PY3 - Research Methods

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Repeated measures design
Involves using the same participants for each condition of an experiment e.g a memory test with no noise vs a memory test with music on in the background afterwards
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Indepedent measures design
Involves giving different participants the same conditions of an experiment e.g memory test with noise and then using different subjects to test without noise
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Matched pairs design
Involves using different but similar participants in each condition of the experiment. An effort is made to match the participants in terms of important similar characteristics e.g age, IQ score
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Advantage of independent measures design
Order effects such as boredom and skill do not have an effect upon the second condition as subjects only participate in one
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Disadvantage of independent measures design
Subject variables differ which could lead to extranenous variables if they are not controlled within the experiment
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Advantage of repeated measures design
Subject variables which may otherwise have an effect on the experiment as they become extraneous variables are kept constant and therefore are easier to control
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Disadvantage of repeated measures design
Order effects may occur as the subject will get better at the experiment through practise or may also become bored and restless
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Advantage of matched pairs design
Subject variables are kept more constant between participants due to their important similarities
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Disadvantage of matched pairs design
Subject variables can never be perfectly matched in every respect
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Extraneous/confounding variable
An undesirable variable that has an effect upon the dependent variable within the experiment if it is not controlled in a lab setting
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How could a researcher control order effects?
Counterbalancing the experiment by having half of the participants perform condition A followed by condition B and then vice versa
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How could a researcher control demand characteristics?
The single blind method - subjects do not know which condition of the experiment they are participating in i.e placebo drugs
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How could a researcher prevent subject attrition?
Using deception so that the participants do not know they are being observed, therefore they cannot drop out of an experiment they are unaware is occurring. However, this breaches ethical issues.
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Double blind method
Neither the subject nor the researcher carrying out the procedure and recording the results knows the hypothesis or which condition the subjects are in
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Reliability
How consistently a method of measurement measures
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Ecological validity
Whether a test or method measures behaviour that is representative of naturally occurring behaviour
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Construct validity
Whether the test or method can be used to support the underlying theoretical constructs concerning the variable that it is supposed to be measuring
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Face/content validity
Examining the content of the test to see if it looks like it measures what it is supposed to measure
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Concurrent validity
Comparing a new method or test with an already well established one that claims to measure the same variables
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Nominal data
A simple frequency headcount (the number of times something occurred) found in discrete categories (something that only belongs to one category)
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Ordinal data
Measurements that can be put in an order, rank or position
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Interobserver reliabillity
One observer will observe the actions of another whilst being observed by another observer. An agreement has to be made in 80% of decisions.
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Interval and ratio data
Measurements on a scale, the intervals of which are known and equal. Ratio data has a true zero point whereas interval data can go into negative values
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Three measures of central tendency
Mode - value or event that happens the most frequently. Median - middle value when all scores are placed in rank order. Mean - average value of all scores
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Disadvantage of mode
There may be more than one mode
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Disadvantage of median
Time consuming to calculate the median of large data sets
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Disadvantage of mean
Very large or very small numbers can distort the answer
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What do statistical tests tell psychologists?
Statistical tests provide a calculated value based on the results of the investigation
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Involves giving different participants the same conditions of an experiment e.g memory test with noise and then using different subjects to test without noise

Back

Indepedent measures design

Card 3

Front

Involves using different but similar participants in each condition of the experiment. An effort is made to match the participants in terms of important similar characteristics e.g age, IQ score

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Order effects such as boredom and skill do not have an effect upon the second condition as subjects only participate in one

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Subject variables differ which could lead to extranenous variables if they are not controlled within the experiment

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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