research methods part 1 Flashcards
what is opportunity sampling?
sampling techniques
a sample of participants who are most easily available at the time on the study
what is the advantage of opportunity sampling?
sampling techniques
it is the easiest method because you are just using the first participants available to you this means it takes less time to locate a sample
what’s a disadvantage of opportunity sampling?
sampling techniques
it is inevitably biased because it is from a small part of the target population
what is random sampling?
sampling techniques
a sample of participants produced by using a random technique where everyone in the target population has an equal chance of being selected
what is a positive of random sampling?
sampling techniques
it is unbiased as all members have an equal chance of being picked
however it may become biased as all those picked might not agree to participate
what is a negative of random sampling?
sampling techniques
it takes more time and effort than other methods because u need to gather a list of all member of the target population then identify the sample and ask them if they will participate
what is self selected sample?
sampling techniques
it is a sample of participants created by asking for volunteers to participate
what are the advantages of self selected sample?
sampling techniques
it is a convenient way of finding willing participants as they will need to be committed for time consuming studies
participants are less likely to drop out beacuse they volunteered
what are the disadvantages of a self selected sample?
sampling techniques
the sample is likely to be bias beacuse volunteer participates are likely going to be more highly motivated and have more time then the general population = volunteer bias
what is snowball sampling?
sampling techniques
it realise on referrals from initial participants to generate additional participants
current participants recruit further participants from people they might know
what are the advantages of snowball sampling?
sampling techniques
it enables researchers to locate groups of people who are harder to access
what are the disadvantages of snow ball sampling?
sampling techniques
the sample isn’t likely to have a good cross selection(one group of participants representing one section of society) from the population because its friend of a friend
what is generalisability and representativeness?
sampling techniques
generalisability is very important because researchers want to be able to draw conclusions about people from there sample however this is only possible is there sample is representative of the target population
how many participants should be in a sample?
sampling techniques
this number varies because when your using questionnaires there easy to distribute however when conducting an experiment the number is often smaller like 25 is an acceptable number a smaller sample also has advantages because it reduces participant variable
what is anonymity and confidentiality?
ethical issue
participants have the right to have personal information protected through withholding their name or keeping information safe
the data protection act makes this a legal right
however it may not be possible to keep all information anonymous because some details of the study may lead to individuals identification
what is deception?
ethical issue
this is when particiapnts arent told the true research aims of the studty and/or not told what they will have to do for the study
this prevents them to gbe able to give truly informed consent
however deception might be needeed because knowing the aims woild spoil the study
what is informed consent?
ethical issue
participants are given a comprehensive information concerning the nature and the purpose of the study and there role within it it is necessary so participants can make a decion to participate
howvere giving infromed concent may reduce the meaningfullness of the study because knowing the aim will alter participants behaviour
what is privacy?
ethical issue
refers to a persons rigt to contolr the flow of information about themselves
what is the right to withdraw?
ethical issue
participants should be told that they can stop participating in the study if there uncomfortable
the loss of participants might bias there results
what is protection from harm?
ethical issue
participants should not experience negative physical effects such as an injury they shouldn’t also experience negative psychological harm such as lowered self esteem
what are the ways of dealing with ethical issues?
ethical issues
debriefing- a post research interview designed to inform participants of the true nature of the study it also aims to restore participants to the state they were in before the study participants should also have the right to refuse any data they produced
ethics committees- a group of people within the research institution the approve the study before it begins they look at all possible issues and find a way to solve them
presumptive consent- a way to deal with lack of informed consent ask a group who is similar to participants whether they would take part in the study or not if they agree its is presumed real participants would also agree
what are questionnaires?
self report
this is where respondents record their own answer for a set of predetermined questions
what are the advantages of questionnaires?
self report
they can easily be repeated and data can be collected from a large number of people relatively quickly and cheaply
respondents also might be more willing to reveal personal/confidential information in a questionnaire rather than an interview
what are the disadvantages of questionnaires?
self report
the group of people involved may be bias because only certain kind of of people fill out questionnaires because they have to be willing to spend time filling them in
what are closed questions?
self report
closed questions have a fixed number of possible answers they provide quantitate data
what are the positives of closed questions?
self report
they are easy to analyse because dta is in numbers which can be summarised in averages as well as graphs they are generally easier to draw conclusion from
what are the negatives of closed questions?
self report
they don’t allow people to express their precise feeling and don’t tend to uncover new insights so data collected might have low validity
they oversimplify reality of human experience because it suggest there are simple answers
what are open questions?
self report
these questions invites people to provide their own answers they produces qualitative data
what are the advantages of open questions?
self report
they provide in depth detail of how people behave because they are given free range to express themselves because they can express how they actually feel without being restrictive this increase the validity of data collected
what are the disadvantages of open questions?
self report
there more difficult to detect patterns and draw conclusions from because it is likely there will be a wide range of results so researchers will have to look for trends rather than descriptive statistic
what is a rating scale?
self report
participants are asked to give an assessment of their view using a scale
what are the advantages to a rating scale?
self report
it is an objective way to represent feelings an attitudes to the related topic
it produces quantitative data which is easy to analyse
what are the disadvantages of rating scale?
self report
participants may avoid the end of scales and stick to the middle which then doesn’t represent there feeling which cause a lack of validity
what is a structured interview?
self report
this type of interview has a set of predetermined questions delivered by an interviewer who doesn’t probe beyond the answers received but may answer questions
what are the advantages of a structured interview?
self report
they can easily be replicated and may be easier to analyse than unstructured interviews because answers are more predictable
what are the disadvantages of a structured interview?
self report
the interviewers expectations may influence the answers the participant gives this is interviewer bias
what is a semi structured interview?
self report
some questions are predetermined but also new questions are developed as the interview proceeds
what are the advantages of a semi structured interview?
self report
they can give more detailed information because question following predetermined ones are specially created for each participant
they can also access information that may not be revealed by predetermined questions
what are the disadvantages of a semi structured interview?
self report
the answers can be more affected by interviewer bias than structed interviews because questions are being developed on the spot and may be leading questions
it also requires well trained interviewers which makes it more expensive
what is an untrusted interview?
self report
no questions are decided in advance
what are the advantages of an unstructured interview?
self report
they can give more detailed information because question following predetermined ones are specially created for each participant
they can also access information that may not be revealed by predetermined questions
what are the disadvantages of an unstructured interview?
self report
the answers can be more affected by interviewer bias than structed interviews because questions are being developed on the spot and may be leading questions
it also requires well trained interviewers which makes it more expensive
what is inter-rater reliability?
self report
the consistency between two different interviewers
lower validity may be caused by how the different interviewers behave it can be assed by comparing the results of the two interviews
what is external reliability?
self report
a measure of whether something varies from one time to another or is it stays consistent over time
how do you test for external reliability?
self report
test-retest this is when the same psychological test is given to the same participant on two occasions to see if the same results are obtained
the time between the test need to be long enough so the participant cant remember their previous answers but no too long that there thoughts might of changed
what is internal reliability?
self report
a measure if is the questionnaires is consistent within itself
how do you test for internal reliability?
self report
split half method the test items are split in to halves and the scores are compared the scores should be similar if its reliable
what is external validity?
self report
it is the extant which results from questionnaires or interviews can be generalised beyond the study
what is population validity?
self report
it is the extent which the results can be generalised to other groups of people besides the participants who took part in the study
what is ecological validity?
self report
is the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the setting it was demonstrated in
with questionnaires and interviews it is whether the response to questions actually represent the participants behaviour
what is internal validity?
self report
is concerns whether a test dose assess what it intended o assess
what is researcher bias?
self report
an interviewers may have expectations about the study which may be unconsciously communicated through participants
what is face validity?
self report
its is whether the items on the test look like there assessing what the researcher intended to assess
what is construct validity?
self report
it concerns whether the test assess the underlying concepts are being assessed
what is concurrent validity?
self report
can be established by comparing performance on new test with a previously validated test on the same topic is results are similar he new test has concurrent validity
what is criterion validity?
self report
it is the extent that test scores can predict a future behaviour or attitude
