Week 1: Research Methods

Question 1

What are the characteristics of scientific psychological research?

Answer 1

• Theoretical framework
• Standardised procedures
• Generalisability
• Objective measurement

Question 2

Define measure

Answer 2

A concrete way of assessing a variable, bringing an often abstract concept down to earth.

Question 3

What are the three main goals of the scientific approach?

Answer 3

Description, prediction, understanding

Question 4

What are the three research methods?

Answer 4

Descriptive, correlational, experimental

Question 5

What is aim of descriptive research designs?

Answer 5

To describe behaviours (case studies, naturalistic observations and survey research)

Question 6

What is the aim of correlational research designs?

Answer 6

To be able to predict behaviour

Question 7

What is the aim of experimental research designs?

Answer 7

To establish causes of behaviour (causality or cause and effect relationships)

Question 8

Define theory

Answer 8

Systematic ways of organising and explaining observations, which includes a set of propositions, or statements, about the relationships among various phenomena.

Question 9

Define hypothesis

Answer 9

Tentative belief about the relationship between two or more variables. Often proposes relations between variables and are usually framed as cause/effect relationships.

Question 10

Define variables

Answer 10

Any phenomenon that can take on different values

Question 11

What are continuous variables?

Answer 11

Variables that can vary continuously, such as body weight or height.

Question 12

What are categorical variables?

Answer 12

Variables that take on fixed values, such as the make of a car.

Question 13

What is a stratified random sample?

Answer 13

specified percentage of people to be drawn from each category (age, race, gender), then randomly selects participants from within each category.

Question 14

What is sampling bias?

Answer 14

Occurs when the sample is not representative of the whole population.

Question 15

What is the difference between reliability and validity?

Answer 15

Reliability is a measures ability to produce consistent results.

Validity is the extent to which a test measures the construct it attempts to assess.

Question 16

What are the three reliability testing techniques?

Answer 16

Retest reliability, internal consistency, interrater reliability

Question 17

What is retest reliability (test-retest)?

Answer 17

tendency of a test to yield relatively similar scores for the same individual over time

Question 18

What is internal consistency?

Answer 18

When several ways of asking the same question yields similar results

Question 19

What is interrater reliability?

Answer 19

Two different testers/interviewers who rate same person on same variable should give similar ratings.

Question 20

What two conditions must be met for test bias?

Answer 20

1) systematic differences found between mean scores of different groups of people, and
2) test scores make incorrect predictions in real life

Question 21

What are quasi-experimental designs?

Answer 21

Most common in psychology, share the logic and features of experiments, but don’t allow as much control over all variables, such as random assignment of participants to different conditions (example is researcher cannot control whether childrens’ parents divorce or not, that must occur naturally)

Question 22

What are the six steps to conducting experiments?

Answer 22

1) framining hypotheses
2) operationalising variables
3) standardising procedures
4) selecting/assigning participants
5) applying statistical techniques
6) drawing conclusions

Question 23

What is the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics?

Answer 23

Descriptive statistics describe findings in a way that summarises essential features. Inferential statistics draws inferences from the sample to the whole population.

Question 24

What is the difference between independent and dependent variables?

Answer 24

Independent Variable (IV) – manipulated by experimenter
Dependent Variable (DV) – participant’s response

Question 25

What is the difference between experimental and control groups?

Answer 25

Control Group – Instead of being exposed to experimental manipulation, participants in the control group experience a neutral condition (often given a placebo instead of a treatment)
Experimental Group – Participants are exposed to experimental manipulation and given treatments, contrary to the Control Group which is a used as a neutral comparison.

Question 26

Define demand characteristics

Answer 26

The way participants’ perceptions of researcher’s goals influence their responses.

Question 27

How can demand characteristics bias the results of a study?

Answer 27

Demand characteristics can bias the results of a study because some participants will attempt to respond in a way they think the experimenter wants them to respond. This means the data collected will be inaccurate and not a true reflection of how the participant would have responded naturally.

Question 28

What is the purpose of a blind study?

Answer 28

To prevent demand characteristics by keeping participants unaware or ‘blind’ to important aspects of the research

Question 29

What is the purpose of a double-blind study?

Answer 29

To prevent participant (demand characteristics) and researcher bias.

Question 30

What are three methods under the descriptive research approach?

Answer 30

Case studies, naturalistic observation and survey research

Question 31

What are case studies?

Answer 31

in-depth study of the behaviour of one person or a small group

Question 32

What is naturalistic observation?

Answer 32

in-depth study of a phenomenon in its natural setting (e.g., Piaget’s study on the cognitive development of his own children)

Question 33

What is survey research?

Answer 33

asks questions of large numbers of people to gain information on attitudes and behaviour

Question 34

What is the correlational research approach?

Answer 34

degree to which two or more variables are related, but cannot determine causality
Can determine association between data from experiments, case studies or surveys

Question 35

Distinguish between positive and negative correlation.

Answer 35

Negative correlations – high values of one variable are associated with low values of the other variable
Positive correlations – high values of one variable are associated with high values of the other variable.

Question 36

Make distinction between cause/effect relationships and correlated events.

Answer 36

Correlational research can only describe relationships among variables, not determine causality because it is not produced in a laboratory and studied in nature (non-experimental).

Cause and effect relationships can only be determined by experiments where hypotheses are tested in a laboratory setting.

Correlation does not imply causation.

Question 37

What is electroencephalogram (EEG)?

Answer 37

measures electrical activity towards surface of brain near skull

Question 38

What is computerised axial tomography (CAT scan)?

Answer 38

uses x-rays to show location of abnormalities like neuronal degermation and tumours

Question 39

What is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)?

Answer 39

similar to CAT scans by detecting abnormalities, but without use of x-rays

Question 40

What is positron emission tomography (PET)?

Answer 40

injecting small amount of radioactive glucose into bloodstream. When nerve cells use the glucose, computer can produce colour portrait of brain showing which areas are active

Question 41

What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?

Answer 41

uses MRI to watch the brain as it carries out tasks (solving math problems or looking at emotionally evocative images.

Question 42

What’s the difference between statistical and clinical/practical significance?

Answer 42

Statistical Significance – that a finding is unlikely to be an accident of chance (e.g. researchers could say there is high certainty that females watch less football than males, but what does that matter? It only represents statistical significance.)

Practical/Clinical Significance – Establishing a clinical goal for participants based on available normative data for measured outcome (usually assesses a target condition like depression) and then measures the level of chance that participants must present to indicate it is clinically significant.

Question 43

What are the seven key points outlined in the APS Code of Ethics (2007)?

Answer 43

1) Informed consent
2) Maintain participant welfare
3) Voluntary participation
4) Ensure confidentiality
5) Avoid deception
6) Fair and humane treatment of animals
7) Gain appropriate ethics approval

Question 44

Define informed consent

Answer 44

participants must understand the purpose of the investigation and nature of the treatments including what they will be expected to do. Participants cannot be forced or coerced; they must consent to involvement voluntarily. They must be aware that they can withdraw from study at any time. This must happen before study commences.

Question 45

Define deception

Answer 45

the deliberate act of not revealing the true purpose of an experiment to a participant before the study commences.

Question 46

Define debriefing

Answer 46

revealing the true purpose of the study to participants after the study has been completed (often done when deception must be used).

Question 47

What are the seven questions to critically evaluate research?

Answer 47

1. Does the theoretical framework make sense?
2. Is the sample adequate and appropriate?
3. Are the measures and procedures adequate?
4. Are the data conclusive?
5. Are the broader conclusions warranted?
6. Does the study say anything meaningful?
7. Is the study ethical? Do the ends justify the means?

Question 48

What are the three key principles that underpin critical thinking?

Answer 48

Scepticism (questioning assumptions or conclusions), objectivity (being impartial and unbiased) and open-mindedness (flexbility to accept evidence that may contradict personal experience)

Question 49

What are the four common fallacies in arguments?

Answer 49

Straw man, appeals to popularity, appeals to authority, arguments directed to the person

Question 50

What is the straw man fallacy?

Answer 50

Author deliberately attacks opposing argument to strengthen their own. Creating a decoy (straw man) that will be intentionally destroyed.

Question 51

What is the appeals to popularity fallacy?

Answer 51

The fallacy that a popular and widespread argument is true (i.e. previous belief that the world is flat and you would sail off edge if you reached the edge).

Question 52

What is the appeals to authority fallacy?

Answer 52

The fallacy that an argument must be true because of the authority of the person making it.

Question 53

What is the arguments directed to the person fallacy?

Answer 53

Author deliberately tried to strengthen their position by attacking authors of alternative arguments. Argument is rejected because of supposed failings of the person making it.

Question 54

What are three types of research methods?

Answer 54

Quantitative (test hypotheses), qualitative (in-depth analysis using interviews), mixed-method research (combination of both qualitative and quantitative)