Psychological Investigations - Experiments

Flash cards about experiments. For people who are taking the OCR AS Psychology Psychological Invesigations paper.  

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  • Created by: Mikki
  • Created on: 03-01-13 13:12
What is the independent variable?
The variable that you change in an experiment.
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What is the dependent variable?
The variable that you measure in an experiment.
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"There will be no difference between how high an individual's IQ is and how well they do on a general knowledge test." What do you call this type of hypothesis?
Null hypothesis.
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"An individual with a higher IQ will score more on a general knowledge test than an individual who has a lower IQ." What is this type of hypothesis?
Directional (one tailed) hypothesis. You can also say that it's an experimental/alternate hypothesis.
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"There will be a difference between someone's score on a general knowledge test and how high their IQ is." What type of hypothesis is this?
Non-Directional (two tailed) hypothesis. Can also be called an experimental/alternate hypothesis.
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How do you overcome extraneous variables in an experiment?
You can use standardised procedures or have a double/single blind design or use counterbalancing if there are order effects.
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What is an independent measures design?
It's where 2 groups of participants each take part in one of the conditions. One group participates in condition 1 and the other group takes part in condition 2.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of independent measures?
Advantages: No order effects, No demand characteristics. Disadvantages: No control over participant variables, Need more participants to take part.
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What is a repeated measures design?
It's where 1 group of participants take part in both conditions of the experiment.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of repeated measures?
Advantages: You can control participant variables, Only one group of participants needed. Disadvantages: Order effects and demand characteristics may arise, You need to make the tests of similar difficulty.
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What is a matched pairs design?
It's where there are 2 groups of participants where each person in group 1 would be matched with someone in group 2 depending on the variable the researchers want to match.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of using matched pairs?
Advantages: There is control over some participant variables, No demand characteristics. Disadvantages: Time consuming to match participants, May not control all participant variables
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Name the 3 measures of central tendency.
Mean, median & mode.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the mean?
Advantages: Uses all of the values. Disadvantages: May be unrepresentative due to extreme scores.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the median?
Advantages: Unaffected by extreme scores. Disadvantages: Not all values are reflected like in the mean.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the mode?
Advantages: Useful for when data is in categories. Disadvantages: Useless when there are several modes.
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What is "measures of dispersion" referring to?
The range.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of using measures of dispersion?
Advantages: Easy to calculate, Provides you with direct data. Disadvantages: Affected by extreme values, Doesn't take into account the number of data in data set.
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Other than using measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion, how else can you represent data?
You can represent the data visually using graphs.
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What is opportunity sampling?
It's when the researcher finds participants who're available at the time.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of opportunity sampling?
Advantages: Easy sampling method. Disadvantages: biased because sample is drawn from a small part of the target population, You cannot generalise results.
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What is volunteer sampling?
It's where participants volunteer to be a part of the study.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of volunteer sampling?
Advantages: Ethical (consent is given), You have access to a range of participants. Disadvantages: Biased as participants are highly motivated to do well which isn't always necessarily a good thing.
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What is random sampling?
It's where everyone has an equal chance of taking part in the study.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of random sampling?
Advantages: Unbiased way of sampling. Disadvantages: Some people might not want to take part so it takes time to find willing participants.
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What is quota sampling?
It's where a subgroup of the target population is recognised and then that subgroup is sample. E.g Researcher may want males to take part in the study so they take a sample from all of the males in the target population.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of quota sampling?
Advantages: It's more representative than opportunity ad there is equal representativeness of subgroups. Disadvantages: Quota may be biased in different ways. E.g IQ.
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What is systematic sampling?
It's where you select the every nth person from the target population.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of systematic sampling?
Advantages: Sample is well spread, avoiding bias. Disadvantages: may be unrepresentative if not all subgroups are within the population.
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What are the advantages of the experimental method?
Cause and effect can be shown, Controlling extraneous variables make the results more valid, Produces quantitative data which can be easily analysed.
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What are the disadvantages of the experimental method?
Controlling variables is reductionist, Studies carried out in lab conditions produce results which lack ecological validity, Can be unethical to control the independent variable, The study is less likely to produce qualitative data.
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What is a lab experiment?
It's an experiment where all variables are controlled and the participants know they're taking part in the study.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of a lab experiments?
Advantages: You have a tight control on variables, Easy to replicate. Disadvantages: Demand characteristics may arise, Low in ecological validity, Low in mundane realism due to an artificial environment, Investigator bias may arise.
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What is a field experiment?
It's an experiment where the independent variable is controlled but the participants are unaware that they're part of the experiment.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of field experiments?
Advantages: Higher in mundane realism, Easy to generalise results. Disadvantages: Difficult to replicate, Can by time consuming and expensive.
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What is a natural (quasi) experiment?
It's where the independent variable changes naturally. The researchers do not control the independent variable.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of a natural (quasi) experiment?
Advantages: It's good n situations where it's ethically unacceptable to control the independent variable, Less chance of demand characteristics and experimenter bias to arise. Disadvantages: Independent variable and other variables aren't controlled.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What is the dependent variable?

Back

The variable that you measure in an experiment.

Card 3

Front

"There will be no difference between how high an individual's IQ is and how well they do on a general knowledge test." What do you call this type of hypothesis?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

"An individual with a higher IQ will score more on a general knowledge test than an individual who has a lower IQ." What is this type of hypothesis?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

"There will be a difference between someone's score on a general knowledge test and how high their IQ is." What type of hypothesis is this?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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Comments

Petar Stermsek

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Do you have the answers? You should convert this into a multiple choice quiz maybe, that way we can see if we have got it right? :)   

Mikki

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If you flip the card, the correct answers are on the back :)  

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