RESEARCH METHODS: experimental key words

Question 1

Description: experimental research

Answer 1

examines the cause and effects of behaviour, tells us why a behaviour occurs e.g. A lab research.

Question 2

Description: non-expiremental research

Answer 2

shows us what behaviour is happening but does not tell us why. e.g. a questionnaire

Question 3

Description: qualitative data

Answer 3

methods which collect data which is not numerical

Question 4

Description: quantitive data

Answer 4

methods which collect data which is numerical

Question 5

Description: Aim

Answer 5

a description of the purpose of the study e.g. to investigate

Question 6

Description: hypothesis

Answer 6

a specific, testable prediction of what will happen

Question 7

Description: null hypothesis

Answer 7

suggests that there will be no effect. qe want to disprove this hypothesis

Question 8

Description: alternative/ experimental

Answer 8

the outcome we expect to find

Question 9

Description: directional hypothesis

Answer 9

preditics the direction of the effect. also can be called one-tailed.

Question 10

Description: non-directional

Answer 10

does not predict the direction of the effect. Also can be called two-tailed

Question 11

Description: independent variables

Answer 11

a variable that is manipulated by the researcher

Question 12

Description: dependent variable

Answer 12

a variable that is measured by the researcher

Question 13

Description: operational

Answer 13

to be precise and measurable involves making the aim/hypothesis more detailed

Question 14

Description: experimental condition

Answer 14

refers to the groups of participants who are exposed to the IV. there may be more than one

Question 15

Description: control group

Answer 15

no manipulation of the independent variable

Question 16

Description: extraneous variable

Answer 16

refers to any variable, other than the iv that might have an effect om the measured DV eg. distraction

Question 17

Description: confounding variable

Answer 17

refers to any variable, other than the IV that HAS had an effect on the measured DV. for example distractions that have not been controlled

Question 18

Description: sample

Answer 18

a group of people who take part in a research investigation, the sample is drawn from a (target) population and is presumed to be Representative of the population.

Question 19

Description: population

Answer 19

a group of people who are the focus of the researchers interest, from which a smaller sample is drawn.

Question 20

Description: sampling techniques

Answer 20

the method used to select people from the population

Question 21

Description :generalisation

Answer 21

the extent to which findings and conscious from a particular investigation can be broadly applied to the population, possible if the sample is representative of the target population.

Question 22

Description: correlation

Answer 22

a mathematical techniques in which a researcher investigates an association between two variable, called co-variables

Question 23

Description: co-variables

Answer 23

the variables investigated within a correlation, for example height and weight. They are not refereed to as the IV and DV because correlation investigates the association between the variables rather than trying to show a cause-and-effect relationship.

Question 24

Description: positive correlation

Answer 24

as one co-variable increases so does he other e.g. number of people in a room and noise tend to be positively correlated.

Question 25

Description: negative correlation

Answer 25

as one co-variable increases the other decreases e.g. number of people in a room and personal space.

Question 26

Description: zero correlation

Answer 26

when there is no relationship between the co-variables.

Question 27

Description: internal reliability

Answer 27

concerned with consistency within or between measurements within a study

Question 28

Description: external reliability

Answer 28

concerns consistency between replications of the same research.

Question 29

Description: test- retest reliability

Answer 29

give the same test twice over a period of time to a group of individuals and the results from both tests can be used to test stability.

Question 30

Description: inner-rate reliability

Answer 30

the degree of agreement among raters. it gives a score of how much consensus there is in the ratings given by judges. there should be a STRONG positive correlation.