Research Methods (Year 12) Flashcards
What is the aim of an Experimental method?
A general expression of what the researcher intends to investigate
What is the IV?
the thing you change to see the effect on the DV
What is the DV?
The thing you measure
What are Extraneous Variables?
Things that effect the DV which you arnt measuring
Confounding Variables
Other variables that have affected the results
What is a pilot study?
A trial run of the research to work out any problems
What is a one-tailed (directional) hypothesis?
a hypothesis that states whether changes will be greater or lesser
What is a two-tailed (Non-directional) hypothesis?
A Hypothesis that predicts a difference/correlation
What is Standardisation?
Using the same procedure for all ppts in a research study
What are independent groups?
When one group does condition A and one group does condition B
What are repeated measures? + one disadvantage of using them
The same ppts take part in all conditions of the experiment
Ppt’s might guess the aim of the study
What’s the difference between Single Blind and Double Blind?
Single Blind is when the ppt doesn’t know the aim of the study
Double blind is when the ppt nor the researcher knows the aim of the study
What are matched pairs?
When 2 Groups of ppt’s are used but they’re related to each other on participant variables that matter to the experiment
What is a field experiment?
An experiment that takes place in a natural setting
IV is manipulated and the effect it has on the DV is recorded
What is a Natural Experiment?
An experiment where the IV isn’t manipulated and the DV may be naturally occurring
What is a Quasi Experiment?
The IV is based on a pre-existing difference between people (Age or Gender). It hasn’t been manipulated DV may be naturally occurring
What is a Systematic Sample?
When ppt’s are selected using a set pattern
EG: Every 8th person from a list is chosen
What is Matched Pairs?
Two Groups of ppts are used but they’re related to each other by being paired on ppt variables that matter to the experiment
What Is Independent Groups?
One group do condition A and one group do condition B
Ppts should be randomly allocated to groups
What are Repeated Measure’s?
All the ppts take part in all the conditions of the experiment
Order of conditions should be counterbalanced to avoid order effects
What are Order Effects?
Refers to how the positioning of tasks influences the outcome
What are the 4 types of experiments?
Lab
Feild
Natural
Quasi
What’s a Lab Experiment?
An experiment which has a controlled Environment
Extraneous and confounding variables can be controlled
IV is manipulated and DV is recorded
What’s a Field Experiment?
An experiment that takes place in a natural setting
IV is manipulated and the effect on the DV is recorded
What’s a Natural Experiment?
An experiment where the experimenter doesn’t manipulate the IV. The DV may be naturally occurring
What’s a Quasi Experiment?
IV is based on pre-existing difference between people Eg: Age, Gender, Hight, Hair colour, Etc
No one has manipulated the variable it simply exists
DV may be naturally occurring or may be measured by the experimenter
Evaluate A Lab Experiment (2 Pro’s 2 Con’s)
Pro’s
Can be easily replicated
Extraneous and confounding variables are controlled
Con’s
May lack Generalisability
Demand characteristics may be a problem
Evaluate A Field Experiment
Pro’s
More Natural Environment
+
Greater external validity
Con’s
More difficult to control confounding variables
+
There may be ethical issues
Evaluate A Natural Experiment
Pro’s
Ethical
+
Greater External Validity
Con’s
Natural event that occurs may be rare
+
Participants are not randomly allocated
Evaluate a Quasi Experiment
Pro’s
High level of control
+
Comparisons can be made between people
Con’s
Ppts aren’t randomly allocated
+
Casual Relationships not demonstrated
What is Generalisability?
making predictions based on past observations
What is External Validity
whether causal relationships can be generalized to different measures, persons, settings, and times
