The social approach methodology

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What is social psychology?
The study of how our behaviour is influenced by the presence, attitudes and actions of other people.
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Who carried out one of the earliest social psychology sudies?
Norman Triplett (in 1898)
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What was the basis of Triplett's study?
He had participants winding up fishing reels under timed conditions and measured performance first alone, then again when another person performed the same task alongside them.
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What was found in Triplett's study?
Some went slower, some went faster but only a few were unaffected, suggesting the presence of others does change behaviour.
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What are hypotheses?
Specific, testable predictions about what you expect to find after analysing data from participants.
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What is a null hypothesis?
A hypothesis which states there is no effect except that found by chance.
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What is an alternative hypothesis?
Alternative to the null hypothesis - it states there will be a change.
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What is an open question?
A question which can be answered in any way the participant chooses.
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What type of data does an open question yield?
Qualitative - data that consists of words that describe a participant's views.
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What is a closed question?
A question which limits the responses that can be made.
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What type of data does a closed question yield?
Quantitative - data that can be reduced to numbers and quantities.
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What is a strength of qualitative data?
It is descriptive, allowing for deeper analysis and thus more meaningful conclusions, increasing validity.
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What is a weakness of qualitative data?
It is difficult to draw comparisons between groups or to arrive at a reliable conclusion about a specific thing.
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What is a strength of quantitive data?
It is posssible to analyse data to draw comparisons and conclusions - it is measurable.
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What is a weakness of quantitative data?
It gives a superficial view of behaviour, reducing validity.
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What are two types of surveys that could be used to gather data?
Interview, questionnaire.
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What are the three types of interview?
Structured, semi-structured, unstructured.
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What is involved in an unstructured interview?
It is the most likely to give qualitative data, as questions are open and the structure is flexible.There will be a research question around which the interview is based, but otherwise things are left unspecified to see what emerges.
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What is involved in a structured interview?
There is a pre-set order of questions, leaving little room for the researcher to follow up on answers of interest.
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What is involved in a semi-structured interview?
There will be a schedule of questions, but the researcher will have freedom to follow up on some responses.
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What does the written format of a questionnaire mean?
There is no flexibility about questions, although there may be space for comments.
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What three issues are there with designing surveys?
Wording of questions, how questions will be asked and sample choice.
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What is an issue with wording of questions and how can it be resolved?
The issue is results cannot be classed as valid if the participant doesn't have an understanding of what the question is asking. This can be resolved through a pilot study, where the questions are tested on a small group first.
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What is an issue with how questions will be asked?
The time it will take to answer questions must be considered, as participants may give up if there are too many. Also, if there are too many open questions, the amount of generated data is potentially huge, thus very time consuming to analyse.
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What is an issue with the sample?
It must be considered in terms of size and representativeness. With a questionnaire, a decent sized sample is needed. With an interview you still need to consider representativeness; results must be able to be generalised.
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What are the four sampling methods?
Random, stratified, opportunity and volunteer.
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What is the procedure used in random sampling?
Every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected eg. by numbering and using generator.
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What is a strength of random sampling?
It is likely to be unbiased as the researcher doesn't control who is chosen.
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What is a weakness of random sampling?
Very hard to do unless you only have a small population.
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What is the procedure in stratified sampling?
The sample is a proportional representation of the target population, breaking down the population into constituant groups and recreating a smaller version.
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What is a strength of stratified sampling?
Likely to be very representative of population.
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What is a weakness of stratified sampling?
Time consuming and difficult.
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What is the procedure for opportunity sampling?
Participants are selected from whoever is available at the time of the study.
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What is a strength of opportunity sampling?
Easy, quick and likely to be ethical.
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What is a weakness of opportunity sampling?
Probably not very representative.
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What is the procedure for volunteer sampling?
Participants select themselves.
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What is a strength of volunteer sampling?
Will probably access a variety of people you wouldn't normally have access to.
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What is a weakness of volunteer sampling?
Their motivation may make them behave differently, and the volunteers may have special qualities.
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What are the 5 ethical guidelines?
Deception should not be used, and if so there should be a debrief, participants should be given a right to withdraw, they should give their infomed consent where possible, they should be protected from harm and have their results kept private.
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What is reliability?
If the data is consistent or not.
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What is validity?
The genuineness of results.
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What is subjectivity?
Concerns interpretation of data; is our view of the results likely to be shared by others, or is it coloured by our own experiences?
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What are 3 strengths of an unstructured interview?
It has high validity, is flexible and gathers in-depth data.
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What are 4 weaknesses of an unstructured interview?
Cannot be replicated, subjective, may be unreliable, likely to be on a small scale.
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What are 4 strengths of a questionnaire?
Replicable, reliable, objective, can be large scale.
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What are 3 weaknesses of a questionnaire?
Low validity, can be superficial, rigid structure may bore participants into answering untruthfully.
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Card 2

Front

Who carried out one of the earliest social psychology sudies?

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Norman Triplett (in 1898)

Card 3

Front

What was the basis of Triplett's study?

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Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What was found in Triplett's study?

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Card 5

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What are hypotheses?

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