Psychological Research Methods and Ethics

Flashcards on Psychological Research Methods and Ethics

Theories

Systematic ways of organizing and explaining observations, providing the framework for a hypothesis.

Hypothesis

Proposed relations between variables, often framed as cause-effect relationships.

Variables

A phenomenon that can take on more than one value, varying along some dimension.

Continuous variables

Have a continuum of possible values and varies across this range.

Categorical variables

Can take on fixed values and only those fixed value values.

Generalizability

Refers to whether your research results can be applied to the entire population of interest.

Population

The entire group of people that a researcher is interested in.

Samples

A smaller subset of the population used to make inferences back to the entire population.

Representative Sampling

Similar enough to other members of the population so that conclusions drawn from the sample are likely to be true of the rest of the population.

Sampling bias

When the sample is not representative of the population.

Internal validity

Refers to whether the procedures of the study are sound or flawed.

External validity

Refers to whether the experimental conditions or situation resembles the situation found in the real world.

Objective

Ensuring that the researcher is impartial and that variables can be measured objectively.

Measure

A concrete means by which to determine the value of a variable.

Reliable measures

Produce consistent measurements.

Valid measures

Actually measure the variable of interest.

Test retest reliability

Refers to the tendency of a test to yield relatively similar scores for the same individual over time.

Internal consistency

When several ways of asking the same question yield similar results.

Inter rater reliability

Two different testers that rate the same person on the same variable should give similar ratings to that person.

Validity

The measure's ability to assess the variable it is supposed to assess.

Validation research

Attempts to relate the measure of an objective to measures that themselves have already demonstrated validity.

Description

Summarizes the relationship between variables.

Prediction

Anticipates future events.

Understanding

Identifies the causes of phenomena.

Descriptive designs

Concerned with describing behavior.

Correlational designs

Concerned with predicting behavior.

Experimental designs

Concerned with establishing the causes of behavior.

Independent variable (IV)

Is manipulated by the experiment.

Dependent variable (DV)

Is the response of the participants.

Control group

A group that is similar to the experimental group except that it has not been exposed to the treatment.

Demand characteristics

Of a study involve participants trying to respond in the way they think the experimenter wants them to respond.

Double blind study

The participant, the experimenter, do not know what the treatment the subject has been given.

Random assignment

Is essential for internal validity because it minimises the chance that participants in different groups will differ in some systematic way that might influence their response and lead to mistaken conclusions.

Quasi experimental designs

Share many features of the experiments but do not allow random assignments of participants to different conditions.

Case studies

Refer to the in-depth study of behaviour of one person or a small group.

Naturalistic observation

Refers to an in-depth study of a phenomena in its natural setting.

Survey research

Asks questions of large numbers of persons to gain information on attitudes and behaviour.

Random sample

A sample selected from the general population in a relatively arbitrary way that does not introduce the systematic bias.

Stratified random sample

Specifies the percentage of people to be drawn from each population category and then randomly selects participants from within each category.

Correlation coefficient

Measures the extent to which two variables are related.

Qualitative research

Studying phenomena in their natural settings with an attempt to make sense of the phenomena by drawing meaning from people's words, language and action.

Positivism

The stance shared by quantitative researchers in that there is a belief that there is a universal truth that can be discovered through systematic observation and objective research and measurement.

Interpretivatism

View in which social worlds are subjective and constructed by individuals.

Critical theory

Focuses on examining the role of power and how it's expressed in our society.

Objectivism

Phenomena exists independent of our beliefs and consciousness.

Constructivism

Meaning of phenomena is the result of social and intellectual constructions.

Subjectivism

Meaning is assigned to phenomena by the observer.

Australian Psychological Society (APS) code of ethics

Designed to respect rights and dignity of participants and ensure psychologists act with professionalism and integrity.

Informed consent

Ensures participants understand the purpose of research and what they are expected to do.

Scepticism

Questioning the results of the study.

Objectivity

Being impartial you must put personal feelings or biases aside.

Open mindedness

Considering all sides of the issue and never ignore potential explanations or interpretation.

Straw man

Refers to deliberately attacking the opposing argument in order to strengthen their own.

Appeals to popularity

Simply refers to the fallacy that a popular and widespread argument must be true.

Appeals to authority

Refers to the fallacy that an argument must be true because of the authority of the person making it.

Arguments directed to the person

Refers to an approach in which authors will attempt to strengthen their own position by attacking the authors of an opposing argument.