reserahc methods first hand out

Question 1

what is an aim

Answer 1

centralstatement which set out what the researcher plans to investigate

Question 2

what is an independent variable

Answer 2

is the variable that the researcher manipulates in order to see the effects on the dependent variable

Question 3

what is the dependnt variable

Answer 3

is what the investigator measure which changes as a resut of the manipulation of the iv

Question 4

what are extraneous variable and confounding variable

Answer 4

variable aside for mthe independ variable which affect the dependent variable

Question 5

what is a hypothesis

Answer 5

a statement which his being tested and would be determined by the outcome of the research

Question 6

what is the nul hypothesis

vs alternative hypothesis

Answer 6

there is no signifaicant diffence of the rate of death in smokers compard to non smokers
there is significant difference

Question 7

what is directional and no n directional hypothesis

Answer 7

directional hypothesi state which way the difference will occur and the non directional states that there will be a difference but not stating the direction

Question 8

what is operationalisation

Answer 8

objectifying and defining a dependent variable to make it objective and measurable quantitively so it can easily be compared

Question 9

what is independent measures designs

strengths and weakness

Answer 9

each participant only expeinces one condition
strength is that they only experience the condition once so its hard to find out the aim of the experiment and decreases the demand characteristics
weakness is that different individuals are compared asnd there may extraneous variable which differ between participants so other that the iv can affect the dv

Question 10

what is repeated measure design

Answer 10

the paricipants experience both conditions one after the other
it reduces extraneous variables as the ame participants so effct of change in the dv o=is due to the iv
however as they experience both conditions they can work out the aim of the experiment and display demand characteritics they also may display or be effected by order effects as they may get btter or bored

Question 11

what is matched pairs design

Answer 11

participants are paired with another participant based on similar information such as iq only experience sone condition as they are compared aginst their pair
it decreases extraneous variable as they are closely paired however always extraneous variables exist there also it can be time consuming and expensive

Question 12

what is a natural experiment strength and eakness

Answer 12

it takes place in real life environment no manipulation of iv and see the natural effect on the dv
take place in real life environment so more ecological and the finding can be applied to real life
it has lo control over extraneous variables also cannot be replicated so cannot be reliable

Question 13

what Is a lab experimtn

Answer 13

it takes place in a lab high control over variables standardised procedures the investigator manipulates the iv to see the effect on the dv
it has high control over extraneous varibles so increasing the effect of the iv on the dv
it is in a lab and may be unnatural behaviour as they know they are being observed so may not be applicable to everyday life

Question 14

what is a field experiment

Answer 14

some manipulation of he iv but in a natural setting
mor natural behaviour in real life setting to see the effect of the iv and dv so has ecological validitiy
however doesn’t fully control extraneous variable whci may effect the dv

Question 15

what is a quasi experiment

Answer 15

mo control over the iv based on existing condition to see yhe effct on the dv
allows unethical variable to be investigated which may have been unethical to manipulate
however no control over extraneous variables whcih may effect the cause and effect relationship

Question 16

what is random allocation

Answer 16

is when the participants are randomly assigned to separate groups to ensure same chance of either being group one or two

Question 17

what is standardisation

Answer 17

using standardised same instructions to all partcipipants and give the same information so can carry out the experimet the same way

Question 18

what is randomization

Answer 18

deciding which way the conditions will be experienced first if repeated measure design to increase likelihood of equaal cahnce of experiencing both conditions first

Question 19

what is counterbalancing

Answer 19

when half of the participants experience one condition first and then experience another condition second whilst the other half experienced the conditions the other way round thus the order effect equally affect the group the same way if the order effects are present

Question 20

oppurtunity sampling and strength and weakness

Answer 20

asking those who live locally or are easy accesibe whether they want to take part in the research and are willing
strength it is easy and takes less time and can found large amount of people for the study in a shorrt amount of time
weakness is that nly close so not representitive of the target population as they may live locally and have simmilair goups or beong to the same groups and share simmilair characteristics

Question 21

volunteering strength and weakness

Answer 21

advertising the research on the newspaper and giving contact details those that are interested are asked to contact the researcher
the strengh is that you can get large amount of people quickly as people ay be interested and volunteer
one weakness is that the people who volunteer are usually belonging to same group and share common interest and they are volunteering they are really interested and may try extra hard

Question 22

random sampling strength and weakness

Answer 22

every member of the target population has equal chance of being selected their names are put into a hat and then it is chosen randomly
prevents investigator bias as the investigator cannot choose who is being used for the research and it is due to chance
by chance the people wo are chosen can have very similair characteristics and not be totoally representitive of the population

Question 23

systematic sampling

Answer 23

is ordering the people systematically choosing the nth term and choosing every nth person
rength the investigator has no choice on who is chosen so no investigator biase so objective
by chance the same tyoe of participants can be chosen so may not be representetive of the target population

Question 24

what is stratifies population

Answer 24

the proportion odf the target population are used in the sample
it is representiive as the number sreflect the proprtions in the target population so it is an accurate reflection of the characteristics
it will be hard to find a sample in whoch a samll percentage is in the target population

Question 25

what is reliabilty

Answer 25

when repeat te experiment whether the findings are consistent said to be reliable

Question 26

how to test reliabilty and how to improve reliabilty

Answer 26

test and retest and the place the finding on a correlation if it is a strong positive correlation it is reliable
use standardised procedure control over varibales

Question 27

what is validity

Answer 27

how well the experiment measured what it intended to measure and meet tge aims of the experiment

Question 28

what are the different validity

Answer 28

population validity how well the finding can be applie to different people
temporal validity how well the finding can be applied to different times
ecological validity how well the finding can be applied to real life