Psychology

mini test(research methods)

Aim

A general statement that outlines the purpose of a study

Hypotheses

Statements predicting the outcomes of a study based on theory or prior research.

directional hypotheses

states that there will be a difference or relationship and what that will be

non-direction hypotheses

states that there will be a difference or relationship, but does not specify the direction of the effect.

null hypothesis

states there will be no difference or relationship between the variables in the study. It serves as a baseline for testing the validity of the research hypothesis.

dependant variable

the variable that is measured or observed in an experiment, which is affected by changes in the independent variable.

independent variable

the variable that is manipulated or controlled by the researcher

Operationalise

turning an abstract idea or concept into something measurable

extraneous variable

Anything other than the IV that may affect the DV

Confounding variable

Anything other than the IV that DOES affect the DV

Demand characteristics

Participants believe they have figured out the aim and change their behaviour

Social desirability

Participants behave how they think society wants them to

Investigator effect

Researcher consciously or unconsciously affects results(e.g tone of voice)

Hawthorne effect

the change in behaviour by the subject of a study due to them being aware theyre being watched

Order effect

When the order of a study gives participants advantages or disadvantages

independent group

when participants only take part in one condition

repeated measures

participants take part in all conditions

Matched pairs

Participants only take part in one condition but are matched as closely as possible to someone in the other condition

opportunity sample

consists of people who are available and willing to researcher at the time

Random sample

Every member of target population has an equal chance of getting chose

volunteer sample

Researcher advertises study and participants volunteer

Systematic sample

Create a sampling frame (every nth person) to organise target population

stratified sample

identify the different strats of the population that are needed and then use random sampling

Target population

The group of people who your research is about

sample

The group of people who represent your target population

population validity

How well the sample represents target population

pilot study

A small scale version of a study carried out prior to the main thing to check the validity

case study

a look at one person or small group in detail

validity

the extent to which a piece of research truly investigates what the researcher set out to investigate

Reliability

can we do the test again and get the same results

internal reliability

This describes the internal consistency of a measure

external reliability

This assesses consistency when different measures of the same thing are compared

Test Re-test

the consistency of a person with 2 or more separate administrators

Inter-observer Reliability

The level of agreement of scores between different observers

Face validity

whether the test looks like it measures what its supposed to

Temporal validity

Whether the findings would still apply in different times/areas

construct validity

whether the test really measures the concept or the idea it claims to

concurrent validity

when a new test gives similar results an an existing one