IB Psychology

Target population

the group the researcher is interested in studying

Sample

a subset of the target population, the group that is going to be in the research

External validity

the extent to which a study can be generalised to the target population

YAVIS bias

because university students are often the participants in psychological studies there is a YAVIS bias: Young, Attractive, Verbal, Intelligent, Social

Sampling

the process of selecting a representative group from the population under study

Biased sample

A sample that does not fairly represent the population

Random sampling

everyone in the entire taret population has an equal chance of being selected (similar to jury duty)

Random sampling - Advantage

should represent the target population and eliminate sampling bias

Random sampling - Disadvantage

near impossible to carry out due to time, effort & funding

Stratified sampling

-researcher identifies the different types of people that make up the target population and works out the proportions needed for the sample to be representative

-when a population's characteristics are diverse, can ensure that every characteristic is properly represented in the sample

Stratified sampling - Advantage

allows researcher to control representativeness of some key characteristics without relying on chance

Stratified sampling - Disadvantage

requires more knowledge about characteristics of target population, hard to implement

Convenience/oppurtunity sampling

-participants are chosen based on their ease of availability and proximity to the researcher

-participants are readily available to the researcher, often in a pre-exsisting group

Convenience/opportunity sampling - Advantage

-cost effective

-useful when generalisation of findings is not the primary purpose

Convenience/oppurtunity sampling - Disadvantage

limited generalisation due to sampling bias

Volunteer sampling/self-select sampling

-recruiting volunteers, often through online advertisements. Anyone who wants to participate is included in the sample

Volunteer sampling/self-select sampling - Advantage

-quick and easy method

-can also have wide coverage

Volunteer sampling/self-select sampling - Disdvantage

-limited representativeness and generalisation

-a volunteer is more motivated than the average participant from a large population, they may be pursuing money

Snowball sampling

-a non-probability method where currently enrolled research participants help recruit other subjects

-small number of participants invited invite others they know that have characteristics that are of interest to the researcher

-convenient for groups of people who are difficult to reach (eg. prostitutes, drug dealers)

Purposive sampling

-non-probability sampling technique where units are selected because of needed characteristics

-participants are selected based on relevant (salient) characteristics to the the research

-relatively easy to select

-non-probability therefore prone to sampling bias

Priming

activating particular representations or associations in memory before carrying out a task

non-probability sampling

not randome, prone to sampling bias

Repeated measures design

one sample of participants that receives each condition of an experiment.

Repeated measures design - Strengths

•Each participant is compared to him or herself. Participant variables are therefore controlled.

•Fewer participants are required.

Repeated measures design - Weaknesses

•Order effects - that is, because the participants have to experience more than one condition, there may be confounding variables. For example, boredom, fatigue, or practice effect. Practice effect is when they get better at something just because they keep doing it.

•Demand characteristics - the participants may guess the goal of the experiment and change their behavior

•Often it is not possible to use the same materials. For example, you cannot use the same list of words to memorise under two conditions. By using two different lists of words, you now have introduced a confounding variable.

•Participant attrition

Independent samples design

the sample is randomly allocated to one condition of the experiment.

Independent samples design - Strengths

•Order effects are controlled for since each participant only experiences one condition

•Demand characteristics are less likely as the participants will most likely not guess the hypothesis

•The same materials can be used for all conditions

Independent samples design - Weaknesses

•Participant variability - each group will have different participants. The personal differences in each group - e.g. one group may have more non-native English speakers or better memorisers - may affect the outcome of your experiment.

•More participants are required.

Matched pairs design

participants are not randomly allocated to conditions. Instead, they are usually pre-tested with regard to the variable.

Psychology

the study of the behaviour and mental processes of individuals, and how it is affected by an organisms physical state, mental state and external environment

Theory

an explanation for a psychological henomenon.

-most theories are built on concepts- hypothetical constructs which must be carefully defined so that they can be tested.

-must be evaluated (ERQ)

Checkist when making a theory

-it is a statement used to summarise, organise and explain observations

-can be used to make predictions about behaviour

A good theory is...

TEACUP: testable, evidencce, application, constructs, unbiased, predictive (behaviour)

Testable

-a good theory must be falsifiable. If we can't test it, it isn't a good theory

-could 'we prove it wrong'

Evidence

-empirical support

-must be anecdotal

-is not from a highly artificial situation-reliable-evidence could be replicated

-empirical support may be from an experiment, observation, case study or interview

Application

-a good theory can be applied to many different situations or it improves a very specific behaviour (eg. treatment for depression)

-high heuristic validity -> the theory can be used to validate a lot of things

Constructs

-construct validity

-a good theory makes sure its variables are clearly defined so that they can be reliably measured

Unbiased

-a good theory has no bias to a gender or culture

-endocentric -> research done only applied to males

-ethnocentric -> research was very culturally biased, usually western culture

Predictive (behaviour)

-a good theory does not just describe what is happening, it predicts behaviour

-if a theory simply labels behaviours but doesn't predict when or why a person might demonstrate behaviour with reliabiliyu

independent variable

variable being manipulated by the researcher (eg. cute aggression: photos being shown)

Dependent variable

variable being measured (eg. cute aggression: bubbles popped)

Controlled variable

variables that are kept constant to avoid influencing the relationship between IV & DV (eg. cute aggression: room conditions, frequency of images shown)

Standardised procedures

the idea that the instructions given to all participants are the same

Ethical terms

DUDCAR. Deception, Prevention from undue stress/harm, Debriefing, Confidentiality, Anonymity, Right to withdraw

Deception

researcher conceals true aim of the study. It can be misinformation or not telling the complete goal. If deception is used, it must be justified. This would entail deception being required for the aim of the study to be accurately studied. Deception must be approved by an ethics board.

Prevention from undue stress/harm

undue stress is a higher level of stress or harm to the participants than what is experienced on a daily basis. Cannot humiliate a participant or force them to reveal private information. Nothing can be done that will have a permenant effect on physical or psychological health. Experimenters must ensure stress is deminushed.

Debriefing

at the end of the study, all participants must be debriefed. In debriefing true aims and purpose of the research must be revealed. Any deception must be justified. All participants must leave the study in the same physical and psychological state in which they arrived.

Confidentiality

participant data must be kept confidential, it should be stored in a secure location.

Anonymity

participant data must be anonymised. Participants should be guaranteed that identities will not be revealed in publication or any other use of the data thereafter.

Right to withdraw

Participants have the right to withdraw themselves or their data at any point.

Qualitative research methods

-tends to be concerned with meaning and experience: how people make sense of the world

-is exploratory and holistic: aims to achieve understanding of underlying causes

-uses unstructured techniques

-eg. interviews

Reflexivity

self examination of ones own biases

Ecological validity

can the result be representative of what happens in the real world

Demand characteristics

cues that might indicate the study aims to participants. These cues can lead participants to change their behaviors or responses based on what they think the research is about.

Case study

-qualitative

-detailed analysis over time of a significant area of interest (case) to produce in depth context-dependent knowledge

-there is no single method, rather it's an approach using a variety of methods

-triangulation is often used and as a result of using multiple methods and perspectives, a well rounded understanding is achieved

Case study - Strenghts

-more credible

-in depth

-flexible

-can stimulate new research

-can contrast established theories

Case study - Weaknesses

-difficult to replicate

-prone to researcher-participant bias

-reliance on memory-subject to distortion

Naturilistic observation

-qualitative

-observations of a naturally occuring behaviour in a natural setting

-overt: participants know they're being observed

-covert: participants don't know they're being observed, can be unethical

-can be one off or conducted over a period of time

Naturilistic observation - Strengths

-not influenced by demand characteristics

-high ecological validity

-can be used to collect data in cases where it would be impossible or unethical to do so otherwise

Naturilistic observation - Weaknesses

-ethical concerns regarding observing strangers without their knowledge or consent

-potential for privacy violations

-generates a lot of data that researchers have to make decisions about how it will be processed, leading to potential researcher bias

Participant observation

-qualitative

-researcher becomes part of the group being observed

-gains close and intimate familiarity with a give area of interest in a natural setting

-researcher discloses any biases, conflict of interests etc.

Participant observation - Strenghts

-very detailed and in depth

-helps avoid researcher bias

-provides holistic interpretation of a topic

-material comes from participants themselves to generate a theory

Participant observation - Weaknesses

-researcher can become too immersed: reflexivity needed

-time consuming and demanding

-risk of loss of objectivity by researcher

-ethical issues: friendships can be formed on false pretences and the presence of a researcher can shift social dynamics

Generalisation

when the results of a study can be applied to a larger population

Interviews

-qualitative

-can be unstructured, semi-structured or a focus group interview

-gain insight into people's thoughts, feelings from their point of view

-can be followed up by a survey (quantitive) to gain data so findings can be generalised to a larger population

Unstructured interviews

-no list of predetermined questions

-contain open questions & are informal, free flowing and resemble a probing conversation

-requires planning and the researcher must prepare an interview guide that lists themes that should be explored

-will often appear informal and rather conversational

Unstructured interviews - Strengths

-in depth, rich, nuanced data

-allows the researcher to be creative and adaptive

-researcher can aske interviewee to elaborate

-creates rapport between researcher and participant

-uses inductive approach - data may emerge unexpectedly

Unstructured interviews - Weaknesses

-offers limited scope to be replicated by other researchers

-large amount of data (possible not relevant) that requires sorting (time)

-expensive

-prone to researcher bias - subjected to skill

-1 on 1 is somewhat artifical, can bring ecological validity issues

Semi-structured interviews

-involve the preparation of an interview guide that lists themes that should be explored

-this guide serves as a checklist but there is a great deal of flexibility so questions can be elaborated on

Semi-structured interviews - Strengths

-less potential for bias

-flexibility of open-ended approaches

-advantage of structure approach

-allows for analysis in many ways

Semi-structured interviews - Weaknesses

-can limit how much interesting data is said

-researchers could impose expectations (confirmation bias) on the data through specific questioning

-decision trails are necessary for improved credibility/trustworthiness

Focus group interviews

-a group interview used to study what specific group of people think about a topic

-group sizes are typically 8-12

-originally used in communication and market research, popular in health psychology

-researcher is the facilitator

-purposeful sampling is often used as members of a focus group have a common characteristic that is relevant for the topics of investigation

-idea is that group processes can help people explore and clarify their views in ways that would be different to achieve in 1-1 situations

Focus group interviews - Strengths

-quick, convenient

-useful for exploring knowledge

-highlights cultural views/norms

-members may prompt relevant ideas and opinions of others

Focus group interviews - Weaknesses

-not suitable for intimate

Considerations before, during and after an interview

-training the interviewer to avoid interviewer effects including characteristics and behaviours affecting interviewees response

-interviewer must carefully consider ethic issues

Quantitative methods

-psychologists don't prove anything: either support or refute a hypothesis

-quantitative methods emphasis objective measurements and the statistical analysis of data

-variable must be fully operationalised in order for the study to have validity

-extraneous variables may affect the validity of a study

Extraneous variable

other variables that may influence study results. eg. iinterruptions, distractions

Operationalised

making topic measured

Reductionism

explaining human behaviour by breaking it into smaller parts (scientific, biological, not cultural)

Validity

the degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure

Internal validity

-the degree to which there is support that the independent variable caused the observable difference in the dependent variable

-confidence in the cause-effect relationship

-common in lab experiments due to minimisation of extraneous variables

Construct validity

-the degree to which the measure is really measuring the theoretical construct it is supposed to be.

-is the survey claiming to measure deception, actually measuring depression?

Population validity

-the extent to which the results of the study can be generalised to the target population

-this increases when the sample is representative of the target population through random sampling

Ecological validity

can the result be representative of what happens in the real world

Aspects of an experiment

-the goal is to determine whether a cause-effect relationship exsists between the the independent and the dependent variable

-the idea of "control" is that when the reseacher manipulates the IV, all other variables remain the same

-IV and DV's must be operationalised

-a true experiment randomly allocates participants to conditions

Hypotheses

before carrying out an experiment, researchers first read through the research available on the research question, that is the aim of the study, usually limited to a certain population

Experimental hypothesis

predicts the relationship between the IV and DV-that is, what we expect will come out of the manipulation of the IVs

Null hypothesis

-in experimental research it is conventional to formulate both a null and experimental hypothesis

-the null hypothesis states that the IV will have no effect on the DV or that changes in DV will be due to chance

Lab experiment

-an experiment done under highly controlled conditions, researchers control extraneous variables

-may have lower ecological validity

-can be easily replicated by other researchers

-can establish a cause-effect relationship (validity)

-reductionsist (not holistic)

-random allocation to avoid sampling bias

Field experiments

-experiments in 'real world'

-researcher still manipulates IV but not extraneous variables

Field experiments - Strengths

-higher degree of ecological validity

-participant unawareness means less reaction if at all to researcher's presence

Field experiments - Weaknesses

-lack complete replication

-ethicals problems due to lack of informed consent

Quasi experiment

-no IV is manipulated

-participants aren't randomly allocated instead it is their traits that set them apart (eg. being pregnant, african)

-the IV is a pre-exsisting participant trait

-if the IV is race, gender, religion etc. these variables cannot be manipulated by the researcher

Quasi experiment - Strengths

-allow for one characteristic to be isolated and researched in a controlled way

-higher degree of ecological validity

Quasi experiment - Weaknesses

-comparable control needs to be created, otherwise there is a problem with internal validity

Natural experiment

-experiment that's a result of a naturally occuring event

-the researcher doesn't manipulate the variables but records the possible effects on the IV on the identified DV

Natural experiment - Strengths

-higher ecological validity

-allows for variables to be isolated and researched in a semi-controlled way

Natural experiment - Weaknesses

-no way to establish a cause-effect relationship

-some issues with informed consent

Correlational studies

-the principle is that when one variable changes, so does another

-a positive correlation is when both variables are increased the same way. eg. as x increases, y increases

-a negative correlation is when one variable increases, the other decreases. eg. as x increases, y decreases

-natural, no IV manipulation, no cause-effect relationship

Surveys & Questionnaires

-surveys tend to be qualitative or quantitative in nature

-questionnaires are any written set of questions. the goal is to collect qualitative data with regard to a person's opinions/attitudes. Often referred to as written interviews