Research Methods- Year 12 Material

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Aims

A general statement about the purpose of the investigation based on a theory.

It includes what is being studied and what the insestigation is trying to achieve.

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Pilot Study : reasons to have one.

It's a small scale pactice run of the investigation.

It can improve the quality of the research and help to avoid unnecssary work and save time and effort.

-do the participants understand the instructions given to them?

-do the participants understand what the task requires them to do?

-is the task appropriate and suitable for the aim of the study?

-is the length of time reasonable?

-are the tasks too easy? (ceiling effect) or too difficult (floor effect)

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Populations and Samples

The target population: the group of people the researchers want to apply their results to

The sample: a small number of people taken dfrom the targe population who the participatw in the investigation.

The sample shoud be as reresentative of the target population as possible so that the psychologist can generalise the results to the target population without having to study all of them.

Sampling bias: this may occur if the smaple selected is unrepresentative of the WIDER target populati. This sample may UNDER or OVER represent the target population. This limits the generalistations that can be made.

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Sampling Techniques

There are five main ways in whch psychologists can select their Pp's from their target population:

Random Sampling- Names can be put into a random computer generator and then selected or put into a hat and randomly selected. it means everyone has an equal chsnce at being picked.

Advantages: This is the most representative, this is because everyone in the target population has an equal chance of beingselected without bias. This means that the finings from the study can be generalised back to the target population.

Disadvantages: It's extremely difficult to achieve a random sample, this is because it means you have to know of everyone in the target population in order to give each of the an equal chance of being selected. This means that random sample is rarely selected to use in psychological research despite its advantage of being most representative.

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Sampling techniques continued...

Opportunity Sample-People are selected according to availability and who's there at the time.

Advantages: it's more convenient, this is because it's less time consumin and less costly to obtain as the psychologistcan ask anybody aorund at the time. This means that opportunity samples are freqently used as they save a lot of effort.

Disadvantages: The sample of pps are unlikely to be representative, this is because pps are likely to share similar characteristics as they are all from one place. This means that the sample is likely to be bias as it is difficult to generalise the findings back to the target population.

Volunteer Sampling- Participants self-select themelves by responding to volunteering/responding to ads in newspapers etc

Advantages: More convenient this is because they're less time consumin and the individuals spproach the researcher themselves and volunteer. This means that volunteer samplings are frequently used in psychological research

Disadvantage: sample is unlikely to be representative of the target population, this is because volunteers are likely to share similar characterisics (have a lot of free tune , morewilling and helpful) making the sample based. This means it's difficult to generalise the finding back to the taret population.

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Sampling techniques continues...

Systematic Sampling-This is where you select an Nth peson from a list of participats

Advantages: avoids researcher bias, this is because the researcher has no influence over which participants are being selected. This means that the findings from the study can be objectivly generalised back to the target population.

Disadvantages: Unrepresentative of the target populaton, this is because it is a type of probability which should equally represent all members of the population. This means it is difficult to generalise the findings back to the target populaion.

Stratified Sample- This involves identifying different sub groupes which make up a target group and working out the ratio of each group.

Advantages: it avoids researcher bias, this is because the researcher has no influence over which pps are being selected. This means the findings from the study can be objectively generalised back to the target population.

Disadvantage: The sample can be difficult to achieve, this is because it requires a full list of the population and having an awarenes of whith subgroup each individual falls into which may not always be so easy. This means collecting the sample is extremely time consuming.

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Ethical issues- how to deal with them.

The British Psychological Society- to promote clear ethical principles, values and standards for psychologists.

INFORMED CONSENT- give them consent forms, prior general consent, presumptive consent

RIGHT TO WITHDRAW- brief pps at the start about their right to withdraw or debrief them and tell them everything to do with the study

PROTECTION OF PARTICIPANTS- if the pps experience physical or psychological harm then remove them from the study, offer help for them after

AVOIDANCE OF DECEPTION- debrief pps they should be given all the info regarding the study. Nothing is kept from them

CONFIDENTIALLY- researchers should record any personal details about the pps to maintain anonymity- given pseudonyms or ID numbers as names.

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The Eperimental Research Method

IV- what's being manipulated in the experiment

DV- what is being measured in the experiment

The researcher is looking at how the IV has CAUSED the EFFECT on the DV

Hypothesis- this is a prediction about the expected outcome of the experiment, it is written as a precise and testable statement.

The IV and DV should be operationalised in the hypothesis. This means showing how its manipulated (having two conditions) and stating precisely how it will be measured.

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Hypothesis

Directional hypothesis- specifically states the direction of the results in terms of what affect the IV will have on the DV. "participants who (do condition one) will do (dv, better or worse) in comparison to participanys who (do condition 2)#2

Non-directional hypothesis- the hypothesis does not specify the expected direction of the results, only that there wll be some change, difference or effect. "there will be a difference in (DV) beteen pps who do (condition one) and those who do (condition 2)"

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Extraneous and confounding variables

Extraneous variable-  a variable other than the IV which has NOT been manipulated or measured and could affect the DV. These are usually considered BEFORE an experiment is conducted and CONTROLLED.

A confounding variable: a TYPE of extraneous variable. its a variable which acts as another IV because it has NOT been controlled. This means tht it is possible it has caused the change in the DV.

TYPES OF EV'S

Demand characteristics

situational variables

participant variable/individual differences.

order effects

investigator effects

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Control of EV's

Counterbalancing- ensuring order effects are balanced equally between conditions

Single blind test- Participans are unaware of what conitions they arebeing tested in in an investigation.

Double blind test- the participants AND researcher collect the data are both unaware what conditions exist within the investigation

Randomisation- The use of chance rather than investigating influence to design materials and decide the order of conditions

Standardisation- exactly the same conditions and instructuons from the researcher in the same environmental settings.

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Key features of LAB experiments

The experiments are conducted in a tightly, controlled, artificial environment. The experimenter deliberatly manipulates the IV and measures the DV. They control/minimise EV's and the instructions/procedure is standardised.

Strengths: High internal validity, this is because the IV is manipulated whilst trying to minimise and control any ev's. By doing this it is possible to say that the IV is directly responsible for any change on the DV. This means we can make statements about the CAUSE and EFFECT.

High reliability, this is because procedures are standardised and conditions are controlled and can be replicated. This means that researchers can repreat the experiment to check results using test-re-test method

Weaknesses: Low ecological validity, this is because the settings are artificial and controlled so it's inlikely to represent real life settings/situations. This means that we cannot generalise the results beyon the lab to real life.

High deman characteristics, this is because pps are aware they'e taking part in an experiment this is because pps will likely want to try and figure out the aim of the investigation and try to alter their behavior. This means that behaviour is unnatural and unrealistic.

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Key features of Field Experiements

The research is conducted in a natural environment, the researcher still manipulates the IV usually through the use of confederated to create a fake scenario.The DV is still measured. There's minimal (less) control over the EV's and the procedure typically involves confederated to create a fake scenario.

Strengths- high ecological validity and mundane realism, this is because the setting is more realistic as it's in a natural environment so it represents real life situation and the researcher has minimal control over the EV's This means that you're able to generalise results beyond the lab to real life.

Lower demand characteristics, this is because they use fake scenarios to the pps can't figure out the aim of the experiment so they're not able to alter beaviour as they dont know they're in an experiment. This means that behaviour is natural and are behaving normally so it's more accurate and genuine.

Weaknesses- Low internal validity, this is because the researchers have less control over the EV's compared to lab experiments which means there's likely to be more EV's as you can't standardise real life as it's a natural environment. This means that it's difficult to make statements about the cause and effect.

Low in reliability, this is because they're using fake scenarios and aren't standardised and you can't replicate real life. This means it's hard to check results and do a test-re-test.

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Natural VS Quasi

Similarities- the experimenter measures the dependant variable (this msybe in a lab setting but nto always). The researcher DOES NOT manipulate the IV.

Differences- Natural- the IV is a naturally occuring event, Qquasi- the IV is a naturally occuring variable that exists within the participant. Natural- you measure the difference either before and after the event OR between two conditions who have had different experiences, Quasi- You're measuring the difference between the conditions based on thei possessiosn of the IV.

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Experimental Designs

Refers to how researchers are going to allocate and organise the participants to the conditions in an experiment.

Repeated measures design- it involved using the same people in each condition and comparing 'like for like' - every pp does BOTH conditions

Advantage: fewer pps are needed, this is because each pp completes both conditions so they produce two sets of scores and twice as much data. This means a repeated measures desin is often more convenient than independent groups.

Disadvantages: Demand characteristics are likely to occur, this is because the pps take part in BOTH conditions so they're likely to figure out they're completing a similar task in different conditions. This mean they're likely to guess the aim of the study and change their behaviour.

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Continued....

Independnt groups design- it involves using different people in each condition of the experiment and comparing rach groups performance.

Advantage: Less chance of deman characteristics, this is because they only take part in one condition. this means they're less likely to guess the aim of the study. Tthis also reduces the chance of order effects which means it eliminated this being a problem as an EV.

Disadvantage: participant variables are not controlled for, this is because there are individual differences between participants because different pp's take part in each condition so there will be participant variability i.e gender, age or intelligance. This means there is less certainity in establishing causality between the IV and DV.

Matched Pair Design- this involves using different pps in each condition but pps in one condition are matched with pps in the other condition- they're matched up based on similar traits i.e. age, gender, intelligance but thern split up so that one of them does condition one and the other does condition two.

Advantage: lesschance of there being demand characteristics and order effects, this is becaue pps only take part in one of the two conditions therefore are less likely to guess the aim of the study and behaviour isnt improved through practise or worsened through boredom. This means demand characteristis and order effects will not be EV's.

Disadvantage: Matched pairs is extremely difficult to achieve, this is because it's a very lengthy process to match pps, this means its rarely used in psychological research as its less economical.

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Types of Data

Quantitative data is numerical data

Advantages- objective and capable of being mathematicallly analysed easily allowing comparisons.

Disadvantage- it fails to consider pps feelings and emotions and lacks insight into the reasons behind behaviours.

Qualitative data is expressed in words

Advantages- involves more detail and broarder in scope to allow respondents to develop their thoughts and feelings and opinions. Gives meaningful insight and is therefore high in EXTERNAL VALIDITY.

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TYPES OF DATA

Primary sources- data collected first hand specifically for the purpose of the investigation by the researcher.

Advantages- it's authentic as it is collected from the pps themselves and is specifically targeted to meet the researchers needs.

Disadvantages- primary data is time consuming to collect as investigations require planning and preparation.

Secondary data- data that has ben collected by other people and already exists.

Advantages- easily accessible and requires minimal effor to collect as it already exists

Disadvantage- the content of the secondary data may not meet the needs of the researcher and could be lacking in valuable information or be out-of-date.

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Analysis & interpretation of Quantitative Data

2 Descriptive statistics-

The first one being measures of central tendency- information about the 'typical' value (averages)

3 measures of central tendency:

mean: most sensitive as it includes all the scores/values in the data set= most representative however it can be easily distorted by anomalies which may make it unrepresentative of the data overall.

Median: isn't affected by anomalies and is therefore likely to represent the data set and it's also easier to calculate than the mean, however the median is not as sensitive as the mean because it does not include all of the scores/values in the data set.

Mode: the mode is the easiest meusre to calculate and it may be the only measure you could calculate in some data sets. However the mode is a crude measure and can be unrepresentative in small data sets.

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Continued...

The second one being Measures of Dispersion:

Ther are two measures of dispersion-

Range- this is the easiest measure of dispersion to calculate however the range only takes into account the two most extreme values which makes it unrepresentative of the data set as a whole.

Standard deviation- A large SD score tells us there is a lot of variation from the mean=- the values are spread out around the mean score. A small SD score tells us there isnt a lot of variation from the mean- the values are clustered together around the mean score.

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Preentation of quantitative data

tables provide a summary of the RAW SCORES converted to descriptive statistics.

Graphs provide a visual representation of a set of data that allows us to see the patterns in an easy to understand way.

BAR CHARTS

HISTOGRAMS

LINE GRAPHS

DISTRIBUTIONS

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PEER REVIEW

Peer review is a quality control process, it involves the assessment of psychological investigations/ research by others who are in the same field (peers)

The peer review process:

Psychologists carry out research then writes up a report

the report is then sent to the editor of the journal

The editor sends report to a group of peers for reviewing

peers report back to editor with their recommendations

editor sends report back to researcher to make any relevant modifications before publications.

report is published in journal.

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Purpose of a peer review

Tthe main purpose of a peerreview is to ensure that any research conducted and published is of high quality, valid, accurate and relevan.

Other purposes include:

allocation of research funding- whether the research is worthwhile and should be funded

assessing the research rating of university departments- all university science departments are expected to conduct research and this is assessed in terms of quality by the Research Excellence Framework.

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Evaluation of peer review

Weaknesses:

Publication bias: editors of journals tend to want to publish research findings that support a hypothesis and are positive. This means that they ignore any research that does not supportthe hypothesis and is disregarded, so it;s not published.

Burying groun breking research: reviewers tend to be critical od research that contradicts their own views and that might be controversial. This means that new and innotive research that challenges their biews can be ignored. Therefore peer reviesw may not have the effect of slowing down the rate of scientific advance in psychology.

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