Designing Psychological Investigations

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  • Created by: NicoleQ
  • Created on: 24-02-15 13:07
Working with variables
Lets Begin!
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What is an independent variable?
A variable that has been directly manipulated by the experimenter in order to observe the effects on the DV
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What is a dependent variable?
A variable which depends in some way on the independent variable
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What are the IV's and DV's used for?
To find cause and effect
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When are covariables used?
When conducting a correlation - since it has no IV or DV
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Operationalise memory
Amount of words recalled
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Why is operationlisation important?
So that variables in research are not vague, so that the research is replicable and so the research is objective
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The differences between different research methods
Lets begin!
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In and lab experiment why is the IV manipulated?
To see the effect on the DV
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+ What can a lab experiment establish?
Cause and effect relationship between IV and Dv
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+ What are minimised in a lab experiment?
Extraneous varibales
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+ Because of the high control of variables what can easily be done in a lab experiment?
It can easily be replicated
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- Because of the high levels of control what could the experiment become?
Artificial meaning that it may not generealise
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- What can lab experiments lead to?
Demand characteristics
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What is manipulated in a field experiment?
The IV to see the effects on the DV
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Where do these experiments tend to take place?
In natural surroundings
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+ What type of relationship can be established between IV and DV in a field experiemtn?
cause and effect relationships
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+ Why might field experiments have more ecological validity?
They are carried out in more natural enviroments
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+ In a field experiment pp are more likely to be unaware they are in an experiment, what might this decrease?
Demand characteristics or social disrability
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- In a field experiment what is there less control over?
Extraneous variables
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- What is it harder to do in a field experiment?
Replicate
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What occurs naturally in a natural experiment?
IV
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What are pps not allocated into?
groups
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+ What do natural experiments allow researchers to do?
carry research that where IV would be unethical or not practical to manipulate
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+ What are we able to witness in natural experiments?
'Real' problems
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- Because the IV has not been directly manipulated in a natural experiment what cannot be demonstrated?
Cause and effect relationships
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- Due to the lack of control in natural experiment what what are there more likley to be?
Extraneous vairables
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- As well as investigator effects what problems are there more likely to be?
Social disirability
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What do correlations show?
Relationships between two variables
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What are correlations used for?
To look at the strength of a relationship and direction
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+ When can a correlation be used?
When it is not ethical to manipulate the variables
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- What can correlations not do?
Determine cause and effect realtionships
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What doe naturalistic observation observe?
A situation where no variables are manipulated
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+ Why do naturalistic observations have a higher ecological validity?
Becuase of the natural surroundings of the experiment which lead to more natural behaviour
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- What can be difficult to do in a naturalistic observation?
Replication
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- In a naturalistic observation what is there poor control over?
Extraneous variables
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- Due to the observer bias what may occur?
low inter-observer reliability
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In a controlled observation what can the researchers do to the IV?
Manipulate it
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+ What is it possible to do in a naturalistic observation?
To see the effect they may have on behavior?
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- Because controlled observations are less natural what type of validity may there be less of?
Ecological validity
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- What may the observer bias that may occur in controlled observations what could there be more of?
Inter-observer reliability
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- What can controlled observations also lead to?
Investigator effects and/or social desirability depending on the set-up
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What does content analysis observe?
Behaviour
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What is the behaviour in content analysis based on?
Written or verbal materials
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+ What type of validity is high in content analysis?
Ecological validity
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+ What can easily be done in content analysis?
Replicated
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- What could content analysis lead to?
Observer bias when interpreting the evidence
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Self report: Questionnaires are a set of what?
Written questions
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+ Questionnaire can be easily repeated by using the same...
Questions and sampling technique
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+ Why can data be easily collected in a questionnaire?
Because of ease of replication
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+ Why are people more willing to be honest in a questionnaire?
Because of anonymity
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- What may occur whilst completing a questionnaire?
Social desirability
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- Due to memory and delusion, why might the quality of a questionnaire be affected?
People may not be accurate
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- What might the sample be in a questionnaire?
Biased
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How are self-report:interviews usually constructed?
Usually unstructured
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+ What happens to the information in an interview?
Becomes more detailed
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+ As a result of the pp building trust with the interviewer what could happen to their responses?
More valid
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- Face to face situation can make what more likely?
Social desirability
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- Due to memory and delusion, why might the quality of a interview be affected?
People may not be accurate
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- What might happen to the sample in an interview?
May be biased
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A case study is a detail study of...?
A single individual, institution or event
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+ A case study is both rich and in ...?
Depth
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+ What do case studies investigate?
Rare and unusual instances of behaviour
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- What does a case study lack?
Generalisability
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- A case study may involve un... and ret... recall
Unreliable and retrospective
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- What might the researcher in a case study lack?
Objectivity
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In an independent group what happens to the group?
They get split up
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How many conditions do the group/s part take in?
One
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+ What does independent groups avoid?
Order effects and participants guessing the aim
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- Group differences can be found in an independent group design, what are group differences?
One group is different to another which may influence the result
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How can we encourage group equality?
Random allocation
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What do all participants take part in a repeated group measure?
ALL conditions
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+ As all participants take part in all conditions in a repeated measure group design what aren't there any issues of?
Group differences
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- When the pp get bored or fatigued in a repeated measure design what type of effect are they involved in?
Order effect
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What does ABBA help with in repeated measures?
Counterbalancing
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In a matched pairs group design pp are matched by what categories securely?
A particular variable
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+ In matched pairs order effect is prevented as well as what?
pp guessing the aim of the study
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- What is difficult to do in a matched pairs group design?
Match pp
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What type of group design is done in a correlation?
Repeated measures
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In an observational study what must be used?
Behavioural categories
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In an observation how will certain categories be recorded?
Be recorded on a tally chart and using event sampling or time sampling
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What is event sampling?
counting how what time each 'event' actually happens
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What is time sampling?
Recording behaviours at regular intervals
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Observations can either be overt (pp know there being watched) or what?
Covert: they are unaware
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In an observations how many observers should there be and how else can they record the data?
2 observers, using a video camera
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What type of study would be useful to do in an observation and why?
Pilot studies: able to check the inter-observer reliability and the usefulness of the behavioural categories
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What is the strength and disadvantage of quantitive data?
Strength: easy to analyse, disadvantage: pp may be forced to select an answer that doesn't really reflect their behaviour/opinion
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What is the strengths and disadvantages of qualitative data?
Strength: in depth and detailed data, disadvantage: more difficult to summarise and analyse
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One way to improve a questionnaire/interview is by using filler questions, what are filler questions?
Questions that disguise the true aims of the study
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Name another way yo could improve a questionnaire/interview?
Do a pilot study
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Is a directional hypotheses one or two tailed?
One tailed
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What prediction is made in a directional hypothesis?
The prediction of the direction of the findings
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When do we use directional hypotheses?
When previous research means we have a good idea of what will happen
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Is a non-directional hypothesis one or two tailed?
Two tailed
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What does a non-directional hypothesis predict?
The prediction that there will be difference in scores, but not which way
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When do we use non-directional hypotheses?
Used when the researcher is not sure which way it will go or there is no previous research or if research is contradictory
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List all the sampling techniques
Random, opportunity and volunteer sampling
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What is random sampling?
Sampling that allows for each participant an equal chance of selection
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Because all members of the population have an equal chance of being selected what happens to the study?
Become unbiased
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If a sample is too small from using random sampling what might the researcher end up with?
Unrepresentative data
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What is opportunity sampling?
Asking people who are available at the time to take part
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Why is opportunity sampling easy?
Because your using the first pp's you find
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How is the sample in opportunity sampling biased?
Biased by where/who/how you asked
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What is volunteer sampling?
Where a researcher advertise the study and people who see the advert may bet in contact and volunteer
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What are you able to access in volunteer sampling?
Wider amount of people
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Volunteer bias is one weakness of volunteer sampling, what is it?
When the sample becomes biased because the people who sign up are more highly motivated and/or have more time on their hands and/or need the money on offer
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Why are ethics important?
It is important for people to trust psychologists and for the reputation of psychology to be good
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How can you deal with informed consent? (definition)
Debrief: informing of the true nature of the study. Parental consent: agreements from parents or headmasters
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How can you deal with deception? (definition)
Debrief: informing of the true nature of the study. Presumptive Consent: ask another group of people whether they would agree to take part in the study
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How can you deal with right to withdraw? (definition)
Debrief: informing of the true nature of the study
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How can you deal with protection from harm? (definition)
Presumptive consent: ask another group of people whether they would agree to take part in the study. Debrief: informing of the true nature of the study. Right to withdraw: ensure pp know that they can stop the study at any time
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How can you deal with confidentiality?
No names recorded next to data if possible
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How can you deal with privacy?
No names next to data if possible
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What are standardised instructions?
Instructions read to the pp before the study takes place
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What doe standardised instruction ensure?
Ensure reliability and validity by making sure each pp receives the same instructions. Also deal with ethical issues
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List some of things that standardised instructions should include?
Be polite. Inform about the study. Length of study. What they will be doing. Right to withdraw. Results will be confidential. Ask for agreement
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What is a debrief?
Used after the study takes place
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What are debriefs mainly used for?
Mainly used to deal with ethical issues that may arise and to inform the pp what the study was about.
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What should debriefs include?
Be polite. Thank pp. Inform what study is about (including data that couldn't be included at start). How data will be used. Results remain confidential. Help and support if needed. Okay for data to still be used.
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What is validity?
The extent to which a research study measures what it is designed to measure
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What is internal validity?
What actually happened in the study.
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What needs to be considered in terms of the internal validity of a study?
Extraneous variables. Social desirability and demand characteristics
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What can you minimise to improve the internal validity of a study?
Minimise/ control extraneous variables, social desirability and demand characteristics
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How could you change questions in a questionnaire in order to improve the internal validity?
Use filler questions or reverse some the questions
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How might anonymity improve the internal validity of a questionnaire?
pp are more likely to be honest
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Face validity can be used to improve the internal validity of a study, what is face validity?
Whether or not the questions actually look like they are measuring what the scale intends to measure
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Concurrent validity ca be used to improve the internal validity of a study, what is concurrent validity?
Whether or not pp's from established scale correlate with the new scale, if so they must be measuring the same variable
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What can be tightened in order to improve the internal validity of a observation?
Behavioural categories
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Doing a overt observation will improve the internal validity by reducing what?
Social desirability
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What is external validity?
Whether or not the results and conclusions can be generalised outside of the study
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What needs to be considered in terms of the external validity of a study?
Population validity and ecological validity
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What is population validity?
Whether or not the results can be generalised to other populations of people
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What is ecological validity?
Whether or not the results can be generalised beyond to other settings/situations
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One way to improve the population validity of a study is to gain what type of sample?
A more representative sample
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How might improving the ecological validity improve the external validity of a study?
By trying to ensure the research situation is as natural as possible
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What is reliability?
The extent to which a study can be replicated with consistent results
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How can you assess the reliability of a study?
Repeating the study and comparing results also by using inter-observer/interview reliability
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In an inte-observer reliability assessment what should made from the scores gathered?
A table that compares the score for each participant
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After creating a table in a inter observer assessment what should the observer then do?
Correlate the scores from observer 1 and observer 2
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What would a positive correlation show in a inter-observer assessment?
A strong reliability between the two observers and that ratings are consistent with one another
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What is meant by internal reliability?
Whether a self-report technique is consistent within itself
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How can you assess the internal reliability of a study?
By using the split-half method
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After the pp carry out the self report measures and it has been collected what should the researcher add up in a split-half method assessment?
The ODD numbers only and then the EVEN numbers only
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What needs to be correlated in a split-half method assessment?
The scores from ODD items and EVEN items
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What would a strong correlation show in a split-half method correlation?
A strong reliability
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Why would a strong positive correlation show a strong reliability in a split-half method assessment?
Because it shows that the scale is consistent within itself
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What is external reliability?
Whether the self report is consistent on different occasions
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How might we assess the external reliability of a self report technique?
Test-retest method
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After pp complete the self report measure and the results are collected what must the researcher then do?
Ask the SAME pp's at a different time in the future
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What would the researcher then do with the new results in a test-retest assessment?
Correlate the scores from the original test to the test completed on a later date?
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What would a strong positive correlation show a strong external reliability in a test-retest assessment?
Because it shows that the scale is consistent on different occasions
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What is an independent variable?

Back

A variable that has been directly manipulated by the experimenter in order to observe the effects on the DV

Card 3

Front

What is a dependent variable?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What are the IV's and DV's used for?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

When are covariables used?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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