Unit 1 - Planning and Conducting Research Flashcards
What are the advantages of using open questions?
- Allows freedom
- Opportunity to explain
- Provides qualitative data
- Rich, detailed information given
- Increased validity
What are the disadvantages of using open questions?
- Harder to analyse and compare
- Need to quantify it which isn’t easy
- Difficult to establish reliability of qualitative responses
What are the advantages of using closed questions?
- Fixed range of answers
- Provides quantitative data
- Results are easily summarised, presented and compared
- Easier to test reliability
What are the disadvantages of using closed questions?
- Can lack ecological validity as forced choice of answer
- Limited information some might be missed as cannot quantify or explain answers
- Participants might feel frustrated and constrained and therefore their attitude towards the research might change
What is a rating scale?
Investigates peoples attitudes towards something by choosing a point along a number scale indicating the strength of their attitude
ie. 1 = really dislike ……… 4 = really like
What are the advantages of using a rating scale?
- Gives the researcher an idea of how strong a participant feels
- More detailed than yes/no
- Comparable quantitative data
- Easily repeated
What are the disadvantages of using a rating scale?
- Tendency to choose middle as not too extreme
- No why or opinion
- Vulnerable to response sets (all questions with the same rating)
What is a likert scale?
Investigating specific attitudes, where they compromise a number of statements and participants will indicate if they agree/disagree and to which extent
What are the advantages of using a likert scales?
- Normally half statements are for agree and the other half are for disagree, which controls for a standard response set (giving same answer for every question)
What are the disadvantages of using likert scales?
- Researcher can choose number of intervals which will normally be 5 or 7 to give the participants an ‘undecided’ response. 4 choices can force a participant to say agree/disagree which can reduce the validity
What are semantic differentials?
No numbers, the participant rates their opinion between two polar opposite words
ie. Big ……… Small
What is a research question?
A broad question about the concept being investigated and must have a ?
What is a research aim?
A more specific concept that wants to be investigated
What is a null hypothesis?
Predicts the IV will not have an effect on the DV - there will be no effect. “there will be no significant difference…” “any differences will be due to chance factors”
What is an alternative (experimental) hypothesis?
Predicts how IV is likely to affect the DV - will effect. “there will be a significant difference…”
What is a two-tailed hypothesis?
Predicts the IV will have an affect on the DV but does not predict the direction it will go in. “there will be a significant difference”
What is a one-tailed hypothesis?
Predicts the IV will have a significant effect on the DV and predicts the direction it will go in.
What is a target population?
The group of people the researcher is interested in studying
What is self-selecting sampling?
When people volunteer to take part in the study. Often advertisements about the research and contact details
What are the strengths of self-selecting sampling?
- Easier
2. Willing participants
What are the weaknesses of self-selecting sampling?
- Could only appeal to a certain type of people (confident)
2. Reward, money
What is opportunity sampling?
Participants produced by selecting those who are most readily available at a given time and place. Normally selected by the researcher.
What is the strength of opportunity sampling?
- Convenience
What is the weakness of opportunity sampling
- Bias
What is random sampling?
Each member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected (ie. names out of a hat)
What is the strength of random sampling?
- Equal chance of selection
What are the weaknesses of random sampling?
- Could be not fully representative
2. Time - consuming
What is snowball sampling?
When participants are asked to contact friends and family to take part
What is the strength of snowball sampling?
- Larger sample
What is the weakness of snowball sampling?
- Participants could have similar characteristics (not varied)
What is a repeated measures design?
When you use the same people in each condition
What are the advantages of using a repeated measures design?
- Same people
2. Gets rid of participant variables
What is the disadvantage of using a repeated measures design?
- Repeating the experiment could affect how they perform (order effects)
What is an independent measures design?
When you are using different people in each condition
What are the advantages of using an independent measures design?
- Different participants means more varied results
- Easier in a field experiment
- No order effects
What are the disadvantages of using an independent measures design?
- Different people means it could affect your results
- Cold be affected by environmental variables and not just the IV
- Participant variables
What is a matched participants design?
Using different people in each condition but attempting to make participants as similar as possible. Could be by testing on them on key characteristics and pairing based on similar scores.
What are the advantages of using a matched participants design?
- Skills are matched
2. No order effects
What are the disadvantages of using a matched participants design?
- Not the same people
- Demand characteristics
- Complicated and time-consuming
What are Participant variables?
Characteristics of the individual participant that may influence the results
ie. age, gender, intelligence, experience, skill
How can you control for participant variables?
- Have a repeated measures or matched grouped design
- If using an independent groups design, allocate participants on a random basis so the participant variables are more evenly distributed
What are Situational variables?
Any feature of the research situation which influences a participants behavior and therefore the result
ie. order effects
How can you control for situational variables?
- Use an independent measures or a matched groups design to avoid
- If repeated measures used it should be counterbalanced
What are environmental factors?
Time, temperature, noise
How could you control environmental factors?
- Impose controls to ensure there are as few differences between the 2 conditions
ie. both with the same temperature
What are demand characteristics?
Cues in an experiment which may communicate what is expected of them which may affect their behavior
How can you control for demand characteristics?
- Do not tell the participants the nature of the experiment - single blind procedure
What is operationalising variables?
The process of making variable psychically measurable or testable (quantitative)
