Research methods Year 2: Flashcards
What is quantitative data?
Numerical data, e.g., test scores or reaction times.
What is qualitative data?
Descriptive data, e.g., interviews or observations.
What is primary data?
Data collected first-hand by the researcher for a specific purpose.
What is secondary data?
Data collected by someone else, e.g., government statistics.
Give one strength of quantitative data.
Easier to analyse and compare; more objective.
Give one weakness of qualitative data.
Harder to analyse objectively; may be more subjective.
Name three measures of central tendency.
Mean, Median, Mode.
Name two measures of dispersion.
Range, Standard Deviation.
What does standard deviation show?
How spread out the scores are around the mean.
What is a normal distribution?
A symmetrical bell-shaped curve where mean = median = mode.
What is a positive skew?
A distribution with a tail on the right-hand side (e.g., hard test).
What is a negative skew?
A distribution with a tail on the left-hand side (e.g., easy test).
What is the typical significance level in psychology?
p ≤ 0.05.
What is a Type I error?
False positive – wrongly reject the null hypothesis.
What is a Type II error?
False negative – wrongly accept the null hypothesis.
Which test is used for nominal data and independent groups?
Chi-Square test.
Which test is used for nominal data and repeated measures?
Sign Test.
Which test is used for ordinal data and independent groups?
Mann-Whitney U test.
Which test is used for ordinal data and repeated measures?
Wilcoxon test.
Which test is used for ordinal data in a correlation?
Spearman’s Rho.
Which test is used for interval data in a correlation?
Pearson’s r.
Which test is used for interval data and independent groups?
Unrelated t-test.
Which test is used for interval data and repeated measures?
Related t-test.
What is the purpose of peer review?
To assess the quality and ethics of research before publication.
