Research Methods (AICE Psychology AS Level) Paper 2

Outline a Laboratory experiment in terms of reliability and validity

-Take place in artificial environment to participants in study.

- Wide variety of controls to make sure that IV is affecting DV

-High standardization, High internal validity, High reliability

-Low ecological validity, lack of mundane realism

Outline a Field experiment in terms of reliability and validity

-Occur in real natural environments instead of an artificial lab.

-There is still some control of IV but not as a great as a lab.

-High ecological validity,

-Ethical issues could arise due to participants not being aware of their participation in the study.

-Situational variables make it difficult to control IV and DV

Outline a Natural Experiment in terms of reliability and validity

-Natural IV

-IV can't be controlled

-Usually occur in natural environments

-High ecological validity and mundane realism

-Low validity, low reliability.

Describe the main features of a questonnaire, including open and closed questions.

-Allows for the easy gathering of quantitative and qualitative data for easy analyzation to produce findings and conclusions.

-Open questions are essentially questions in which p's are asked to describe things with detail.

Ex) Describe your bed-time routine in 50-100 words.

-Closed questions are essentially simple questions which often come in the yes/no form.

Ex) What is your gender: Male, Non-binary, or Female.

Describe the main features of an interview, including structured/unstructured/semi-structured.

-Allows for a medium in which a researcher gathers data through talking to a participant in real-time interactions.

-Structured: Specifics set questions, Researcher may even have a specific dress code.

-Semi-structured: There are some fixed questions but many are based on participant responses.

-Unstructured: Questions are determined by participant responses.

Evaluate the use of self-reports in psychological research.

Questionnaires: Great for gathering quantitative and qualitative data in an easy way.

W) Participants may lie to look more acceptable (Social desirability bias)

-Closed: Great for finding averages and can be easily counted up (quantitative data.)

-Open: Great for finding detailed information and outliers (qualitative data.)

Describe the main features of a case study.

-ONLY involves one person or one group of people.

-Data gathered is highly valid as it is usually gathered for a very long time.

- May be biased due to researcher's close relationship with participant.

-NOT generalizable due to the small sample.

Describe the main features of an observation (e.g. overt/covert, participant/non-participant, structured/unstructured, naturalistic/controlled).

=The watching of human and animal participants for research

-Participant/Non-participant: P is in setting and NP is not

-Overt/Covert: Overt; open, Covert; hidden

-Structured/Unstructured: Structured; records specific behaviors, Unstructured; any behaviors

-Naturalistic/Controlled: Naturalistic; Every-day environment, Controlled; occurs in a place that researchers have manipulated

Evaluate the use of observations in psychological research.

All of the specific features can affect is validity, reliability, and use of ethical guidelines but overall, they're a great way to gather both quantitative and qualitative data.

Describe positive and negative correlations.

Positive; both variables increase together

Negative; one variable goes up while another decreases

Evaluate the use of correlations in psychological research, including causality.

Can be very helpful to proving a relationship between two variables.

Casualty; can be gathered through a series of self-reports

Correlation does not equal causation!

Outline what an aim is. (Regular and correlational)

Reg: States the purpose of what a study wants to demonstrate

Correlational: Used to look for a link or relationship between two measured variables

Outline what a hypothesis is.

A testable statement

Directional (one-tailed) hypothesis

Predicts that there will be an effect.

Ex) Students using revision apps will learn better than students using mind maps.

Non-directional (two-tailed) hypothesis

Says that there will be an effect but does not state the direction.

Ex) There is a difference between the effectiveness of mind maps and revision maps in helping students learn.

- For Correlational it simply predicts for a change in the variables.

Ex) There will be a correlation between the number of computer games a student plays and their final A Level grade. (Correlational example)

Null hypotheses

Any difference in the DV between levels of the IV is so small that it's due to chance.

Ex) There will be no difference between students that eat ice cream and students that fail their psychology exam.

Ex) Any difference between students that eat ice cream and students that fail their psychology exam is due to chance.

Describe what an IV is.

The manipulated variable

Describe what a DV is.

What is being measured and should be changed by the IV.

Describe an independent measures design.

Participants go through different levels of the independent variable (different group.)

-No order effects

Describe a matched pairs design.

Participants are matched with similar traits.

-No order effects and p's participate in only one level of the IV.

Describe a repeated measures design.

P's undergo every level of the IV.

-Yes order effects (Practice and fatigue effects)

Describe how psychologists can control variables in a study.

Standardization and the use of controls

Controls; controls different levels of the IV

Standardization; controls that participants go through the same things

What is the difference between controls and standardization?

Controls: Keep things equal between levels of IV (groups)

Standardization: Keeping things equal between participants.

What are extraneous variables?

any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a study

-Pilot studies can be used to control these.

What are uncontrolled variables?

other variables that may skew your results but were overlooked or can't be controlled for

What are participant variables?

The ways in which each participant varies from the other, and how this could affect the results

What are situational variables?

factors in the environment that can unintentionally affect the results of a study

Describe quantitative data and its use in psychological research.

Quantitative = Numerical

S) Easy to count up

S) Objective

W) Participant responses are limited

W) Can't identify outliers

Describe qualitative data and its use in psychological research.

Qualitative = In-depth with detail

S) Allows for the easy identification of outliers

S) Very valid as p's can freely express their opinions

W) Researchers must be objective, kinda difficult without inter-rather reliability.

What is opportunity sampling and its use in psychological research and generalizations.

Opportunity; p's must be present when sample is collected

-Not generalizable

What is random sampling and its use in psychological validity and generalizations.

Random; P's are randomly selected from the population in an unbiased way

-Highly generalizable

What is volunteer (self-selecting sampling) and its use in psychological research and generalizations.

Volunteer; invited to participate through advertisements

-Not really generalizable

Outline informed consent (Human ethics)

Ability for p's to fully understand and comprehend the details of the study that they are participating in.

Outline Protection (physical and psychological) (Human ethics)

Studies must do their best to protect their p's from both psychological harm (stress, anxiety, etc.) and physical harm.

- IF AN UNEXPECTED RISK ARISES, A STUDY MUST BE STOPPED

Outline Right to Withdraw (Human ethics)

P's must be allowed to leave the study whenever they wish.

Outline deception (Human ethics)

P's should not be lied to unless absolutely necessary

-If deceived they must be debriefed and must be able to take out their results if they want.

Outline confidentiality (Human ethics)

All personal info about p's must be kept in complete privacy.

Outline privacy (Human ethics)

Studies shouldn't ask p's about private info, however, this can be violated if participants consent.

Outline debriefing (Human ethics)

P's must be fully explained all of the aims of the study to ensure that they want their data in the study.

What are all of the human ethical guidelines (No definition just the names)

Informed consent, Protection (Physical and psychological), Right to Withdraw, Deception, Confidentiality, Privacy, and Debriefing.

Outline replacement (animal ethics)

Before using animals, researchers should consider any possible alternatives.

Outline species and strain (animal ethics)

The species and strain chosen must be least likely to feel any pain or distress.

Outline Number of animals (animal ethics)

Number of animals used must be at a minimum

Outline Procedures: Pain and distress (animal ethics)

Procedures should not contain any psychological distress and should be changed to accommodate for animals safety and well-being.

- Psychological and physiological harm should be avoided

Outline Housing (animal ethics)

If animals must be caged, it should not be distressing for them.

- There should not be any overcrowding

- Caging should represent the natural environment

Outline reward, deprivation, and aversive stimuli (animal ethics)

When using deprivation or aversive stimulation, the investigator should ascertain that there is no alternative way of motivating the animal that is consistent with the aims of the experiment, and that the levels of deprivation used are no greater than necessary to achieve the goals of the experiment.

Outline an anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia (animal ethics)

Anesthesia; should be used if it protects animals from pain as

What are all of the animal ethical guidelines (No definitions just the names)

Replacement, Species and Strain, Number of Animals, Procedures: Pain and Distress, Housing, (Reward, deprivation, and aversive stimuli), and (Anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia.)

What is validity?

the degree to which a test measures what it says it measures.

ecological validity (external)

The extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other settings and situations.

Outline criterion validity.

The way of assessing the validity of a task by comparing results with another measure.

Compare subjectivity and objectivity.

Subjectivity- Analyzing data based on one's own thoughts and opinions

Objectivity- Analyzing data based on fact with no need to use personal judgements.

Describe reliability

Consistency over time and whether replicating a study would produce similar results.

Describe inter-rater/observer reliability

Test of consistency for qualitative data:

Describe test/re-test reliability

Test of consistency of a questionnaire based measure.

1. Group of participants take a questionnaire

2. After some time the same group of participants take the same questionnaire.

3. Correlate the overall results, if a positive correlation occurs then yay.

What is meant by 'measure of central tendency' and when do you use it?

How data clusters around a central point in a data set.

Mean, Mode, and Median.

What is meant by 'measure of spread' and when do you use it?

How spread the data is around a measure of central tendency.

Range and Standard Deviation

What is a mean and how do you find it? When should it be used?

The average:

1. Add all the scores collected

2. Divide this total by the number of scores that were added up.

Most useful when trying to take every score into account.

What is a median and how do you find it? When should it be used?

The middlemost score.

1. Rank the data from the smallest number to the largest number

2. Eliminate one score from the lowest end of the ranked data and the highest end of the ranked data.

3. Continue to do this until there are 1 or 2 values left.

It is only used with numerical data on a linear scale.

What is a mode and how do you find it? When should it be used?

The most common score in your data set.

-To calculate, draw a frequency table and see which score has the highest frequency.

What is a range and how do you find it? When should it be used?

The difference between the highest and lowest values in a set of numbers.

-used when data is at least ordinal.

What is standard deviation and when should it be used

The conjunction of the mean,

- It considers the difference between each data point and the mean.

What is a bar chart?

A type of graph where results are entered by named categories.

X-axis: category; a name

Y-axis: the frequency of each category; numbers

What is a histogram?

a bar graph depicting a frequency distribution.

Basically there's just ranges on the x-axis.

What is a scatter graph?

A graph that shows the independent variable vs dependent variable (continuous data)

Literally everything is put in there so it looks like a million little dots.

What is normal distribution?

A "normal" distribution is also known as a bell-shaped curve or Gaussian curve. In a Gaussian or normal distribution, the mean , mode and median would all have the same (or similar) value and would look like the figure.