Psyhcology research methods

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Hypotheses
a prediction of what you think will happenj
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Alternate hypothesis
A prediction of the difference or correlation in the results e.g. children who play violent computer games will show more violent behavoiurs than those who do not play computer games
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Null hypothesis
stating there will be no difference e.g. there will be no difference in the amount of violent behavoiurs shwon by children who play computers compared to childrne who do not
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Independent variable
Something the researcher changes or manipulates e.g. playing computer games or not
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Dependent variable
What is measured e.g. amount of voilent behaviour
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what must you do with varibles ?
Ensure that you operationalize them , meaning that you tell the examier exactly how you will manipulate or measure it, e.g. no. of hours of playing computer gamesand no. of behavioural incidents recorded at the school that involve violence
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Extraneous variables
are any otyher variables that can interfere with your experiement e.g. having older brothers or the time of the day
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Expermental design
How are you going to organise your participants and conditions
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Repeated measures design
the same group of participants does all conditions
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Positives of repeated measures design
Individual differences are controlled and not as many participants are needed
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Negatives of repeated measures design
order effects may be a problem
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Independent groups
separate groups of paticipants, one for each condition
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Posititves of independent groups
Needed if different groups of people are being compared e.g. boys and girls and no order effects as everyone does the task once
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Negatives of independent groups
Indiviual differences
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Matched pairs
separate groups of paticipants do each condition, but they are mathced on characteristics that could impact on the experiment
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Positives of matched pairs
pariticpants are matched on qualities that may impact on the results, I should be able to comp[are their data and no order effects as everyone does that task once
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Negativies of matched pairs
Difficult to match participants on everything, is also time consuming to do this and requires getting information from participants.
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firstly with sampling you must
first identify the target population
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random sampling
Here every member of the target population has the same chance of appearing in the sample.
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Positives of random sampling
There is no bias, everyone has an equal chance of being picked
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negativies of random sampling
may not be representative as you are not controlling for any characteristics that may affect your experiment and Not very practical if your target population is huge
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Opportunity sampling
the researcher simply takes advantage of having participants available at the time to use as the sample e.g. example, students at college and universities are often used by their tutors to take part in the tutor’s research
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positives of Opportunity sampling
Quick and easy to get participants
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negativies of Opportunity sampling
may not be representative as you are just using the people who are convenient for you.
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Volunteer or Self selected samples
participants chose themselves by, for example, answering an advertisement in a newspaper, sometimes replying to a postal questionnaire.
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positives of Volunteer or Self selected samples
Easy to get the sample and As people have volunteered, consent is easily gained
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negativies of Volunteer or Self selected samples
This is not a representative sample, most people do not volunteer or return a questionnaire; those who do return the questionnaire are hardly likely to be representative of the target population so the sample is naturally biased.
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Ethics
You need to consider the rights and welfare of the people involved
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ethical guidelines that need to be followed
Informed consent- must agree to take part in the study. Deception- should not be lied to.Debriefing-must be told what it is about and how their data will be used and see results if they wish.
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ethical guidelines that need to be followed
Right to withdraw -made clear to them that they can stop the experiment at any time, they should not feel as though they cannot leave.Confidentiality-should not be named.
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ethical guidelines that need to be followed
Protection from harm- Physical Participants should not be physically hurt. Psychological Participants should not be upset or distressed.
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laboratory experiment positives
it gives the psychologist greater control over what happens, , Extraneous/nuisance variables can be controlled e.g. noise levels. It can be replicated
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laboratory experiment negativies
artificial situation- results may not generalise to real life - low ecological validity.results may not generalise to real life - low ecological validityresults may not generalise to real life - low ecological validity
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laboratory experiment negativies
may still be extraneous variables beyond the control of the experimenter and The results may be affected by things such as: experimenter bias, demand characteristics etc
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Field Experiment
conducted in more natural surroundings and the independent variable is still manipulated.
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Field Experiment positives
greater relevance for real life – higher ecological validity and technique avoids experimenter effects e.g. participant bias
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Field Experiment negativies
Extraneous variables such as noise and heat are harder to control and It is more time-consuming and expensive than lab experiment
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Natural Experiment positives
It can be a useful way to study cause and effect where there are ethical objections to manipulating the variables
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Natural Experiment negativies
Participants may be aware they are being studied and show changes simply because of this and There is a loss of control over extraneous variables and Such conditions are not always easy or possible to find occurring naturally
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Questionnaires
a form of self report data as the participant has given the information themselves.
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Closed questions
have a fixed response and may be multiple choice, or that may be yes/no questions.
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Closed questions positives
Quick to answer so many participants can be used. Quick and easy to analyse
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Closed questions negativies
Limited information, participants cannot elaborate or explain their answers.  Lack validity as they may not be an accurate reflection of the participants thoughts.
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Open questions
give the participant the opportunity to write their own answer. They may write a sentence, or a paragraph.
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Open questions positives
Rich and detailed information
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Open questions negativies
Take longer to analyse and is more difficult to make comparisons
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General questionnaire evaluation positives
Allows large number of participants to be studied
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General questionnaire evaluation negativies
Does not allow the researcher to follow up any answers they find interesting.Participants may lie. Participants may not understand the question and so may leave it or guess and answer
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Interviews
self-report data, but they are carried out face to face.
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Structured interviews
questions are already decided and everyone is asked exactly the same questions.
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Structured interviews positives
Better than a questionnaire as people can ask if they don’t understand the question
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Structured interviews negativies
Participants may lie as they might not want to admit to certain answers in front of the researcher. Does not allow for detail, a participant may give an interesting answer, but the researcher would have to move on to the next question.
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Unstructured interviews
Questions are not set and the researcher can ask any questions they like on the topic. Questions are usually based on the participants previous answer.
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Unstructured interviews positives
The researcher can ask for more detail or for the participant to explain their answer.Responses can be clarified if they are not clear, if the participant gives and answer that does not really answer the question, it can be rephrased and asked again
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Unstructured interviews negativies
Difficult to analyse as each participant may be asked a different set of questions.The researcher needs to ensure they stay on topic and do not get side tracked by interesting answers.
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Semi-structured interview
Basic questions are decided upon, but the researcher can ask additional questions if they want the participant to explain an answer in more detail.Everyone is asked the same basic questions, but follow up questions would vary.
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Semi-structured interview positives
All participants are asked the same basic questions so they can be analysed and compared.  Extra information can be asked for if the participant is unsure of the question or gives an interesting answer.  Participants may be asked different question
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Observations
Behaviour is observed in its natural environment or in written records.
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Controlled observation
usually takes place in a laboratory.Participants would be asked to do a task and would be observed, this could be covertly or overtly.
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Controlled observation positives
It gives some control over extraneous variables as they are in a controlled environment.
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Controlled observation negativies
It is an artificial environment and so participants may not behave naturally.
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Naturalistic observation
where the behaviour that is observed is naturally occurring, the situation has not been set up and the research has not manipulated anything.
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Naturalistic observation positives
High ecological validity as the participant would be doing the behaviour even if the research was not observing them.  Useful where experimentation would be impossible or unethical.
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Naturalistic observation negativies
Extraneous variables would be hard to control  It is hard to do discretely – i.e. using a video recorder or sat at a café watching people. Hard to replicate
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Participant observation
where the psychologist joins the group that he/she is observing.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Alternate hypothesis

Back

A prediction of the difference or correlation in the results e.g. children who play violent computer games will show more violent behavoiurs than those who do not play computer games

Card 3

Front

Null hypothesis

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Independent variable

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Dependent variable

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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