Research methods paper 1

What is experimental methods and why do we use them

It is research that is conducted to be able to establish cause and effect

What is control condition

The normal people that are used to compare to the experimental condition

What is the experimental condition

the people that are different and being tested

What is an independant Variable (IV)

A variable that the researcher manipulates, or changes naturally . EG changing amount of hours of sleep participants in the experimental group get

What is a dependant variable

The variable that is measured by the researcher , caused by the IV, EG the increase in stress for those with less sleep

What is operationalisation

process of turning concepts like level of anxiety or intelligence, into observable, testable concepts, such as IQ and hea

What is an aim

General statement from the researcher stating what they intend to research

What is a hypothesis

Testable statement predicting the outcome of the statement

What are the two types of hypothesis

Null and alternative/experimental

What is a null hypothesis

Predicts there will be no difference in the DV

What is an alternative hypothesis

these predict a difference or relationship in the DV, these can be directional or non directional

What is a directional hypothesis , aka one tailed hypothesis

prediction that has a clear understanding of what they are likely to find, as there is previous research done that gives some sort of guidance

What is a non directional hypotheses, aka a two tailed hypothesis

there is no previous research to suggest where the research may go, simple stating if there will be a difference or relationship

What is the process of writing an experimental hypothesis

• Outline the IV and the DV

• How are you manipulating the IV

• How is the DV being measured

• Is the hypothesis one tailed or two tailed

Why is writing a correlational hypothesis different

Because we are investigating a relationship between the two conditions, meaning there is no IV or DV

What are the different types of experiments

• lab experiments

• field experiments

• natural experiments

• quasi experiments

What is a lab experiment

Controlled conditions and environment, manipulation of the IV and records effect on the DV

What are the strengths of using lab experiments

• control over extraneuos variables

• replication is more possible

What are weaknesses of using lab experiments

• participants are aware they are being tested

• Artificial enviroment

• investigator effects may occur where the researcher has a bias that they may unconsciously exert on participants

What is a field experiment

researcher manipulates the IV and record the DV but it is in a real life setting instead

What are the strengths of using a field experiment

• high ecological validity

• behaviour of participants is more likely to be normal (less demand charecterisitics)

What are the weaknesses of using a field experiment

• less control over extraneous variables

• possible ethical issues as participants may not be aware of the experiment

What is a natural experiment

When the IV is naturally occuring but the DV is being tested still

What is an example of a naturally occuring IV

Age, gender, ie in the romanian orphan studies, rutter did not control the times the children were adopted

What are the strengths of using natural experiments

• provides oppurtunities for research that may not of previously been conducted due to ethical issues ie the orphan studies , rutter could not on purpose wait for romanian children to be adopted as it would be wrong

• high external validity

What are the weaknesses of using natural experiments

• participants may not be randomly allocated to condtions

• generalisation may be difficult to other situations

What is a quasi experiment

The IV is simply a charecterisitc , like age . and they records the effects on the DV , ie average life span but is still conducted in a lab like setting

What are strengths of quasi experiments

• carried out under controlled conditions

• control over extraneuous variables

What are the weaknesses of quasi experiments

• participants are aware of testing

• participants cannot be randomly allocated, so there may be confounding variables

What are extraneuous variables

Any variable that may effect the DV that is not the IV, eg noise levels may effect the DV and therefore the validity of the experiment

What are confounding variables

an extraneuous variable that is connected to the IV, ie if iv is gender and DV number of basketball hoops scored. A confounding variable would be height, As it can’t be avoided but may be the reason for the DV

What are demand charecterisitics

Participants may change their behaviour to please the experimenter

What are investigator effects

any of the researchers behaviour that may change the outcome of the study, ie how they interact with particpants that are male compared to female

What is randomisation and what does it minimize

When leaving things like sampling up to chance so that the researcher does not exert their bias on to it

What is standardisation and what does it minimize

using the same procedures for all participants to minimize investigator effects and increase replicability

What is validity refferring to

the degree something is measuring what it claims to

What are the different types of validity

Internal, external, ecological and temporal

What is internal validity

When the results are due to the IV and not due to any extraneuous variables

What is external validity

How mcuh the results can be generalised

What is temporal validity

how much results can be generalised across time periods

What is ecological validity

if results can be generalised to real life settings, this is a concern for lab experiments

What is reliability

How consistant the results are if the study was replicated

what is internal reliability

refers to how consistent the test is in itself

What is external reliability

How consistant results are over time

What is inter -observer reliability

refers to the extent to which two or more observers are in agreement on what they observe. If the observations correlate +0.8 we can conclude that the results are reliable

What are the 3 expeirmental designs

• independant groups

• repeated groups

• matched pairs

What are independant groups

When groups are seperate and experience two different conditions

Strengths of independant groups

• order effects are avoided, as they are not repeating experiment

• less likely to be demand charecterisitcs

Weaknesses of independant groups

• individual differences between groups may effect DV, eg one group may have higher iq

• more participants are needed in this design

What are repeated measures

All participants take part in both conditions

Strengths of repeated measures

• indiviidual differences are avoided

• fewer participants needed

Weaknesses of repeated measures

• order effects may occur, as the group may get bored , need to use counterbalancing

• demand charecterisitcs are more likely to occur

What is counterbalancing

To stop order effects, where half the participants take part in conditions A then B and the others B and then A, limits tiredness effecting condition B as if everyone did A then B , condition B would be effected

What is matched pairs design

when participants are matched due to something like similiar height and then assigned to different conditions

strengths of matched pairs design

• partiicpant variables effect less

• no order effects

Weaknesses of matched pairs design

• it is difficult to match people on charecterisitics

• time consuming

What are the self report techniques

• interviews , structured and unstructured

• questionnaires

Strengths and weaknesses of structured interviews

• easy to replicate

• answers lack depth

strengths and weaknesses of unstructured interviews

• more flexable meaning more insight

• qualatiative data so hard to analyse

• could be untruthful sometimes

Strengths of questionnaires

• can be given to a large sample of people so large amount of data

• can be given through post

Limitations of questionnaires

• can be untruthful answers

• participants may not be bothered to be truthful

• response bias can occur

how to design an interview

• interview schedule, standardised list of questions

• interviewer will record info

how to design a questionnaire

• clear questions which are easy to understand

• open and closed questions

What are the two different observational studies

naturalistic and controlled observations

What is a naturalisitc observation

Where researcher observs partiicpants in their normal enviroment

What is a controlled observation

Takes place in a controlled enviroment, ie ainsworths strange situation

What are the strengths of a naturalistic observation

• high external validity as findings can be generalised to everyday life.

What are the weaknesses of a naturalistic observation

• extraneous variables are not being controlled

• hard to replicate

What are the strengths of controlled observations

• extraneous variables are controlled

• replication is easier

What are the weaknesses of controlled observations

• participant behaviour will be different in a controlled setting

What is an overt observation

Participants are aware they are being observed

What are the strengths of overt observations

• ethical advantage, participants know they are being observed

What are the weaknesses of overt observations

• May act differently if they know they are being observed

What is a covert observation

Participants are not aware they are being observed, only told afterwards

Strengths of a covert observation

internal validity as the participants will be acting naturally

Weaknesses of a covert observation

• ethics are questionable,

What is participant observations

When the researcher joins the group/observation to get a first hand understanding

Strengths of participant observation

• provides real insight, meaning high internal validity

Weaknesses of participant observations

• observer may become too close to the study, and have a biased effect, or not want to produce certain info

What is non partiicpant observations

When the observer is watching from an outside view

Strengths of non participant observations

They are more likely to stay objective and not be swayed by bias

Weaknesses of non participant observations

May lose valuable insight as they are not involved in group dynamic

How to design an observation

• choose either unstructured observations (taking notes) or structured observations (catogorised)

• sample using event sampling(counting no of times an event occurs) or time sampling (records behaviour in particular time frame)

What is event sampling

counting the amount of times a behaviour occurs in a group or individual

What is time sampling

records behaviour within a particular time frame , for example noting what someone does every minute or so

What is a case study

gathering in depth information on a unique individual

what are some important examples of case studies

Clive wearing and EB

Advantages of case studies

• rich in detail

What is a correlation

the relationship between two variables and the strength of that relationship

What is a positive correlation

where one variable increases so does the other

What is a negative correlation

where one variable increases the other decreases

What is a strong positive correlation

+0.8

What is a strong negative correlation

-0.95

Strengths of correlations

• are good to use as a starting point to see the relationship between two variables before conducting a experiment

• quick and cheap to carry out compared to an experiment

• they can use secondary data

Weaknesses of correlations

• don’t provide a cause and effect relationship so we can’t conclude that one is causing the other

• cannot tell us why the variables are related

• there may be an untested variable effecting the correlation

What is content analysis

Method to analyse qualatitive data and transform it into quantative data

how do you conduct content analysis

• revising the qualative data

• extracting codes from the data (ie how many negative words said)

• tally this as they read through

• they can then use stats test to find significance ect of this data

What is thematic analysis

it is creating a summary of data , but not changing it to qualatative

Strengths of content analysis

• high external validity as the data is obtained from real life experiences

• flexable way of producing data