Research Methods
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- Created by: Abby18
- Created on: 10-05-15 01:35
Dealing with ethical issues
- Debriefing
- Post-research interview, designed to inform Ps about true nature of study
- May not remove any anxiety/distress
- Participants may still experience psychological new harm
- Post-research interview, designed to inform Ps about true nature of study
- Providing informed consent
- Gives people unable to provide consent the ability to participate
- E.g. parent can give consent for child
- Presumptive consent
- Ask a group of people if they would participate
- Similar to participants
- Ask a group of people if they would participate
- Anoymity
- Means of protecting privacy and confidentiality
- By withholding identitiy of participants
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Laboratory experiment
- Advantages
- Well controlled
- Extraneous variables are minimised
- Higher internal validity
- Extraneous variables are minimised
- Can be easily replicated
- Supports the external validity of the results
- Well controlled
- Disadvantages
- Artifical
- Contrived situation
- Ps don't behave as they do in everyday life
- Lack of mundane realism
- Contrived situation
- Demand characteristics
- Artifical
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Field experiment
- Advantages
- Less artifical
- Higher mundane realism
- Higher internal validity
- Avoids participant effects
- Less artifical
- Disadvantages
- Hard to control extraneous variables
- Reduces internal validity
- Still demand characteristics
- Hard to control extraneous variables
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Natural experiment
- Advantages
- IV can't be manipulated
- No ethical issues
- Enables psychologists to study 'real' problems
- IV can't be manipulated
- Weaknesses
- Cannot demonstrate casual relationship
- IV not directly manipulated
- Extraneous variables
- Participant/investigator effects
- Cannot demonstrate casual relationship
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Repeated Measures design
- Same participants in every experimental condition
- Limitations
- Order effect
- Practise
- May guess aim of the experiment
- Alter behaviour
- Affects validity
- Alter behaviour
- Order effect
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Independent Groups Design
- Participants are allocated into 2 (or more) groups each with one condition
- Limitations
- Lack of control of participant variables
- Participants in the 2 groups may differ
- Random allocation stops that
- Not always possible
- Random allocation stops that
- Participants in the 2 groups may differ
- More participants are needed
- Repeated measures is easier
- Lack of control of participant variables
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Matched Pairs design
- Pairs of participants are matched on key participant variables
- Limitations
- Time consuming to match participants
- Can't control all participant variables
- Extraneous variables
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Order Effects
- Happens in repeated measures
- Paricipants do better on the second condition
- Practise
- Boredom effect
- Participants may do less well due to boredom
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Counterbalancing
- Used to deal with order effect
- Ensures each condition is tested 1st or 2nd in equal amounts
- 1) A B
- 2) B A
- Ensures each condition is tested 1st or 2nd in equal amounts
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Single/double study
- Single blind
- Participants are 'blind' to the aims of the study
- May be given a 'cover' story
- Stops them guessing the true aims of the study
- Double blind
- Both participant/experimenter are 'blind'
- Reduces possibilty of experimenter effects
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Opportunity sample
- Selected people who are most easily available at time of the study
- E.g. ask people on steet
- Strength
- Easiest method
- Less time to locate sample
- Easiest method
- Limitation
- Inevitably biased/lacks representativeness
- Sample is drawn from a small part of the target population
- Inevitably biased/lacks representativeness
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Volunteer Sample
- Sample of participants produced by asking for volunteers
- Strength
- Gives access to a variety of participants
- Instead of those in the right place at right time
- Gives access to a variety of participants
- Limitation
- More likely to be highly movtivated
- Or have extra time on their hands
- Volunteer bias
- Or have extra time on their hands
- More likely to be highly movtivated
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Random Sample
- Sample produced using a random technique
- All members of target pop. has equal chance of being selected
- Strength
- Unbiased
-
- All member of target population have an equal chance
- Limitation
- Takes more time/effort
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Quantitative data
- Represent how much/long/many ect.
- Data that can be counted
- Presentation
- Tables/graphs
- Strength
- Easier to analyse than qualatative data
- Numerical data summarised using graphs
- Easier to analyse than qualatative data
- Limitation
- Tends to oversimplify reality & human experience
- Suggests experiences can be expressed in numbers
- Tends to oversimplify reality & human experience
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Qualitative data
- Express the 'quality' of things
- Includes descriptions/words/meanings
- Data can be turned into quantative
- Placing items into categories
- Strength
- Represent the true complexities of human behaviour
- Illustrates people's thoughts/feelings
- Can't be used with quantative data
- Illustrates people's thoughts/feelings
- Represent the true complexities of human behaviour
- Weakness
- Summarising can be affected by personal expectations/beliefs
- & bias
- May simply appear to be more objective
- & bias
- Summarising can be affected by personal expectations/beliefs
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Correctional analysis
- Way of measuring the relationship between 2 co-variables
- Variables must be continous
- Zero correlation = co-variables not linked
- Positive correlation = co-variables increase together
- Negative correlation = 1 co-variable increaes, other decreases
- Strengths
- Suggests whether or not there's a casual relationship
- Only shows a correlation
- Suggests whether or not there's a casual relationship
- Limitation
- Cannot truly demonstrate a casual relationship
- Misinterpret correlations
- Cannot truly demonstrate a casual relationship
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Naturalistic observation
- Environmental is unstructed
- Nothing is changed
- Strength
- High interanl validity
- Provides a realistic picture
- High interanl validity
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Controlled observations
- Everything is structured
- Researcher determines elements of environment
- Strength
- Allows focus on particular aspects of behaviour
- Limitation
- Behaviour is unnatural & lack validity
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Overt and covert observations
- Overt
- Participants are aware of being observed
- May alter behaviour
- Validity is reduced
- Participants are aware of being observed
- Covert
- Participants do not know
- Strength
- Participants act more naturally
- Limitations
- Informed consent cannot be given
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Questionaire
- Respondents record their own answers
- Questions are pre-determined (structured)
- Strength
- Easily replicated
- Means data can be collected in large numbers
- Feel more willing to reveal confidential/truthful info
- Increases validity
- Easily replicated
- Weakness
- May misundertand/not take task seriously
- Lack validty
- May misundertand/not take task seriously
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Interview
- Structured
- Predetermined questions are used
- Unstructured/semi-structured
- Some/all questions are developed in interview
- Interviewer creates additional questions in response to answers
- Strength
- More detailed information from unstructured
- Questions are specially shaped to the participant
- Can explain questions
- Avoid misunderstandings
- More detailed information from unstructured
- Limitation
- Affected by interview bias
- Leading questions affecting validity
- Affected by interview bias
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