protection from harm?
-the researcher should remind participants of their right to withdraw throughout and after the research
-the researcher should terminate the
experiment if the level of psychological or physical harm is higher than expected
-participants should be debriefed at the end of the experiment & they may be referred to counselling
what is a cost benefit analysis?
an ethics committee would weigh up the costs of the research compared to the benefits that the research would bring
are reliability and validity the same?
no
what is internal validity?
whether the results of a study were solely affected by changes in the independent variable
what is external validity?
whether the findings can be generalised beyond the context of the research situation
which factors could affect
the internal validity of a study?
-demand characteristics
-investigator effects
-extraneous variables
-order effects
how to improve internal validity
control of variables through:
-standardisation
-random allocation in independent groups designs
-counterbalancing in repeated measures designs
what three types can external validity be broken into?
-ecological validity
- temporal validity
-population validity
what is ecological validity?
refers to the extent to which the research findings can be applied to other settings – predominantly to everyday life
what is a weakness of lab based studies?
a lack of ecological validity
↳ due to the artificial setting of laboratory, it is difficult to generalise the findings to a more natural situation since behaviour may be very different
how is ecological validity heightened?
both the setting in which the experiment or study takes place, and the tasks
involved must have mundane realism (be similar to everyday life)
what is temporal validity?
refers to the extent to which research findings can be applied across time
what is population validity?
the extent to which research can be applied to other groups of people
which two ways do you assess validity?
face validity
concurrent validity
what is face validity?
whether a test appears to measure what it’s supposed to measure
who conducts a test of face validity?
a specialist in the given area
what is concurrent validity?
where the performance of the test in question is compared to a test that is already recognised and trusted within the same field
what is a laboratory experiment?
-the researcher manipulates the independent variable to measure the effect on the dependent variable
-conditions are heavily controlled to minimise the effect of any extraneous variables
(artificial setting)
strengths of lab experiments
-high degree of control over extraneous variables → prevent confounding variables which negatively affect the DV
-high internal validity → cause and effect can be determined
weaknesses of lab experiments
-lack external validity/ecological validity
↳ findings of the study cannot always be generalised to settings beyond the laboratory due to a lack of mundane realism
what are field experiments?
-experiments that are carried out in natural conditions
-field’ is any location which is not a laboratory
-participants typically do not know that they are in an investigation = natural behaviour
strengths of field experiments
-natural settings = higher level of ecological validity, in comparison to laboratory studies
↳ more likely to be representative of behaviour witnessed in everyday life
weaknesses of field experiments
1) more natural setting = less control over extraneous variables
↳ these can become confounding variables & distort the findings meaning a firm cause and effect relationship cannot be drawn
2) there are ethical issues associated with field experiments, participants are often unaware that they are participants in a psychological investigation, they cannot give informed consent to take part → the research may involve a breach of their privacy rights
what are natural experiments?
the experimenter cannot manipulate the IV, so the DV is simply measured and judged as the effect of an IV
process of natural experiment + examples
-the behaviour of people affected by the naturally occurring IV (eg: flood) is either compared to their own behaviour beforehand, or with a control group who have not encountered the IV
where can a natural experiment take place?
field OR lab:
it’s the IV which is natural in this type of experiment, not necessarily the context in which the investigation is taking place, participants could be tested in a laboratory
strengths of a natural experiment
1) naturally occurring IV = higher external validity than lab and field experiments / real-life issues that are being studied rather than manipulated artificially
2) unique insights are gained into real-life situations, research can be conducted into areas of psychology that could not be generated for ethical reasons or because of logistical and practical constraints
weaknesses of a natural experiment
1) no control over the environment & extraneous variables = difficult for the research to accurately assess the effects of the IV on the DV / confounding variable may have affected the results so a cause and effect relationship must be drawn with extreme caution, if at all
2) a naturally occurring event that interests researchers may only occur very rarely = limits the opportunity to generalise the results to other similar events or circumstances
what is a quasi experiment?
(& examples)
-contain a naturally occurring independent variable (IV), but one which already exists → the IV is a difference between people such as gender, age or a personality
-the researcher examines the effect of this IV on the dependent variable
where do quasi experiments happen?
field OR lab;
quasi experiments do not have to be conducted in a natural setting, they may also be conducted in a laboratory setting, under controlled conditions
strengths of quasi experiments
allow researchers to compare different types of people easily & see differences between these groups which could not be ethically generated otherwise
weaknesses of quasi experiments
1) participants cannot be randomly allocated to research conditions to remove bias, since the IV is a naturally occurring difference between the participants, the IV to which they belong is pre-decided → the psychologist will be less certain that the IV alone will have caused the effect
2) methodological issues associated with conducting quasi experiments, when quasi experiments take place under natural conditions, there is no control over the environment and extraneous variables, making it difficult to be sure that factors such as age, gender or ethnicity have affected the DV
3) when quasi experiments take place under lab conditions the high level of control means that the research often lacks ecological validity, and the findings cannot always be generalised to a real-life setting since behaviour may not translate outside of the research environment
