Science Inquiry

Question 1

Ethics Committee

Answer 1

Decide whether a proposed experiment adheres to the ethical guidelines and to oversee the research as it occurs.

Question 2

Protection from Harm

Answer 2

Psychological and physical harm, including things from the time you take from participants, to discomfort or anxiety to assault. any harm must be justified by the benefits of the study, the most harm that can be inflicted is mild embarrassment.

Question 3

Informed Consent

Answer 3

Participants must know:
- why the study is being carried out
- what they are required to do and any risks
- length of study
- withdrawal rights
- voluntary participation
- explanation of researcher confidentiality
Must sign a consent form, if u18 have one signed by a guardian.

Question 4

Withdrawal rights

Answer 4

Participants must be informed of withdrawal rights. They can withdraw from the study with no penalty, no explanation, at any time even after the completion.

Question 5

Deception

Answer 5

Sometimes used to avoid confounding or extraneous variables. If it is used, it shouldn’t cause distress, there should be no other less harmful way of investigating, and it should be explained in full in debrief.
- Explanation + reason
- any misconceptions
- how results can be obtained
- say if participants used a placebo

Question 6

Confidentiality

Answer 6

Data must be kept confidential/protected. Non-disclosure of patient information, identifying info should not be linked to data in publication (use codes instead of names), data stored/disposed of securely

Question 7

Privacy

Answer 7

Protection of personal info, like address, income from government and marital status. All information must be necessary to collect. Collection, storage, sharing and use of information must protect the subject’s personal information. Also limiting the scope of questions asked to those required.

Question 8

Voluntary participation

Answer 8

Subjects under no pressure or compulsion to participate. Cannot be rewarded or bribed, must be fully informed.

Question 9

Aim

Answer 9

General statement explaining the purpose of research. E.g. to investigate whether hemp seed oil affects sleepiness in students.

Question 10

Research question

Answer 10

Based on the aim, a well defined question based on background information. May contain IV and DV, but not required. E.g. what effects will hemp seed oil have on sleepiness in students?

Question 11

Independent variable

Answer 11

Variable that changes. E.g. ingesting hemp seed oil versus not taking hemp seed oil

Question 12

Dependent variable

Answer 12

The measurement variable. E.g. length of time it takes to fall asleep each night for two weeks.

Question 13

Controlled variable

Answer 13

Variables the researcher chooses to control, that would impact the experiment if not controlled. E.g. capsule taken at the same time of day by participants.

Question 14

Extraneous variable

Answer 14

Any variable not being investigated that has the potential to affect the outcome of a research study. E.g. the amount of screen time participants have before they go to bed.

Question 15

Directional hypothesis

Answer 15

A statement that compares the predicted outcome of each condition. E.g. it is hypothesised that students who take hemp seed oil before bed for two weeks will take LESS time to fall asleep compared to students who do not take hemp seed oil.

Question 16

Non-directional hypothesis

Answer 16

A statement that declares there is a difference between conditions but does not specify the type of difference. E.g. t is hypothesised that students who take hemp seed oil before bed for two weeks will DIFFER in the time taken to fall asleep compared to students who do not take hemp seed oil.

Question 17

Inquiry question

Answer 17

Prompts broad exploration of the research topic. Open-ended, starting with a question word that the research is aiming to answer. E.g. Will hemp seed oil decrease the time it takes to fall asleep?

Question 18

Experiment (RD)

Answer 18

Seeks to isolate all other confounding variables in an attempt to see relationship between IV and DV. Cannot determine causation but is very good evidence.

Question 19

Observational (RD)

Answer 19

Watching and detailing of human or animal behaviour. Rich, descriptive data about behaviour in a natural setting. Observer bias can occur.

Question 20

Case study (RD)

Answer 20

Intensive examination of the behaviour and mental processes associated with a specific person, condition or situation. Detailed description of new, rare or complex phenomena. However, small sample size making them not representative of the population.

Question 21

Correlational studies (RD)

Answer 21

Examine relationships between research variables. Test predictions, evaluate theories and suggest hypotheses for further research. Can quantify the relationship between two variables. Cannot determine causation.

Question 22

Cross-sectional (RD)

Answer 22

Aims to test changes that occur as we age. All done at the same time with different groups to make it more time efficient. Vulnerable to the ‘cohort effect’, where different generations can have different outcomes because of their cohort, not developmental stage.

Question 23

Longitudinal (RD)

Answer 23

More time consuming alternative to cross-sectional, where development is studied with the one or multiple age groups over a period of time. Time consuming and participants can drop out over time.

Question 24

Convenience sampling

Answer 24

Using participants who are readily available, e.g. students participating in a psychology course. Cheap and fast, but unrepresentative and biased.

Question 25

Snowball sampling

Answer 25

Using other participants or doctors to recommend you to other people who may be interested in participating, whom share the same experience. Increases duration of data collection and can be biased + unrepresentative. Useful for a rare phenomena, or if a difficult to obtain sample is needed (people who take drugs or sex workers)

Question 26

Random sampling

Answer 26

Randomly select people from the entire population, everyone has an equal likelihood of being chosen. More difficult, as it requires the population to be willing and still has a risk of unrepresentative sample. However, it is more representative than the others and usually less biased.

Question 27

Stratified sampling

Answer 27

Organise the population due to key characteristics (sex, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status) then randomly select the sample from those characteristic groups. The best form of sampling as it is the most representative, but is time consuming.

Question 28

Experimenter effect

Answer 28

Experimenters often feel pressured to have interesting findings in their research, making them influence a study towards a particular outcome.

Question 29

Demand characteristics

Answer 29

Participants know the purpose of the experiment, they may want to influence results towards a particular outcome. May be political or self-conscious in nature.

Question 30

Single-blind

Answer 30

Involves deception of participant to prevent demand characteristics. Use of placebo usually.

Question 31

Standardisation

Answer 31

All participants receive the same methodology regardless of group. Often includes scripted interactions + questions.

Question 32

Random Allocation

Answer 32

Reduces likelihood that people of similar characteristics end up in the same group. Can make comparable groups, but not necessarily representative

Question 33

Inferential statistics

Answer 33

To decide whether the difference between the control and experimental group is statistically significant or is likely to have been caused by pure chance. The question is, are the means different enough to show that the IV caused significant change?

Question 34

Probability

Answer 34

Inferential tests give a probability that the difference is caused by chance. Expressed in p-value, where p = 0.03, there is a 3% chance the difference is achieved by pure chance.

Question 35

Conclusion

Answer 35

A final decision about what results mean. Stated in terms of original hypothesis, rejected or supported.

Question 36

Generalisation

Answer 36

To generalise, the sample must represent the population of interest, results must reach statistical significance and effects of all potentially confounding variables were controlled.

Question 37

Correlation

Answer 37

A statistical measure of how much two variables are related. Doesn’t show causation, simply describes how variables vary in relation.

Question 38

Positive correlation

Answer 38

The two variables change in the same direction, as one increases so does the other. +1

Question 39

Negative correlation

Answer 39

Two variables change in the opposite direction, as one increases the other decreases. -1

Question 40

Correlation coefficient

Answer 40

Shows strength of correlation, expressed as a decimal from -1.0 to +1.0in

Question 41

Reliability

Answer 41

Measure of how consistent an experiment was. If it is reliable, we would be able to complete it the same way with the given instructions with a similar result. To improve reliability, we complete multiple trials, remove outliers and use averages.

Question 42

Validity

Answer 42

How much a study is measuring what it claims to measure. To ensure validity, we need to make sure the experiment was a fair test. Was there a control group? Any sources of bias? To improve validity, we increase the scope of the study and control confounding variables.

Question 43

Double-Blind

Answer 43

Experimenters and participants are both uncertain as to which group is control and which is experimental through use of deception and/or placebo. Minimises the experimenter effect.

Question 44

Subjective Quantitative data (TOD)

Answer 44

(Type of Data) Numerical representation of information, based on or influenced by feelings or opinions. Good for getting a large amount of data and quantifying feelings. However, subject to social desirability bias, Dif interpretations and its not as rich as qualitative. E.g. Likert scale survey, rating scale, fixed answer interviews (Research Methods)

Question 45

Objective Quantitative Data (TOD)

Answer 45

(Type of Data) Numerical representation of information, representing facts, is a set value that cannot change thru human interpretation or persuasion etc. It can test subjective data to ensure the bad factors are not affecting it, but limited capacities in testing psychological states like beliefs or feelings. E.g. Galvanic skin response, HR, BR (Research Methods)

Question 46

Qualitative Data (TOD)

Answer 46

(Type of Data) Written or recorded information from observations or open-ended surveys (usually). It is rich, broad and exploratory, showing explanations for behaviours and in depth analysis of human psychology without restraints. However, takes longer to categorise and categorisation may be subjective, not generalisable or replicable. E.g. Observational report, focus group interviews, open-ended interviews (Research Methods)