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Yr 13 Psychology > Research Methods unit 4 > Flashcards

Research Methods unit 4 Flashcards

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1
Q

What are aims?

A

The stated intentions of the study.

Normally start with ‘to investigate…’

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2
Q

What is a directional hypothesis?

A

Statement that makes a prediction and states exactly which way the results will go.
‘……..will score higher/lower on…….than…….’

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3
Q

What is a non-directional hypothesis?

A

Statement that makes a prediction - States there will be a difference but not what that difference will be.
‘There will be a difference in……..between……….and………’

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4
Q

What is the independent variable?

A

The thing that is manipulated/changed e.g. The different groups or conditions.

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5
Q

What is the dependent variable?

A

The thing that is measured.

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6
Q

What is Operationalisation?

A

Explaining how your variables will be measured/manipulated.
E.g. My dependent variable is memory, I will operationalise it by asking my participants to look at twenty pictures and try to recall them.

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7
Q

What is a lab experiment?

A

Conducted in an artificial setting.

Independent variable is manipulated.

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8
Q

What is a field experiment?

A

Conducted in a natural setting.

Independent variable is manipulated.

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9
Q

What is a natural/quasi experiment?

A

Conducted in a natural setting.

Independent variable is not manipulated (it is naturally occurring).

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10
Q

What is a correlation?

A

Co-variables are tested for a relationship.

Will be either a positive, negative or no correlation.

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11
Q

What is a questionnaire?

A

A self report method with written questions.

Questions could be open or closed.

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12
Q

What is an interview?

A

Self report method with spoken questions.

Could be structured or unstructured.

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13
Q

What is an alternative hypothesis?

A

The predictive statement, could be directional or non-directional.

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14
Q

What is a case study?

A

In depth normally longitudinal study of one person or a small group.
Uses other methods such as observation and interview within the study.

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15
Q

What is content analysis?

A

Method for analysing qualitative data by making it quantitative.
Themes are identified in the data, they are operationalised, the a tally is completed every time that theme occurs.

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16
Q

What is research method?

A

The type of research conducted e.g. Lab, field etc.

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17
Q

What is research/experimental design?

A

The way participants are organised e.g. Independent groups, repeated measures etc.

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18
Q

What is repeated measures design?

A

When every participant completes all conditions of the experiment.

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19
Q

What is independent groups design?

A

When there are different participants for each condition of the experiment.

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20
Q

What is matched participants/pairs design?

A

When there are different participants for each condition of the experiment but they are matched or fitted for certain characteristics to try and eliminate individual differences.

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21
Q

What is validity?

A

Accuracy - there are two types (internal and external)

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22
Q

What is reliability?

A

Consistency

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23
Q

What is internal validity?

A

The extent to which you are measuring what you set out to measure (I.e. The effect of the IV on the DV)

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24
Q

What is external validity?

A

Whether you can accurately generalise (includes population validity and ecological validity)

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25
Q

What is participant reactivity?

A

Extraneous variables to do with the participants behaving unnaturally
E.g. Demand characteristics, social desirability and Hawthorne effect

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26
Q

What are demand characteristics?

A

One of the participant reactivity extraneous variables.

Extraneous variable where the participant acts differently because they think they have figured out the aim of the study

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27
Q

What are extraneous variables?

A

Anything that affects the DV that is not the IV

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28
Q

What is social desirability?

A

One of the participant reactivity extraneous variables.

Extraneous variable where the participant changes their behaviour in order to look good or socially acceptable

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29
Q

What is the Hawthorne effect?

A

One of the participant reactivity extraneous variables. When the participant doesn’t act naturally because they are aware they have attention on them e.g. Might be a bit shy

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30
Q

What are experimenter effects?

A

Extraneous variables to do with the researcher influencing the results in some way.

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31
Q

What is experimenter bias?

A

One of the experimenter effects extraneous variables - how the researcher influences the DV e.g. Through the way they interpret, through unconscious cues they give participants like body language and facial expressions etc.

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32
Q

What is interviewer bias?

A

One of the experimenter effects extraneous variables - how the researcher influences the DV in an interview situation

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33
Q

What is the greenspoon effect?

A

One type of interviewer bias - where the interviewer makes affirmative noises ‘mmmmhhhhmmmmm’ which influence the participants.

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34
Q

What are order effects?

A

An extraneous variable in repeated measures design where the order the conditions are completed affects the results e.g. Through learning or boredom.

35
Q

What is single blind design?

A

A control for demand characteristics - deception (the participant doesn’t know the aims of the study)

36
Q

What is double blind design?

A

Controls for demand characteristics and experimenter effects. Where the participant and researcher are deceived about the aims of the study

37
Q

What is counterbalancing?

A

Control for order effects - the participants are split in half, half do condition one first, the other half do condition two and them they swap

38
Q

What are standardised instructions and procedures?

A

Controls for experimenter effects - keeps the experiment the same for every participant e.g. Written/recorded instructions, same time limits, do everything in same order et .

39
Q

What is random allocation?

A

A control for experimenter bias - groups are chosen randomly e.g. Picked out of a hat to prevent the researcher unconsciously influencing the DV through how they select the groups

40
Q

What is a placebo condition?

A

Control for the Hawthorne effect - where one group thinks they are receiving the experimental treatment but they actually aren’t (in psychology this is the control group)

41
Q

What are measures of central tendency?

A

Calculations that find the average - mean, mode, median

42
Q

What are measures of dispersion?

A

Calculations that find the spread/variety of the data - range and standard deviation

43
Q

What is a correlation coefficient?

A

This is the observed value in a spearmans rho test.
It is a number between 0 and 1 - the closer to 1, the stronger the correlation. There is a sign in front of the number which shows if the correlation is positive or negative.

44
Q

What is a contingency table?

A

Table of results in a chi square test. IV groups go on one side and DV categories on the other.

45
Q

When would you draw a scatter graph?

A

When there is a correlation - no IV, measuring two things (co-variables). The co-variables go on the axes

46
Q

When would you draw a bar graph?

A

When there is an independent variable - put the IV on the x axis and the DV on the y axis.

47
Q

What is a confederate?

A

Stooge - Person working for the experimenter, pretends to be a member of public/another participant.

48
Q

What is longitudinal design?

A

When a study goes over a period of time I.e. A number of days

49
Q

What is attrition?

A

An extraneous variable in longitudinal design where participants drop out of the study

50
Q

What is a control group/condition?

A

Condition or group that is not receiving the experimental treatment

51
Q

What is the experimental group/condition?

A

The group/condition that is receiving the experimental treatment

52
Q

What are the ethical issues?

A

Moral guidelines for research - informed consent, confidentiality, deception, right to withdraw, protection of participants

53
Q

What is a pilot study?

A

A trial run, small scale practise of the actual study. Used to test materials, ensure participants understand instructions, to identify and eliminate extraneous variables, to ensure study is ethical, to test reliability of measures

54
Q

What are descriptive statistics?

A

Calculations that characterise the data e.g. Graphs, tables, measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion

55
Q

What are inferential statistics?

A

Calculations that tell us how significant our data is and whether we can generalise with any certainty, helps us draw conclusions about which hypothesis to accept

56
Q

When would you conduct a chi-square test?

A

When there is nominal data, testing for a difference and independent groups design

57
Q

When would you conduct a spearmans rho test?

A

When you have ordinal, interval or ratio data, testing for a correlation and related scores.

58
Q

When would you conduct a mann whitney u test?

A

When you have ordinal, interval or ratio data, testing for a difference and independent groups design

59
Q

When would you conduct a wilcoxon t test?

A

When you have Ordinal, interval or ratio data, testing for a difference and repeated measures design

60
Q

What is type two error?

A

When you accept the null hypothesis even though it was actually significant (can occur if there are mistakes in experimental design, sampling or analysis that cloak actual relationships e.g. Extraneous variables or Sample too small)

61
Q

What is a type one error?

A

When you accept the alternative hypothesis even though it wasn’t actually significant (normally occurs if the significance level is too generous I.e. There is a high probability the results are down to chance)

62
Q

What is a significance level?

A

The probability the results are down to chance e.g. P

63
Q

How can you tell if an inferential test is significant?

A

Compare the observed value to the critical value (which you need to find from the table of critical values), for chi square and spearmans rho observed should be greater than critical and for mann whitney u and wilcoxon t observed should be less than critical (for it to be significant)

64
Q

What is volunteer sampling?

A

Where you advertise for participants to take part

65
Q

What is random sampling?

A

Where everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected e.g. Names from a hat

66
Q

What is opportunity sampling?

A

Where readily available people are selected e.g. Stopping people on street, testing an already formed group

67
Q

What is systematic sampling?

A

Selecting every nth name

68
Q

What is stratified sampling?

A

When groups in the population are identified and the same proportions of those groups are included in the study sample

69
Q

How can you test reliability?

A

Test and re-test and then do a spearmans rho test to check if there is a correlation

70
Q

How can you test validity?

A

Concurrent validity - compare the scores on your test with those on another test that has already been established as a valid measure
Predictive validity - check if the test accurately predicts future behaviour

71
Q

What is inter-rater reliability?

A

Whether different observers are consistent in the way they conduct and score the observation

72
Q

What is an abstract?

A

Paragraph that goes at the start of a psychological report, outlines the aims, hypotheses, method, findings and conclusion

73
Q

What is the introduction section of a psychological report for?

A

Outlines the background research and gives the rationale for this study

74
Q

What goes in the method section of a psychological report?

A

Design - method, IV, DV, design, ethics, validity and reliability
Participants - States who is studied e.g. Number, age, gender, ethnicity etc.
Materials - lists all items e.g. Instructions, questionnaires, debriefing etc.
Procedure - step by step instructions of how method carried out

75
Q

What goes in the results section of a psychological report?

A

Descriptive stats - tables, graphs, measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion
Inferential stats - what inferential stat test and why, level of significance, results of inferential test

76
Q

What goes in the discussion section of a psychological report?

A

Conclusion of study
Linking to background research from intro
Limitations and modifications (problems with study and how you would deal with them if you were to do study again)
Applications (how the findings could be used in the real world)
Suggestions for future research

77
Q

What is the appendix section of a psychological report?

A

Where all the resources from the study are included for full replication e.g. Instructions, consent form, questionnaires, debriefing, raw data etc.

78
Q

What should you include in a consent form?

A

Tell them aim
Tell them a bit about what they will have to do
Tell them they have the right to withdraw and that everything will be kept confidential
Ask them if they have any questions
Give the somewhere to sign

79
Q

What should be included in instructions?

A

Remind them of right to withdraw
Give specific instructions including how long they have to complete tasks etc.
Ask them if they have any questions

80
Q

What should be included in a debriefing?

A

Tell them what the aim was and how they were deceived
Remind them that they have the right to withdraw still
Tell them where they can get more information
Ask them if they have any questions

81
Q

What are the scientific criteria?

A 
Empirical
Objective
Replicable
Controlled
Theory construction
82
Q

How is psychological knowledge validated/what is peer review?

A

Peer review (sometimes called refereeing) is where at least 3 ‘peers’ (psychologists from the same field) review work and check it for validity.
Serves three purposes:
- allocation of research funding
- publication in journals
- assessing research rating of university departments

83
Q

What are the animal ethical issues?

A

Reduction
Replacement
Refinement
Choice of species

Yr 13 Psychology (6 decks)

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