Research Methods

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Random Sampling - every member of the target population has an equal chance of being chosen.
Adv - most representative of the target population. Disadv - Often difficult to do due to availability/willingness of people.
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Opportunity Sampling - participants who are available at the time.
Adv - easy to gather, not time consuming or expensive. Disadv - bias sample (unrepresentative of the target and general population)
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Volunteer Sampling - participants who have decided to participate.
Adv - Can gather a wide range of people by selecting volunteers with particular requirements. Disadv - Have particular personality traits making them unrepresentative (volunteer bias).
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Designing research - what needs to be considered?
Choose research method, choose research design, the sample, single/double blind, standardised procedures, standardised instructions.
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Validity - whether something is measuring what it is supposed to measure.
Internal - measures what it is supposed to measure. External - if it can be generalised to other situations. Ecological - can they be generalised to real life situations. Face - whether a test seems to measure what it is intended to.
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Reliability - the consistency of the study/test results over time. How is it tested?
Interobserver - more than one researcher observes the same behaviour to see if results are the same time. Test/retest - repeat using the same people and see if similar results are obtained, if yes then the results are reliable.
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Hypotheses - define null, experimental, one-tailed and two-tailed.
Null - differences in the DV are due to chance. Experimental - states the IV will affect the DV and states the direction. 1-tailed - states the direction of the results. 2-tailed - Doesn't state direction but one variable will affect the other.
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Qualitative data
Data in non-numerical form that is in depth and allows expression of feeling or emotions and is analysed for depth of meaning.
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Quantitative data
Numerical data that represents an amount or count.
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Variables - define IV, DV and extraneous.
IV - researcher manipulates it and it is expected to affect the DV. DV - it is measured during the research and is affected by the IV. Extraneous - any variables other than the IV that may affect the DV.
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Interviews - Direct verbal questioning by the researcher.
Adv - Private aspects of life investigated, provide detailed qualitative data. Disadv - Demand characteristics, interviewer bias/investigator effects, data misinterpretation.
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Independant Groups - two separate groups in two seperate conditions.
Adv - No order effects, only one trial so no participants are lost between trials. Disadv - Need 2 groups of participants, participant variables are not controlled (can be overcome through random allocation).
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Repeated Measures - one group of participants who do both conditions.
Adv - Participant variables are controlled, fewer participants are needed. Disadv - participants may drop out by the second test, order effects influence the second condition (can be overcome through counterbalancing - AB, BA).
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Matched Pairs - two groups of participants, two conditions, participants are matched on important variables e.g. age, sex.
Adv - No order effects, some variable control. Disadv - Some participant variables are still present, it is time consuming and expensive to gather and match samples (randomly allocate one of each pair to each condition).
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Natural Experiment - the IV is changed by natural occurrence and the DV recorded. The participants are not allocated to the conditions.
Adv - High levels of external validity (real life events), demand char./experimenter effects reduced as the participants are unaware they're being studied. Disadv - Little control over extraneous variables/IV, ethical concerns.
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Field Experiment - researcher manipulates the IV to see effects on DV. Done in the participants natural environment.
Adv - Natural setting giving high ecological validity, less demand characteristics as participants are unaware. Disadv - Harder to replicate (low control), no control over extraneous variables so cause and effect is weaker, ethical issues of consent.
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Lab Experiment - researcher manipulates the IV to see the effect on the DV. There is strict control over extraneous variables.
Adv - Can conclude cause and effect as there is high control over variables, it is easy to replicate. Disadv - low ecological validity as it is artificial (cannot always be generalised), ethical issues of deception and withdrawal.
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Naturalistic observation - investigate participants behaviour in natural environment without researcher intrusion.
Adv - High ecological validity due to the natural environment, participants are unaware of observation so there are no demand characteristics/experimenter effects. Disadv - no variable control so there can be no cause and effect, ethical issues.
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Investigator effects - result from effects of researchers' behaviour/characteristic have on an investigation/participants behaviour.
Interviewer - presence/character of the interviewer. Observer - participants may behave differently. Experimenter/expectation - have an idea what they expect to find so unconsciously influence the situation (misinterpret behaviours/overt fraud).
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How do you overcome interviewer effects?
Single-blind - participants are not informed of the condition in which they have been placed. Double-blind - neither the participants nor the researchers know who is in which condition.
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Demand characteristics - clues in the environment which conveys the study's purpose to the participants.
Setting of the study, communication during the experiment, participant communication, way the participant is asked to volunteer. Leads to...unnatural behaviours e.g. social desirability bias, act out of character, try to guess research's purpose.
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Questionnaires/Surveys - structured set of questions, asking a large sample about views/attitudes/behaviours.
Adv - Wide variety of topics, easy to administer, qualitative and quantitative data produced, large amounts of data gathered. Disadv - open to social desirability bias, problem of ambiguous questions, demand characteristics, researcher effects.
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Closed Questions - give 'yes' or 'no' answers or answers from a fixed list.
Adv - easy to analyse. Disadv - participants have no freedom of expression.
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Open Questions - participants can respond in their own words and express behaviours and opinions about emotions and feelings.
Adv - greater depth of qualitative data. Disadv - difficult to analyse and quantify.
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Correlational Analysis - Used to investigate the relationship between two variables.
Adv - provides valuable info on the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables, lead to experimental investigations. Disadv - No cause and effect (may be due to third variable), direction of causality is uncertain.
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Correlation Co-efficient
Number that indicates the strength and direction of a relationship.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Adv - easy to gather, not time consuming or expensive. Disadv - bias sample (unrepresentative of the target and general population)

Back

Opportunity Sampling - participants who are available at the time.

Card 3

Front

Adv - Can gather a wide range of people by selecting volunteers with particular requirements. Disadv - Have particular personality traits making them unrepresentative (volunteer bias).

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Choose research method, choose research design, the sample, single/double blind, standardised procedures, standardised instructions.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Internal - measures what it is supposed to measure. External - if it can be generalised to other situations. Ecological - can they be generalised to real life situations. Face - whether a test seems to measure what it is intended to.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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