Research methods 1

P<0.05

How likely it is that your results happened by chance

Less than a 5% probability that the results occurred due to chance

You reject the null hypothesis and accept your findings are unlikely to be due to chance

Inferential statistics- Chi Square

Independent groups design

Unrelated

Nominal data

Inferential statistics- Sign test

Matched pairs design

Related

Nominal data

Inferential statistics- Wilcoxon

Matched pairs or repeated measures

Related

Ordinal data

Inferential statistics- Spearman’s rho

Matched pairs or repeated measures

Related

Ordinal or interval data

Inferential statistics- Mann Whitney U

Independent groups design

Unrelated

Ordinal or interval data

Measures of central tendency and what level of measurement you’d use them for

Mean (interval data)

Median (ordinal or interval)

Mode (Any of them)

What inferential tests are measuring a difference?

Mann Whitney U

Sign test

Wilcoxon

Chi Squared

What inferential statistics are measuring for a correlation?

Spearman’s rank

Measures of dispersion- Standard deviation

Use it to find an average in data

When it’s interval data

Shows you how consistent the data is

Shows how spread out the scores are around the mean

Measures of dispersion- Range

How spread out the data is

Can be used for ordinal or interval

6 steps of standard deviation

1. Find the mean

2. Subtract the score from the mean

3. Square the number

4. Add the squared difference

5. Divide by the number of participants

6. Square root the answer to get your standard deviation answer

Significance levels and Critical values

The confidence level and therefore has a significant level

The critical value from the table shows the minimum/maximum value accepted for significance

Ways to deal with validity

Control extraneous variables

(internal more control, external is more natural)

Ways of assessing validity

Concurrent validity

Predictive validity

Face validity

Content validity

Construct validity

Validity issues

Social desirability bias

Demand characteristics

Researcher bias

Ways of assessing reliability

Inter rated reliability

Test-retest reliability

Split-half reliability

Ways to deal with reliability

Standardised procedures- make sure every participant has the same experience

Internal and external reliability

Internal- Is the test consistent within itself?

External- Is it consistent over time and the place? or was it a one off?

Key words for validity

Useful

Truthful

Key words for reliability

Controlled

Consistent

Replicate

Content analysis

Analysing qualitative data collection

The systematic coding and recording of behaviour

You count the number of times you can see the behaviour

Decide on categories or codes to look for

Thematic analysis

Analysing qualitative data collection

Involves identifying, analysing and reporting patterns within the data and findings themes in them