Research Methods in Psychology Flashcards
Descriptive Research
Describes phenomena as they already exist rather than manipulating variables
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Psychologists manipulate variables of a situation to assess cause and effect.
Independent Variable
Manipulated Variable
Dependent Variable
Measured Variable
Steps for an experiment
Hypothesis Operationalise variables Procedure Participants Statistical techniques Conclusions
Deception
The study must be important Not possible without Participants free to withdraw Participants debriefed after Participants expected to find the study reasonable afterwards
Replicability
Can produce the same results when repeated
Hypothesis
Belief in the relationship of multiple variables
Generalisability
A representative sample of a population to avoid bias
Must include external and internal validity
internal validity
A valid design to test the hypothesis
External Validity
Applicability to situations outside the laboratory
Quantitative Research
Uses experiments or surveys that provide data that can be quantified, tabulated, summarised and analysed.
Qualitative Research
Involves interviews, observation, and case studies to better understand the relevant phenomena.
Reliability
Produces consistent results
Validity
Accurately measures relevant variable
Stratified random sampling
The sample population is proportional to population percentages
Extraneous variable
anything else that could influence the measure
Control group
is not manipulated, observes tests in normal circumstances
Confounding variables
Two interconnected variables with no way to determine which variable has caused the influence.
Quasi experimental designs
do not randomly select participants and allow for unethical and impractical research that takes advantage of data on groups as they exist in nature.
Inferential statistics
Confidence in inferences based on findings
Statistical significance
likelihood that a finding occurred by chance
Effect size
the magnitude of the experimental effect or the strength of a relationship
