Research psychology

What is the role of ethics/ethical guidelines in psychological research?

They allow people to understand what is deemed right or wrong and how to apply this knowledge to their research procedures

What is ethical guidelines?

Ethical guidelines are codes of practice that are designed to be followed as a guide by people involved in research, including psychological research.

What is the role of an ethics committee approval and monitoring of conduct for all psychological research?

To review research proposals that plan to use human participants to make sure they meet guidelines.
decide wether there has already been similar research completed, meaning no need for current proposal
Also evaluate wether risk to participant welfare outweighs any benefit the research would have to society
Once approved, monitor the researchers study and able to step in and stop study if they suspect that any ethical guidelines have been breached.

What is protection from harm? (physical and psychological)

Researchers must protect physical and psychological wellbeing of participants.
following ethical guidelines help
reduce risk of psychological harm by debriefing

What is informed consent?

Means entering an agreement ( participating in research study) with full facts of the situation available and understood.
researchers must obtain written consent from participants (using consent form)
participants under 18, or lacking intellectual ability to give informed consent, need to have their legal guardian provide consent on their behalf

What should a consent form have?

purpose of study
what participants are required to do
wether there are potential risks of participating in the study
length of time study will take
explain withdrawal rights of the participant

What are withdrawal rights?

Participants can end their participation in a study or have their results removed during or at the completion of the study without pressure or penalty

What is deception?

Deception is intentionally withholding or altering information to mislead participants and is used when participants knowing the true purpose of the study would affect the results.
If using deception causes the risks to participants outweigh the potential benefits to society,, it should not be used.

What is confidentiality?

Concerned with how information collected from participants is safeguarded
Information collected from participants must be stored in a secure manner.
(Locked cabinet, password

What is privacy?

Privacy is concerned with what information is collected from participants.
Only information relevant to the study should be collected from participants.

What is voluntary participation?

participants should partake in a study because it is their choice to do so
cannot be bribed to participate, or be at risk if failing a course

What is debriefing?

An explanation given to participants at the conclusion of a study.
If there was deception, debriefing where participants know they were being deceived must be held, and an opportunity for counselling should be provided, any mistaken beliefs during the study must be dispelled and participant's right to have their results removed must be upheld.

What are independent variables

The variable that is manipulated by the researchers, to observe its effects on the dependent variable

What are dependent variables?

The variable that is measured

What is a controlled variable?

Variables that stay consistent throughout the experiment.

What are extraneous variables?

Participant
Environment
Researcher

What are participant extraneous variables?

EV related to the individual characteristics of each participant.
Needs to be controlled as they could potentially confound the experiment
This can be controlled by selecting participants with similar characteristics suitable for the study, or using random allocation to ensure equivalent groups.
Examples: educational background, age, gender, intelligence, health, mood, physical ability

What are environmental extraneous variables?

EV related to the environment the study takes place in and how it may influence participant responses.
Examples include: testing venue, background noise, room temperature, time of day, and overall testing conditions

What are researcher extraneous variables?

EV associated with the personality characteristics, appearance, and conduct of the researcher that unintentionally impact participant responses
Examples: gender, accent, attractiveness, health, age, and the way they interact with participants.

What are confounding varaibles

Variables that impact the dependent variable and also have a casual relationship with the IV
They alter the relationship between IV and DV and can complicate results making them difficult to interpret
Sometimes EVs that aren't controlled can turn into Confounding Variables

What is an experimental research design?

Involves manipulating the IV, allowing researchers to establish cause

What do control groups do?

They are not exposed to the independent variable
It provides a basis for comparison with the experimental group, enabling researchers to determine wether the independent variable has affected the dependent variable

What are some strengths to an experimental research design

allows control over variables, minimising the influence of extraneous variables
Control enables the identification of cause

What are some limitations to an experimental research design

having controlled environment reduces realism of the study (lowering external validity), may impact participant behaviour
In trying to control variables in research, there is risk of human error occurring

What is an observational research design?

Non

What are some strengths to an observational research design

controlled observations that can be replicated
Participants more likely to behave naturally rather than consciously, or unconsciously, acting in a socially appealing way

What are some limitations to an observational research design

researchers may only record information they expect to see or record select details, observer bias may occur
participants may change their behaviour if they are aware of being observed
voluntary participation and informed consent might be breached when participants are being unknowingly observed in research

What is a case study?

In

What are some strengths to a case study?

Detailed information collected
Information gathered from range of perspectives

What are some limitations to a case study?

Results unable to be generalised to population sample was taken from
Conclusions drawn from case studies limited due to lack of formal control groups

What is a correlational research design?

Measures linear relationship between 2 variables (co

What are some strengths to a correlational research design

Potential hypothesis based on correlation can be tested (using experimental design)
Can be used when manipulating variables in experimental research is unethical

What are some limitations to a correlational research design

Correlations does not show how variables are related (bus there is no cause

What is a longitudinal research design?

Follows same persons/cases over multiple points in time
Usually used to study developmental trends across lifespan
Data is collected more than once, using same participants (can be over days, weeks, years etc.)

What are some strengths to a longitudinal research design

Developmental trends can be studied over lifetime
Frequency, timing or duration of events can be assessed

What are some limitations to a longitudinal research design

Takes longer time to get results than cross

What is a cross

sectional research design?

What are some strengths to a cross

sectional research design

What are some limitations to a cross

sectional research design

How do you identify the sample and population in a study?

Population: entire group of people that is of interest to the researcher
Sample: subsection of the population

What is convenience sampling?

Choosing Participants who are convenient to reach, easily accessible

What are some strengths and limitations to convenience sampling?

Takes less time and effor to collect sample
Costs typically lower
Limitations:
High potential for researcher bias (bcs sample unlikely to be representative of population it was taken from), this lowers generalisability

What is snowballing sampling?

Sampling method where initial participants in a sample recruit additional participants to join the study

What are some strengths and limitations to snowballing sampling?

Allows researchers to find a sample that would be difficult to recruit due to nature of the study (eg: drug users)
Time needed to gather participants is reduced
Limitations:
Sample unlikely to be representative of population it was taken from (bcs researchers were minimally involved in participant recruitment)
Sample may be biased as researchers can only recruit those who are in direct contact with the original participant

What is random sampling?

Sampling method where every person in a population has an equal chance of being randomly selected to be a member of the sample

What are some strengths and limitations to random sampling?

Researcher bias minimised
Participants have equal chance of being selected
Limitations:

What is stratified sampling?

Sampling method where participants are selected from subgroups of the population in the same proportions that they appear in the population

What are some strengths and limitations to stratified sampling?

Sample likely to be representative, improving generalisability
Researcher bias minimised
Limitations:

What is the placebo effect?

Neutral treatment that looks the same as the real treatment being evaluated and is delivered in the same way

What is the experimenter effect?

The expectations and behaviours of the researcher that may bias results

What are demand characteristics?

Cues participants perceive during a study that lead them to believe they have discovered the aim of the study or expectations of the researcher

How do you minimise the effects of extraneous and confounding variables?

random allocation of participants
use of a placebo
single

What does random allocation of participants mean?

When participants have an equal chance of being put in the control group or the experimental group.
This minimised participant variables, makes sure various personalities/characteristics are spread throughout. (DV is due to IV, not characteristics)
Minimised researcher effects (they choose who gets to be in which group)

What is the placebo effect?

Positive result that occurs due to participant's belief that a treatment will be effective
Placebo effect is a consequence of extraneous and confounding variables

What is a single

blind and double

What does standardisation of procedures and instructions mean?

Providing the same location, conditions, instructions for each group of participants.
Minimised researcher variables and experimenter effect

What is qualitative data?

Descriptive information in the form of words
interviews, focus groups

What is quantitative data?

Information in the form if numbers that can be counted (could also be words)

What are some examples of collecting qualitative data?

Interviews:

What are some examples of collecting quantitative data?

Objective physiological measures:

What is a mixed methods way of collecting data?

Combination of qualitative and quantitative data that is collected in an investigation

What is the difference between subjective and objective data?

Subjective data is based on the personal opinions and judgements of participants
Objective data is information based on facts that can be supported through observation and measurements.

What are some ways that data is displayed in Psychology?

Graphs:
scatterplot, column, line, histogram
Tables:
summary
frequency

What must you remember to do when constructing a graph?

Heading/Title (includes both variables)
Subheading for your variables
Correct scale
Pencil
Ruler
Correct data

How do you calculate the mean and median as measures of central tendency?

Central tendency: descriptive statistics that produce the average value of a set of scores.
Mean: average of all results
Median: middle value of all the sores

How do you interpret the mean and median as measures of central tendency

Mean sensitive to outliers, median is not
Median may bot be a number in the original dataset if an average of 2 middle numbers was produced

What is correlation?

A statistical technique used to measure the LINEAR relationship between two co

How do you interpret Pearson's correlational coefficient as a measure of strength and direction of linear relationships?

PERFECT= straight line
Strong= nearly straight
Weak

How do you make evidence

based conclusions that are consistent with psychological evidence and is relevant to the hypothesis or inquiry question?

What is internal validity and how do you tell?

Internal validity extent to which results from a study are due to the independent variable affecting the dependent variable, rather than confounding variables.
Factors or issues within study that make it unclear the DV is due to the IV = threats to internal validity

What is external validity and how do you tell?

The extent to which results from the study can be generalised to other contexts
Higher the generalisability, higher the external validity

What does test

retest reliability mean?

What is inter

rater reliability?

What does generalisability of the sample to the population mean?

Refers to which results gathered from a sample in research can be applied to other situations, like a population.

How to address not knowing if the IV influenced the DV

Control group

How to Address Extraneous Variables

random allocation
single blind
eliminate experimenter effect
Monitor variables to ensure they are controlled
standardised instructions and procedures
conduct in controlled environment

How to address confounding variables

Control EV so they don't turn into Confounding variables

How to address demand characteristics

placebo
Eliminate experimenter effect
single blind
deception to prevent participants knowing AIM of study

How to address experimenter effects

double blind
Participants should not know study's hypothesis
sampling technique that involves no experimenter effect (stratified sampling)

How to address low validity

improve measurement techniques
use single or double blind
include control group
random allocation
control EV

How to address a sample that cannot be generalised to the population

stratified sampling method rather than convenience/random
use same number of participants in each group
Random allocation
participants should not know what group they are in
control EV

What are some ethical implications?

participants not being fully aware of the purpose of the study, what they are required to do, or potential risks associated with participating (informed consent)
participants feeling pressured to be part of a study (voluntary participation)
participants feeling distressed during the study (withdrawal rights)
participants changing their behaviour due to knowing the aim of the study (use deception)
extensive and unrequited personal information being collected (privacy)
participant information accessible to individuals other than researcher (confidentiality)
participants having mistaken ideas about themselves, the purpose of the study, to other participants in the study (debrief)

How do you critically evaluate information from a range of scientific sources?

check if peer