intro to research methods

what are aims?

general statements made by a researcher

what is usually included in aims

plan of investigation, trying to achieve in investigation, pupose of study, if its developed from theories/reading about similar research

what are aims usually linked to

real-world purpose so essentially why its important to find something out

what is a hypothesis

statement of what researchers predict will happen that can be tested to see if its right or wrong

what are hypothesis mad eup of

independent variable, dependent variable

what is an independent variable

a variable that is changed by the person carrying out the experiment

what is a dependent variable

the variable that is measured to see if the IV has affected it

what are extraneous variables

additional unwanted variables in the experiments which must be controlled by a researcher to prevent skewed results or false conclusions

what are confounding variables

these occour when extraneous variables are not properly controlled

what are the two types of hypothesis

directional and non-directional

what is a directional hypothesis also called

a one-tailed hypothesis

what is a directional hypothesis

predicts specific nature or direction of the difference between two or more variables

what is a directional hypothesis based on

past research, accepted theory, or literature on the topic

what is a non-directional hypothesis also called

two-tailed hypothesis

what is a non-directional hypothesis

predicts that there will be a difference between two or more variables but not the exact direction of the difference

what is operationalisation of variables

when a researcher clearly defines the variables in terms of how they are being measured or manipulated

what are common research issues

- control groups

- randomisation

- investigator effects

- standardisation

- demand characteristics

what is a control group

a baseline comparison group used in experiments

what is randomisation

the use of chance to design materials, design the order of trials, and allocate participants

what is investigator effects

any effect of a researchers behaviour, conscious or unconscious, on the research outcome

what is standardisation

the process of keeping all procedures, instructions, and environmental conditions identical for every single participant in the study

what are demand characteristics

subtle cues or features of a stufy which allows participants to guess its aim or hypothesis

what are some types of experiments

- laboratory experiment

- field experiment

- natural experiment

- quasi experiment

what is a laboratory experiment

usually cinducted in a specially designed room of a univerisyt iwth full experimenter control

what are strengths of laboratory experiments

- easy to replicate

- researcher has control over mariables

- more certainty in cause-and-effect so high internal validity

what are limitations of laboratory experiments

- artificial setting so lacks generalissability to real life

- low mundane realism as lab doesnt reflect real world experience

- demand characteristics as p's are aware theyre being tested

- results cannot be generalised so low ecological validity

what is a field experiment

conducted in the real world and is less artificial than a laboratory experiment

what are strengths of field experiemnts

- high mundane realism as environment is natural

- high external validity as p's dont know theyre being studied

- less chance of demand characteistics

what are limitations of field experiemnts

- deceptive as p;s dont know theyre taking part in research

- less control over extraneous variables so cause-and-effect difficult to establish

- mqy not be possible to replicate this

- lack of privacy

- lack of fully informed consent

what is a natural experiment

this allows the psychologist to study real problems in a natural environment where nothing is altered

what are the strengths of a natural experiment

- allows researchers to study behaviour that could not be created or studied ethically

- less chance of demand characteistics as p's are unaware theyre taking part in research

- high external validity as they involve study of real-world issues and problems as they happen

what are limitations of natural experiments

- no control over variables

- less control over investigation

- naturally occuring events may only happen rarely reducing opportunities for research

- p's mauy be randomly allocated to experimental conditions so researcher is unsure if IV affected DV

whar are quasi experiemnts

aims to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between IV and DV but doesnt rely on a random assignment as subjects are assigned to groups based on non-random criteria

strengths of quasi experiments

- lakc of manipulation so high external valdiity

- follows true experimental design so can be replicated w/ p's matching ther original demographic sample

limitations of quasi experiments

- participants are randomly allocated to conditions so p's variables may make it difficult to determine causality

- lacks internal validity as there may be other factors which explain results