Scientific Processes

Define Validity

Refers to wether something is real or just an outcome of a research study that doesn't actually represent real liferelates to wether any observed affect is genuine

Define Internal Validity

• Concerns things inside a research study, it may be the question of whether we're testing what we actually intend to test.

• Also concerns the question of 'control' - other factors in our findings

Define External Validity

Concerned with things outside a research study that can be generalised to real life situations

Outline the method of using Independent Groups

What type of data does it generate

• In an independent groups design participants only experience one condition of the IV

• Participants are randomly allocated to each condition to avoid researcher bias

• Independent groups design generates unrelated data (because the two groups are separate to one another)

What are the strengths of using independent groups

• Less likely to have demand characteristics as participants only take part in one conditionless likely to guess the purpose of the study

• Due to participants only taking part in one condition, it means there are less likely to be order effects

• meaning they cannot predict what happens next and change their behaviour

What are some limitations of the Independent Group design

• There can be participant variables/individual differences

• More participants are needed to ensure there are enough to take part

Outline the method of Repeated Measure design

• what type of data does it generate

• In a repeated measures design participants experience all conditions of the IV

• The same participants complete each of the experimental conditions

• Repeated measures design generates related data

What are some strengths of using Repeated Measures

• There are no individual differences as the same participants are used in each condition meaning participant variables do not affect the measurement of the IV

• Fewer participants are required

What are some limitations of Repeated Measures

• what factor can control order effects

• Order effects can be a problem as participants take part in all conditions

• This can result in a better performance in the other conditions due to practice or learning what is expected or it could result in worse performance as the participant could be bored or tired/lethargic

• Demand characteristics are more likely as the participants are more likely to guess the purpose of the research due to taking part in multiple conditions

• However Counterbalancing can control order effects

Define Order Effects

Order effects refer to the order of the conditions affecting the participants’ behaviour

• performances may differ in each experiment

Outline the method of Matched Pairs

• Participants are assessed and matched on the characteristic(s) (participant variables) that are important for the particular research they are taking part in, e.g. age, ethnicity, gender etc

• The matched participants are then randomly allocated to one condition each

What are some strengths of using Matched Pairs

• less likely to be order effects participants only take part in one condition

• Almost factors out individual differences as a confounding variable

What are some limitations of Matched Pairs

• Matching is difficult and it is often impossible to match all characteristics

• More participants are needed to ensure there are enough to take part in the different conditions

Outline reliability

Refers to wether something is consistent; if research was repeated, there would be similar findings

Define External Reliability

The measure remains consistent from one situation to another

Define Internal reliability

Is a measure of the extent to which something is consistent within itself

Outline why psychologists use aims in research studies

This involves saying what they are trying to achieve, or what the point of their study is

Define a Null hypothesis

This is a statement of what will be found if the experimental/alternative hypothesis is not supported by the results

Define an Extraneous variable (EV)

• how do they become a confounding variable

The EV is a general term for any variable other than the IV that might affect the results/what is being measured (DV)

• Where EVs are important enough to change the DV, they become a confounding variable

Outline a confounding variable

Confounding is suspected to have actually affected the DV

Outline Demand Characteristics

Refers to an experimental artifact where participants form an interpretation of the experiment's purpose and subconsciously change their behavior to fit that interpretation

Outline Investigator Effects

Any effect of the researcher's behaviour (conscious or unconscious) on the research outcome (DV).

May include things from the design of the study to the selection and interaction with participants during the research process

Define Randomisation

The use of chance methods to control for the effects of bias when designing materials and deciding the order of experimental conditions

Define Standardisation

Using exactly the same formalised procedures and instructions for all participants in a research study

Define Hypothesis

It involves making a specific prediction of what will be found, expressed in terms of a change in variables

Define Hypothesis

It involves making a specific prediction of what will be found, expressed in terms of a change in variables

Outline what is meant by a non-directional hypothesis

• When is it used

Simply predicts change and doesn't specify direction

It is used when there is no previous research and it is non-specific

Outline what is meant by a directional hypothesis

• When is it used

Predicts the direction in which change is expected to occur

It is used when previous research has suggested the direction of change

Define Population

• Outline what is meant by target population

• Refers to the large group of individuals that a particular researcher is interested in studying

• This is often referred to as as the Target Population as it's a subset of the general population

Define sample

A group that has been selected to participate in a research study

What is the aim of sampling techniques

To produce a representative sample of the target population

Define bias

If certain groups are over or under-represented within a sample - limiting the extent to which generalisations can be made to the target population

Define Generalisation

The extent to which findings and conclusions from the investigation can be broadly applied to the population

How are Random Samples obtained

• Equal choice of being picked - everyone has a fair chance of being picked

• Obtaining a list of all the members in a target population

• Selecting members through a lottery

How are Systematic samples obtained

• Selecting every nth person from a list to make a sample

• The researcher has to calculate how many people they need to know which nth they need

How are Stratified samples obtained

• Composition of strata reflects/proportional to the target population

• Randomly select participants from their strata

• Small-scale reproduction of the target population, dividing and categorising the population by characteristics important to the research

How are Opportunity samples obtained

Selecting those who are most convenient, willing and available to take part

How are Volunteer samples obtained

People volunteer to take part,selecting themselves as participants of a study often by replying to adverts

What are the strengths of Stratified sampling

• The sample is representative of the target population

• Easy to generalise as the sample is representative

• Selection is unbiased as it is based on the sub groups in society

What are the limitations of Stratified sampling

• Time consuming

• The researcher requires knowledge of the subgroupsand categories of the population, which may not be available

• Cannot reflect all the ways people are different

What are the strengths of Random sampling

• are the results representative

• Reduces researcher bias, meaning it is more likely to be a representative sample

• As the results are fairly representative(everyone has an equal chance of being picked), it means the results are able to be generalised to the target population

• Less time consuming when figured out TP

What are the limitations of Random sampling

• Hard to find complete list of target population

• May be unrepresentative by laws of probabilityselected

• Participants may refuse to take part

What are the strengths of Volunteer sampling

• Willingness of participants

• Minimal researcher input

• Less time consuming

What are the limitations of volunteer sampling

• Volunteer bias, which means the results will not be able to be generalised as volunteer participants often have personality traits in common

• May have demand characteristics

What are the strengths of Systematic sampling

• Unbiased selection, meaning it is more likely to be a representative sample

• Objective and no researcher biasreasonably representative and can generalise the target population

What are the limitations of Systematic sampling

• Time consuming

• Participants may refuse to take partIf there are patterns in the order of participants, then the results may not be representative

What are the strengths of Opportunity sampling

• Natural experiments use opportunity sampling as the researcher has no control over who is being studied

• List of Target population isn't needed

• Convenient in terms of cost and time

• No need to divide population

What are the limitations of Opportunity sampling

• Sample is unrepresentative as it's drawn from a specific arearesearcher bias as they have complete control over the selection

• Participants may not want to take part form of self-selection

Order effects can occur for two different reasons, which are …

Order effects can happen if the participant becomes better at a task due to practice

The participants becomes less good at a task due to boredom

Outline counerbalancing

• A way of preventing order effects from influencing results

• When in a repeated measures design, different participants are made to take part in the experimental conditions in different orders

Define experimental design

The choice of how to allocate participants into different experimental groups

What are behavioural categories

• Why should a researcher create a behavioural checklist

• When a target behaviour is broken up into exclusive components that are observable and measurable before the observation begins

• The researcher should ensure they have endeavoured to include all the ways in which the target behaviour may occur using a behavioural checklist

What are the strengths of behavioural categories

• what type of data can be gathered

• simple to carry out

• Produces quantitive data which can be statistically analysed

What are the limitations of behavioural categories

• gives a very restricted view of what is happening

• researchers may miss important behaviour

What is event sampling

Counting the number of times a particular behaviour (event)occurs in a target or individual group

What are the strengths of event sampling

Useful for when target behaviour happens infrequently and could be missed if time sampling is used

What are the limitations of event sampling

may overlook important details

What is time sampling

Recording behaviour within a pre-established time frame

What are the strengths of time sampling

effective to reduce number of observations needed to be made

What are the limitations of time sampling

may not be representative of the observation as a whole as some behaviours may be missed

What is mundane realism

a degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations.

What are the 5 BPS guidelines for ethics

• Informed consent

• Avoid deception

• Protection from harm

• Right to withdraw

• Confidentiality

Define informed consent

• Participants give a written agreement to take part in a study

• Participants fully understand what is going to be conducted in the study

Define Deception

• Participants are told things about the study that aren't actually true

• The measure of how unethical it is depends on the deception

Define protection from harm

Researchers must make sure the participants are in no more physical and emotional harm than they would be in normal life

Define right to withdraw

Participants have the right to stop the study at any point and the researcher must tell them they have this right

Define confidentiality

Researchers must keep the identity of their participants anonymous

Define an open-question

Do not have a fixed range of answers Ps are free to answer how they wish

What are the strengths and limitations of open-questions

• Produces qualitative data

• Answers are more descriptive and give a better insight to the Ps

• Data is hard to analyse

Describe closed questions

Questions that offer a fixed number of responses (e.g yes/no)

Define Likert scale

The respondent indicates their of agreement using a scale of (usually 5 points) ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree

Define a rating scale

Respondents identify a value that represents their strength of feeling about a particular feeling

Define fixed choice option

Includes a list of all possible options and respondents are required to indicate those that apply to them

What is an interview schedule and when is it used

A list of questions that the interviewer intends to cover this should be standardised to reduce interview bias

How should an interview ideally be conducted

• An interviewer and a single Participant - groups may be appropriate in clinical settings

• Should be in a quiet room, away from other people to allow the interviewee to open up

• Beginning the interview with neutral questions to make the interviewee more comfortable and establish rapport

• Interviewees should be reminded their answers will remain confidential

What is Jargon

• how can it reduce clarity in self-report techniques

Refers to technical terms only familiar to those in a specialised area may limit the persons ability to understand the meaning of the question as it's unnecessarily complex

What are leading questions and how do they impact self-reports

• When a researcher's attitude/opinion is implied through language in the question

• A leading question aims to direct the participant to a particular answer

What are double negative/barrelled questions and

• how do they impact self-reporting

• A double barrelled question contains two questions in one

• A double negative question can be difficult for a participant to decipher I am not unhappy in my job (Agree/Disagree)