Research Skills A Flashcards
What is Rationalism?
the use of reason and logic to derive the truth (cannot rely on the senses because they deceive)
What is Empiricism?
Our knowledge of the world is constructed through experiences
What is Structuralism?
Breaking down mental processes into basic elements
What is Functionalism?
How human behaviour and mental processes adapt to an ever-changing environment
What is Empirical?
Verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic
What is Deductive reasoning?
(top-down) From general statement or premise to a logical and certain conclusion
What is Inductive reasoning?
(bottom-up) from a singular statement or premise to the probable validity of a conclusion
What is Ontology?
The nature of the world (Reality changes)
What is Epistemology?
Study of knowledge, how we know what’s is real
What is Constructivism?
Subjective meaning
What is Objectivism?
Reality exists independently of consciousness
What is Constructivism?
Humans generate knowledge and meaning from their interactions with the world
What is Interpretivism?
Meaning exist in our interpretations of the world
What’s a Hypothesis?
An empirically testable proposition about some fact, behaviour, relationship, or the like, usually based on theory, that states an expected outcome resulting from specific conditions or assumptions
What’s a Null Hypothesis?
no difference or effect on variables
What’s a Alternative Hypothesis?
There is a difference or effect on variables
What is Generalisability?
The extent to which findings can be generalised across a sample or population
What is Replication?
Repeating a research study in the same way as it was originally conducted
What is Transferability?
The extent to which we can transfer the findings in a specific context to another, very similar context
What’s the role of an Independent variable (IV)?
Is manipulated as a basis for predictions about the DV
What’s the role of an Dependent variable (DV)?
Is measured or recorded in an experiment
What’s the role of an Control Variable (CV)?
Are held constant or corrected for (they could affect the DV)
What is an Extraneous Variable?
These may influence the results of an experiment but are not of direct interest of the research e.g. environment
What is Counterbalancing?
Method used to eliminate order effects eg. One half of participants complete Condition A first; one half complete Condition B first (ABBA = Asymmetrical order effects)
What is a Representative sample?
a sample that contains sub-groups of people in proportion to their prevalence in the population we wish to generalise to
What is a Population?
a group which shares a common set of characteristics
What is a Sample?
The group selected from the population to participate
What does the term WEIRD mean in relation to psychological research?
WEIRD = Western – Educated – Industrialized – Rich – Democratic
What is Sampling bias?
When categories are over- or under- estimated
eg. A study looking at exercise habits that recruits participants from the street in a town that has just held a half marathon.
Probability bases sampling is…
When the target population has an equal probability of being selected
eg. Random samples
Non-probability bases sampling is…
When a sample isn’t structured to approximate the population
Three types of Random sampling?
Simple
Systematic
Stratified
What is (systematic) Random Sampling?
Select specific participants through numerical sequence e.g. every 5th person
What is (Stratified) Random Sampling?
random sample from various categories of a population
What is (Simple) Random Sampling?
Everyone has equal opportunity of being picked
An Opportunity Sample is..
Sampling through convenience
Limitation of an Opportunity Sample is..
As a consequence has lower credibility as it attracts specific types of people
What is a Peer Review?
Journals are reviewed by experts who analyse the quality of the research
What is Convenience sampling?
Drawn from close population
What is Purposive sampling?
A sample is built up which enables the researcher to meet the needs of the project, recruiting individuals that hold characteristics that meet the requirements for the study
What is Snowball sampling?
Existing participants recruit more participants who are their acquaintances
Ethics means…
Moral Duty of care to protect our human (and animal) participants from harm.
Valid/Informed Consent is…
Agree to freely and voluntarily take part in research
Deception is..
Deliberately misinforming participants or withholding information to distort the reality of the study
What is a Debrief
Inform participants of the full nature of the study after their participation and attempt to reverse potential negative effects
Right to Withdraw is…
A component of valid consent where a participant can withdraw at any time with no adverse consequences or penalties
What are the BPS Code of Ethics? (4)
Respect
Competence
Responsibility
Integrity
What is Plagiarism?
The act of passing somebody else’s ideas, thoughts, pictures, theories, words or stories as your own
Which people fall under Vulnerable populations? (6)
Children
Persons lacking capacity
Those in a dependent or unequal relationship
People with learning or communication difficulties
People in care
People in custody or on probation
Beneficence is…
Researchers should have the welfare of the research participant as a goal of any research study
Nominal data is…
(categorical) Numbers are given to distinguish between categories but with no particular order to rank importance.
Eg. – Ethnicity
Ordinal data is…
(order/rank) The size of the number assigned does represent something
Eg. 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Interval data is…
Puts scores in an order, however the differences between the numbers are equal (equal intervals). There is no absolute 0 where the variable can’t be measured
Eg. Temperature Difference between 0 and 10 degrees is the same as the difference between 10 and 20 degrees.
What is a Ratio?
The differences between numbers are equal but there is an absolute zero.
Eg. Height 100cm is 10x longer than 10cm but you can’t have a height less than 0
Difference between descriptive and inferential statistics?
Descriptive - describe your sample (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio)
Inferential - Using the data to make inferences and generalizations from our sample to the wider population
Mean, Median and mode are all examples of…
Measures of central Tendency
Definition for Mean, median and the mode?
Mean (average) most appropriate for nominal data
Median (middle score/value) appropriate for non–nominal data
The Mode (Most frequently occurring score) used for categorical data
What is sampling error?
The difference between the sample statistic and the population statistic
How do you calculate the range?
(Highest score – lowest score) sensitive to outliers
What is the Interquartile range?
Distance between the upper (third) and lower (first) quartile in a set of data.
What is Standard Deviation?
An estimate of the average deviation of the scores from the mean. Indicator of how close the scores are clustered to the mean
What is an Interview?
“A verbal exchange in which one person (the interviewer), attempts to acquire information and gain an understanding from another person (the interviewee)”
Composition of a Structured Interview?
Used to collect quantitative data
Standardized and Closed questions
An overt obsevation is when…
Participants have knowledge they are being observed
(issues with social desirability)
A covert obsevation is when…
Participants don’t have knowledge they are being observed
(e.g., informed consent, deception, privacy)
Sample mean =
mean of your sample (a subset of the population)
Population mean =
Mean in the population
Kurtosis is…
A measure of peak and flatness, or steep and shallowness
