RESEARCH METHODS: experimental key words Flashcards
Description: experimental research
examines the cause and effects of behaviour, tells us why a behaviour occurs e.g. A lab research.
Description: non-expiremental research
shows us what behaviour is happening but does not tell us why. e.g. a questionnaire
Description: qualitative data
methods which collect data which is not numerical
Description: quantitive data
methods which collect data which is numerical
Description: Aim
a description of the purpose of the study e.g. to investigate
Description: hypothesis
a specific, testable prediction of what will happen
Description: null hypothesis
suggests that there will be no effect. qe want to disprove this hypothesis
Description: alternative/ experimental
the outcome we expect to find
Description: directional hypothesis
preditics the direction of the effect. also can be called one-tailed.
Description: non-directional
does not predict the direction of the effect. Also can be called two-tailed
Description: independent variables
a variable that is manipulated by the researcher
Description: dependent variable
a variable that is measured by the researcher
Description: operational
to be precise and measurable involves making the aim/hypothesis more detailed
Description: experimental condition
refers to the groups of participants who are exposed to the IV. there may be more than one
Description: control group
no manipulation of the independent variable
Description: extraneous variable
refers to any variable, other than the iv that might have an effect om the measured DV eg. distraction
Description: confounding variable
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
Description: sample
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.
Description: population
a group of people who are the focus of the researchers interest, from which a smaller sample is drawn.
Description: sampling techniques
the method used to select people from the population
Description :generalisation
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.
Description: correlation
a mathematical techniques in which a researcher investigates an association between two variable, called co-variables
Description: co-variables
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.
Description: positive correlation
as one co-variable increases so does he other e.g. number of people in a room and noise tend to be positively correlated.
Description: negative correlation
as one co-variable increases the other decreases e.g. number of people in a room and personal space.
Description: zero correlation
when there is no relationship between the co-variables.
Description: internal reliability
concerned with consistency within or between measurements within a study
Description: external reliability
concerns consistency between replications of the same research.
Description: test- retest reliability
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.
Description: inner-rate reliability
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.
