Week 4

Question 1

When do we need experiments?

Answer 1

When we need to determine cause and effect or when we need to determine under which circumstances these causal relationships hold

Question 2

What is an inus condition?

Answer 2

Most often a cause - an Insufficient but Non-redundant part of an Unnecessary but Sufficient condition

Question 3

What is usually true about causal relationships?

Answer 3

They are usually probabilistic rather than deterministic; they will only occur under certain conditions

Question 4

According to the Counterfactual model, what is a fact?

Answer 4

An observation of something that did happen, whereas a counterfactual is knowledge of what would have happened without the cause. Effect is the difference between the two.

Question 5

In an experiment, what do we usually manipulate?

Answer 5

The presumed cause, to observe whether variation in cause is related to variation in effect

Question 6

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 6

A third unknown variable that can cause the effect; sunburn and ice cream sales are correlated but there is no cause-effect relationship between them. They are determined by the confounding variable of hot weather

Question 7

What is the difference between the independent variable and the dependent variable?

Answer 7

The independent variable is the cause the we actively manipulate. The dependent variable is the effect of the experiment, the result.

Question 8

What are the four key aspects of simulations?

Answer 8

-Modelling
-Manipulation
-Analysis
-Prediction

Question 9

One way to define a confounding variable?

Answer 9

A variable that is not controlled but can affect the dependent variable

Question 10

What does it mean for case studies to be longitudinal?

Answer 10

The researcher collects data over an extended period of time to observe changes and developments

Question 11

What is ethnography?

Answer 11

A qualitative method for collecting data usually used in behavioural or social science

Question 12

What is a structured interview?

Answer 12

An interview with predetemined questions asked in a predetermined order, usually dichotomous (yes/no) questions

Question 13

When are unstructured interviews a better fit?

Answer 13

When the researcher is highly comfortable with their topic, the research queston in exploratory in nature and the interviewer needs to form a connection with the participants to gain information about their inner lives

Question 14

What is a focus group?

Answer 14

A research method whereby data is gathered through group interaction

Question 15

What is a diary study?

Answer 15

A research method where the participants keep a log of their thoughts and experiences for an extended period of time, from a few days to weeks

Question 16

What are diary studies useful for?

Answer 16

Studying habits, attitudes and feelings

Question 17

What are participant observations (observational studies)?

Answer 17

The researcher enters an environment and collects data either as a fly-on-the-wall or a full participant in the activities

Question 18

What is card sorting useful for?

Answer 18

Gaining an insight into a person’s mental models of the world, how they categorise and structure information

Question 19

What are the disadvantages of longitudinal studies?

Answer 19

Expensive, attrition effect (people will drop out along the way), doing the same thing over and over will affect behaviour

Question 20

What is triangulation?

Answer 20

A way of strenghtening the validity of a study by employing multiple forms of data, multiple investigators, theoretical perspectives or research methods