Research Methods Psychology Unit 4

Falsifiable- the method should be able to be put under scrutiny, and the ability to be tested.

Replicable- It should be able to be repeated and the findings to be reproduced.

Objectivity- A term that is used to refer to views being based on observable phenomena and not on personal opinion, prejudice or emotion. 

Common sense-The logical explanations, based on our own experiances. They are rarely tested and usually accepted as fact. They are not scientific because they are not objective. 

Example: walking in front of a car, you will get hurt. 

Belief-Based- Other's beliefs, religious or spiritual beliefs. Very little or no evidence.  It is not scientific as it is not falsifiable, replicable or objective.

Example: GOD

Pseudoscience- Is fake science. They tened to come from the internet. Evidence is often not produced or is very rare or vague. It is not scientific as it is not falsifiable, replicable or objective.

Example: Homopathy 

1. Identify a problem.

2. Develop a hypothesis about the problem.

3. Devise a study to test the hypothesis.

4. Analyse and evaluate the results to determine whether they support teh hypothesis or not.

5. Modify and repeat stage 3.

6. Develop a theory.

3 Journals of Psychology:

• Media Psychology 
• Mathematical and statistical psychology 
• British Journal of Psychology

Peer review means; the scrutiny of research by independant peers. It is important as it prevents inncorrect data getting publiced, it prevents panic.

Dissadvantages of Peer Review:

• Consistency with previous knowledge- People dont like change. It should fit the paradigm.
• Values in science- Try not to be objective, but people have their own views
• Bias in peer review- Peer review is subject to bias.
• File draw phenomenon- Work gets forgotten about.

Lab Experiment- Can control all variables, Enable the use of complex equipment, cheaper, less time consuming, Low ecological validity, Demand characteristics, Experimenter effects.

Field Experiment- Higher realisim, less chance of demand characteristics, weak control of extranious variables, time consuming, costly.

Natural Experiment- High ecological validity, situations where it maybe percieved as ethically unacceptable, less chance of demand characteritics, cant control variables, no control over paricipants.

Repeated Measures- Cheap, Fewer paritipants are required, pariciants variables are elimnated. Order effect, practice or bordem, tired,Usually not possible to use the same materials in each condition.

Independent Groups- No order effects, The same materials can be used in both conditions. More participants are required, participant variables are introduced.

Matched Pairs- No order effects, Attempts to controls partipant variables. Expensive, time consuming, Difficult to match everything about the participants. More participants are required.

Natralistic-high ecological validity. It has little control over confoudning variables (variables wich ge4t confused with the IV)

Controlled- More control over confounding varibales. Lowers ecological validity. The observed behaviour may not be true reflection of what occurs and may be down to demand characteristics.

Participant- where the experimenter takes part in the experiment, this makes its less relaible as they need to make notes after the experiment. However it is easier to understand the context of the situation and therefore the experimenter understand behaviours and the results are more accurate.

Non-Participant- Observaitions are made as they occur, this improves the reliablility of the observation. However the context of the situation may be ignored. 

Surveys- Quanitive/ Qualitive data, more people are willing to participate, cheaper, screw you effect, demand characteristics, Non-completion problems.

Interviews- Rich and quanitive data, structured/ unstructured data, time consuming, Lie/ deception, Demand Characteristics, Interviewer may be subjective.

Case Studies- very detailed, Rare, long-term/ longitudinal, cost, drop-out rate, ethical issues, subjective, Generalising-difficult.

Surveys- Quanitive/ Qualitive data, more people are willing to participate, cheaper, screw you effect, demand characteristics, Non-completion problems.

Interviews- Rich and quanitive data, structured/ unstructured data, time consuming, Lie/ deception, Demand Characteristics, Interviewer may be subjective.

Case Studies- very detailed, Rare, long-term/ longitudinal, cost, drop-out rate, ethical issues, subjective, Generalising-difficult.

Validity-The study measures what its meant to measure.

Internal Validity- The controlling of ALL variables, except the one being deliberately manipulated by the researcher.

External Validity- The extent to which the findings of the study can be generalised to others.

Reliability- If repeated, the same or highly similar results will be found.

Internal Reliability- The consistency of a measure within a test. (i.e. all items need to be measuring the same thing)

External Reliability- The ability to replicate the results of a study and get the same or highly similar results.

Validity-The study measures what its meant to measure.

Internal Validity- The controlling of ALL variables, except the one being deliberately manipulated by the researcher.

External Validity- The extent to which the findings of the study can be generalised to others.

Reliability- If repeated, the same or highly similar results will be found.

Internal Reliability- The consistency of a measure within a test. (i.e. all items need to be measuring the same thing)

External Reliability- The ability to replicate the results of a study and get the same or highly similar results.

Internal Reliability- Assessed using the split half method, where one part of the test is compared with the other, to check consistency. 

External Reliability- Assessed using the test-retest method, where similar participants are used to see if they get similar scores, the higher the correlation between the scores the higher the reliability. 

Internal Validity- Running a pilot study to see if there are any issues with the study. 

External Validity- test the study in different settings and participants to see if results can be applied to the general population or not. 

• Right to Withdraw
• Informed Consent 
• Briefing and debriefing 
• Confidentiality and anonymity  
• No deception
• Protection from harm

Also these:

• Privacy 
• Support
• Other people potentially getting harmed.

Histograms- Distribution of a whole set of data. They show frequency density. The bars are joined together and all have an identical scale. It is used to show distribution. 

Bar Charts- Questionnaires and interviews are represented on this graph. they are simple to read. Useful way of showing descriptive statistics. 

Scatter grams- good for showing correlation, simple to read. 

Probability is a numerical measure of chance. It represents how likely it is that something will happen.

Probability = Number of particular outcomes ÷ Number of possible outcomes.

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. 

Significance: 0.05, this is because below 0.001 could be considered too strict whilst about 0.10 could be considered too lenient.  

Too lenient= 0.10, Type 1 error

Too strict= 0.001, Type 2 error

The lower the probability, the more significant the result.

Spearman's Rho is used when: Testing for correlation, the data is ordinal, interval or ratio.

Mann-Whitney is used when: Testing for a difference, there is an independent groups design. The data is interval, ordinal or radio.

Wilcoxon is used when: Testing for a difference, there is a repeated measures design. The data is ordinal, interval or ratio. 

Chi-Squared is used when: The data is nominal. No other test would be suitable.

Analysing data:

Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis-

• Inductive analysis
• Directly related to participants
• Only works with Qualitative data

• Tell the researcher what the report is about
• To provide the reader with a brief summary of the study
• To introduce the background and rationale of the study
• To describe *** the study was done
• To summarise the findings.
• To discuss the findings and their implications
• To inform the reader abut sources of information
• Can be used for detailed information not in the report

Hypothesis 

Design 

• Lab/field natural
• Independant groups/ repeated measures/ Matched pairs
• IV and DV
• Control of any extraneous variables
• Dealing with any ethical issues

Participants

• Sample size
• Sampling method
• Control groups

Method

Procedure (very detailed)