Research Methods Key Vocab Flashcards
Aims
A statement of what the researchers intend to find out in a research study.
Bar Chart
A graph used to represent the frequency of data; the categories on the x-axis have no fixed order and there is no true zero.
Behavioural Categories
Dividing a target behaviour into a subset of specific and operationalised behaviours.
Bias
A systematic distortion.
Calculated value
The value of a test statistic calculated for a particular data set.
Case Study
A research investigation that involves a detailed study of a single individual, institution or event. They provide a rich record of human experience but are hard to generalise from.
Closed Questions
Questions that have a predetermined range of answers from which respondents select one. Tend to produce quantitative data.
Confederate
An individual in a study who isn’t a real participant and has been instructed how to behave by the investigator (essentially an actor).
Confidentiality
Concerns the communication of personal information from one person to another, and the trust that the information will be protected.
Confounding variable
A variable that affects the independent variable. Changes caused by this made to the dependent variable create a meaningless outcome. Caused by an error in the design.
Content Analysis
A kind of observational study in which behaviour is observed indirectly in written or verbal material such as interviews, conversations, books, diaries or TV programmes.
Continuous Variable
A variable that can take on any value within a certain range. The rating (1-10) of how much you like football is continuous whereas the football team a person supports isn’t. The latter could be arranged in any order.
Control Group
The group of subjects that don’t get the treatment being studied. This is then compared to the experimental group which does get the treatment to see if the treatment has had an effect.
Controlled Observation
A form of investigation in which behaviour is observed but under conditions where certain variables have been organised by the researcher.
Correlation
Determining the extent of an association between two variables; variables may not be linked at all (zero correlation), they may both increase together (positive correlation) or as one co-variable increases, the other decreases (negative correlation).
Correlation Coefficient
A number between -1 and +1 that tells us how closely the co-variables in a correlational analysis are associated.
Cost-benefit Analysis
A systematic approach to estimating the negatives and positives of any research.
Counterbalancing
An experimental technique used to overcome order effects when using a repeated measures design. It ensures that each condition is tested first or second in equal moments.
Co-variable
The two measured variables in a correlational analysis. The variables must be continuous.
Covert Observation
Observing people without their knowledge. Knowing that behaviour is being observed is likely to alter a participant’s behaviour.
Critical Value
In an inferential test, the value of the test statistic that must be reached to show significance.
Curvilinear Correlation
A non-linear relationship between covariables.
Debriefing
A post-research interview designed to inform participants of the actual meaning of the study and to restore them to the state they were in at the start of the study.
Deception
A participant isn’t told the true aims of the study and thus cannot give truly informed consent.
Demand Characteristics
A cue that makes participants unconsciously aware of the aims of a study or helps participants work out what the researcher expects to find.
Dependent Variable
The variable that is tested so ultimately depends on the independent variable.
Directional Hypothesis
States the directed of the predicted difference between two conditions or two groups of participants.
Ecological Validity
How realistic the conditions and settings of studies are.
Effect Size
A measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables.
Ethical Guidelines (Code of Conduct)
A set of principles designed to help professionals behave honestly and with integrity.
Ethical Issues
These concern questions of right and wrong. They arise in research where there are conflicting sets of values between researchers and participants concerning the goals, procedures or outcomes of a research study.
Ethics Committee
A group of people within a research institution that must approve a study before it begins.
Event Sampling
An observational technique in which a count is kept of the number of times a certain behaviour occurs.
Experiment
The manipulation of one variable to see if this affects another variable.
Experimental Design
A set of procedures used to control the influence of factors such as participant variables in an experiment.
External Validity
The degree to which a research finding can be generalised: to other settings; to other groups of people; over time.
Extraneous Variable [EV]
A variable that doesn’t affect the Independent Variable so doesn’t act as an alternative but may have an effect on the Dependent Variable. They make it difficult to detect an effect.
Field Experiment
A controlled experiment conducted outside a laboratory. The IV is still manipulated by the experimenter, and therefore casual relationships can be demonstrated. Field experiments tend to have lower internal validity and high validity. Participants are usually unaware that they are participating in an experiment; that their behaviour may be more natural and they are less likely to respond to cues from the experimenter.
Fraction
Method of presenting part of a whole.
Generalisation
Applying the findings of a particular study to the population.
Histogram
Type of frequency distribution in which the number of scores in each category of continuous data are represented by vertical columns. There is a true zero and no spaces between the bars.
Historical Validity
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Hypothesis
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Independent Group Design
Participants are allocated to two (or more) groups representing different levels of the IV. Allocation is usually done using random techniques.
Independent Variable [IV]
An event is directly manipulated (changed) by an experimenter in order to test its effect on the Dependent Variable.
Informed Consent
Participants must be given comprehensive information concerning the nature and purpose of the research and their role in it, in order that they can make an informed decision about whether to participate.
Internal Validity
The degree to which an observed effect was due to the experimental manipulation rather than other factors such as confounding/extraneous variables.
Inter-observer Reliability
The extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour.
Intervening Variable
A variable that comes between two other variables, which is used to explain the association between those two variables. E.g. if a positive correlation is found between ice cream sales and violence; this may be explained by an intervening variable - heat - which causes the increase in ice cream sales and the increase in violence.
