Research methods Week 1 Flashcards
Where do new psychological questions come from?
Areas that have not been examined in detail, conflicting findings from previous research, concerns about the previous research or new social or technological developments
What makes a good research question?
Specific/narrow better to answer a narrow question well than a broad question poorly
Practical/doable- is it feasible?
Interesting- generate new knowledge
Empirical- requires some form of data to be assessed
Should not assume the answer
Properties of a hypothesis
Logical- based on established knowledge, logical argument
Testable- must be possible to observe and measure all the variables involved in the hypothesis
Refutable- it must be possible to demonstrate that a hypothesis is incorrect (falsifiable)
Positive- We only generate a hypothesis when we think a relationship does exist and we attempt to accumulate evidence
What are directional(one tail) and non- directional (two tail) hypothesis?
Directional- prediction between the direction of the outcome
Non-directional -predicts change without specifying the direction of the change
What is a null hypothesis?
-Hypothesis is proved wrong we fall back on the null
- often no relationship or no effect ect
- if we do not find support for our hypothesis we fail to reject the null
-Null not often explicitly mentioned
Referred to as h(tiny 0)
What is Nominal data?
Categories (independent)
Can be counted
Cannot be ranked/ordered
Cannot be measured
Eg- male,female,yes,no
What is Ordinal data?
Ranks (categories can be ranked)
Can be counted
Can be ranked/ordered
Cannot be measured
Eg-1st 2nd ect
What is interval data?
Scale with exact values
Can be counted
Can be ranked/ordered
Can be measured
Can go below zero
Eg- temperature or difference score
What is Ratio data?
Scale with exact values
Can be counted
Can be ranked/ordered
Can be measured
Cannot go below zero
Eg- real number, time
Aim
The researchers area of interest- what they are looking at
Alpha Value
The value that the p value must be below in order for the hypothesis to be accepted (0.5)
Confidentiality
Unless agreed beforehand, participants have the right to expect that all data collected during a research study will remain confidential and anonymous
Confounding variables
An extraneous variable that varies systematically with the IV so we cannot be sure of the true source of the change in the DV
Control group
A group treated normally and gives us a measure of how people behave when they are not exposed to the experimental treatment
Correlational analysis
A mathematical technique where the researcher looks to see whether scores for two covariables are related
