Research Methods

The AIM of the study is a statement of what the researcher intends to investigate. 

The HYPOTHESIS of the study is an idea, derived from psychological theory which contains a predictions which can be verified or disproved by some kind of investigation, usually an experiment. 

A DIRECTIONAL hypothesis indicates a direction in the prediction- one tailed. 

A NON-DIRECTIONAL hypothesis does not indicate a direction in the prediction- two tailed. 

A NULL hypothesis means no relationship!!

A SAMPLE is the pps selected from a target population to make generalisations about.

A VOLUNTEER sample is where pps pick themselves through newspaper adverts, noticeboards or online. 

OPPORTUNITY sampling uses ppl who are available at the time the study is carried out. 

RANDOM sampling is when every person in the target population has an equal chance of being selected. 

SYSTEMATIC sampling is when a sysem is used to select pps. 

STRATIFIED sampling is when you identify the subgroups and select pps in proportion with their occurences. 

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE- the variable the experimenter manipulates, assumed to have a direct effect on the DV. 

DEPENDENT VARIABLE- the variable the experimenter measures after making changes to the IV. 

OPERATIONALISATION is essential to ensure variables are in a form that can be easily tested! 

EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES are all variables, which are not the IV, that could affect the results of the experiment. 2 types- SITUATIONAL variables- controlled through STANDARDISATION and PARTICIPANT variables- controlled through RANDOMISATION. 

In an INDEPENDENT MEASURES design (between-groups design), a group of participants are recruited and divided into 2. The first group does the experimental task with the IV set for condition 1 and the second group does the experimental task with the IV set for condition 2. The DV is measured for each group and results are compared.

In a REPEATED MEASURES design (within groups), a group of participants are recruited, and the group does the experimental task with the IV set for condition 1 and then the same for condition 2. The DV is measured for each group and results are compared.

In a MATCHED PAIRS design, a group of participants are recruited. We find out what sorts of people we have in the group and recruit another group that matches them one for one. The experiment is then treated like an independent measures design and the results are compared.

This type of experiment is conducted in a well-controlled environment – not necessarily a laboratory – and therefore accurate and objective measurements are possible.

The researcher decides where the experiment will take place, at what time, with which participants, in what circumstances and using a standardized procedure.

These are conducted in the everyday (i.e. natural) environment of the participants but the situations are still artificially set up.

The experimenter still manipulates the IV, but in a real-life setting (so cannot really control extraneous variables).

Natural experiments are when a naturally occurring IV is investigated that isn’t deliberately manipulated, it exists anyway.

Participants are not randomly allocated and the natural event may only occur rarely.

Case studies are in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community.

Case studies are widely used in psychology and amongst the best-known ones carried out were by Sigmund Freud. He conducted very detailed investigations into the private lives of his patients in an attempt to both understand and help them overcome their illnesses.

Case studies provide rich qualitative data and have high levels of ecological validity.

Correlation means ASSOCIATION- more precisely it is a measure of the extent to which two variables are related.

If an increase in one variable tends to be associated with an increase in the other then this is known as a POSITIVE correlation.

If an increase in one variable tends to be associated with a decrease in the other then this is known as a NEGATIVE correlation.

A ZERO/ NO correlation occurs when there is no relationship between variables.

UNSTRUCTURED (informal) interviews are like a casual conversation. There are no set questions and the participant is given the opportunity to raise whatever topics he/she feels are relevant and ask them in their own way. In this kind of interview much qualitative data is likely to be collected.

STRUCTURED (formal) interviews are like a job interview. There is a fixed, predetermined set of questions that are put to every participant in the same order and in the same way. The interviewer stays within their role and maintains social distance from the interviewee.

Questionnaires can be thought of as a kind of written interview. They can be carried out face to face, by telephone or post.

The questions asked can be open ended, allowing flexibility in the respondent's answers, or they can be more tightly structured requiring short answers or a choice of answers from given alternatives.

The choice of questions is important because of the need to avoid bias or ambiguity in the questions, ‘leading’ the respondent, or causing offence.

COVERT observations are when the researcher pretends to be an ordinary member of the group and observes in secret. There could be ethical problems or deception and consent with this particular method of observation.

OVERT observations are when the researcher tells the group he or she is conducting research (i.e. they know they are being observed).

CONTROLLED: behavior is observed under controlled laboratory conditions (e.g. Bandura's Bobo doll study).

NATURAL: Here spontaneous behavior is recorded in a natural setting.

PARTICIPANT: Here the observer has direct contact with the group of people they are observing.

NON-PARTICIPANT (aka "fly on the wall): The researcher does not have direct contact with the people being observed.

A pilot study is an initial run-through of the procedures to be used in an investigation; it involves selecting a few people and trying out the study on them. It is possible to save time, and in some cases, money, by identifying any flaws in the procedures designed by the researcher.

A pilot study can help the researcher spot any ambiguities (i.e. unusual things) or confusion in the information given to participants or problems with the task devised.

Sometimes the task is too hard, and the researcher may get a floor effect, because none of the participants can score at all or can complete the task – all performances are low. The opposite effect is a ceiling effect, when the task is so easy that all achieve virtually full marks or top performances and are “hitting the ceiling”.

Content analysis is a research tool used to indirectly observe the presence of certain words, images or concepts within the media (e.g. advertisements, books films etc.). For example, content analysis could be used to study sex-role stereotyping.

Researchers quantify (i.e. count) and analyze (i.e. examine) the presence, meanings and relationships of words and concepts, then make inferences about the messages within the media, the writer(s), the audience, and even the culture and time of which these are a part.

To conduct a content analysis on any such media, the media is coded or broken down, into manageable categories on a variety of levels - word, word sense, phrase, sentence, or theme - and then examined.

A meta-analysis is a systematic review that involves identifying an aim and then searching for research studies that have addressed similar aims/hypotheses.

This is done by looking through various databases and then decisions are made about what studies are to be included/excluded.

Strengths: Increases the validity of the conclusions drawn as they’re based on a wider range.

Weaknesses: Research designs in studies can vary so they are not truly comparable.

A researcher submits an article to a journal. The choice of journal may be determined by the journal’s audience or prestige.

The journal selects two or more appropriate experts (psychologists working in a similar field) to peer review the article without payment. The peer reviewers assess: the methods and designs used, originality of the findings, the validity of the original research findings and its content, structure and language.

Feedback from the reviewer determines whether the article is accepted. The article may be: Accepted as it is, accepted with revisions, sent back to the author to revise and re-submit or rejected without the possibility of submission.

The editor makes the final decision whether to accept or reject the research report based on the reviewers comments/ recommendations.

Peer review is important because it prevent faulty data from entering the public domain, it provides a way of checking the validity of findings and the quality of the methodology and is used to assess the research rating of university departments.

QUANTITATIVE data is numerical data e.g. reaction time or number of mistakes. It represents how much or how long, how many there are of something. A tally of behavioral categories and closed questions in a questionnaire collect quantitative data.

QUALITATIVE data is non-numerical data expressed in words e.g. an extract from a diary. It can’t be counted but can be turned into quantitative data by placing the data in categories and then counting frequency. Open questions in questionnaires and accounts from observational studies collect qualitative data.

PRIMARY data is first hand data collected for the purpose of the investigation.

SECONDARY data is information that has been collected by someone other than the person who is conducting the research e.g. taken from journals, books or articles.

Validity is whether the observed effect in genuine and represents what is actually out there in the world.

CONCURRENT validity – the extent to which a psychological measure relates to an existing similar measure and obtains close results. For example, a new intelligence test compared to an established test.

FACE validity – does the test measure what it’s supposed to measure ‘on the face of it’. This is done by ‘eyeballing’ the measuring or by passing it to an expert to check.

ECOLOGICAL validity – the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other settings / real life.

TEMPORAL validity – the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other historical times.

Reliability is a measure of consistency, if a particular measurement is repeated and the same result is obtained then it is described as being reliable.

TEST-RETEST reliability – Assessing the same person on two different occasions which shows the extent to which the test produces the same answers.

INTER-OBSERVER reliability – the extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers.

PARADIGM– A set of shared assumptions and agreed methods within a scientific discipline.

PARADIGM SHIFT– The result of scientific revolution: a significant change in the dominant unifying theory within a scientific discipline.

OBJECTIVITY– When all sources of personal bias are minimised so not to distort or influence the research process.

EMPIRCAL METHOD– Scientific approaches that are based on the gathering of evidence through direct observation and experience.

REPLICABILITY– The extent to which scientific procedures and findings can be repeated by other researchers.

FALSIFIABILITY– The principle that a theory cannot be considered scientific unless it admits the possibility of being proved untrue.

A significant result is one where there is a low probability that chance factors were responsible for any observed difference, correlation or association in the variables tested.

If our test is SIGNIFICANT, we can REJECT our NULL hypothesis and ACCEPT our ALTERNATIVE hypothesis.

If our test is NOT SIGNIFICANT, we can ACCEPT our NULL hypothesis and REJECT our ALTERNATIVE hypothesis. A null hypothesis is a statement of no effect.

In Psychology, we use p < 0.05 (as it strikes a balance between making a type I and II error) but p < 0.01 is used in tests that could cause harm like introducing a new drug.

A TYPE ONE ERROR is when the null hypothesis is rejected when it should have been accepted (happens when a lenient significance level is used, an error of optimism).

A TYPE TWO ERROR is when the null hypothesis is accepted when it should have been rejected (happened when a stringent significance level is used, an error of pessimism).

INFORMED CONSENT is when participants are able to make an informed judgement about whether to take part. It causes them to guess the aims of the study and change their behavior. To deal with it, we can gain presumptive consent or ask them to formally indicate their agreement to participate but it may invalidate the purpose of the study and it is not guaranteed that the participants would understand.

DECEPTION should only be used when it approved by an ethics committee as it involves deliberately misleading or withholding information. Participants should be fully DEBREIFED after the study but debriefing can’t turn the clock back.

All participants should be informed at the beginning that they have the RIGHT TO WITHDRAW if they ever feel distressed or uncomfortable. It causes bias as the ones that stayed are obedient and some may not withdraw as they may have been given incentives or feel like they’re spoiling the study. Researchers can offer the right to withdraw data after participation.

Participants should all have PROTECTION FROM HARM. The researcher should avoid risks greater than experienced in everyday life and they should stop the study if any harm is suspected. However, the harm may not be apparent at the time of the study.

CONFIDENTIALITY concerns the communication of personal information. The researchers should not record any names but use numbers or false names though it may not be possible as it is sometimes possible to work out who the researchers were.