Research Methods 2 Flashcards

(43 cards)

1
Q

What is naturalistic observation?

A
  • Observation that takes place in a natural setting
  • No manipulation from researcher
  • S: higher level of external validity , more generalisable
  • L: lack of control over variables
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2
Q

What is controlled observation?

A
  • Conducted under controlled conditions
  • Extraneous variables controlled
  • S: can be replicated to check for reliability
  • L: lacks external validity, does not apply to everyday life
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3
Q

What is overt observation?

A
  • Observation is open and participants are aware they are being observed
  • S: is more ethical
  • L: is risk of demand characteristics
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4
Q

What is covert observation?

A
  • Researcher observes people without their knowledge
  • May be informed after investigation
  • S: lower risk of investigator effects and demand characteristics
  • L: ethical issues
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5
Q

What is participant observation?

A
  • The person observing also takes part in the activity being observed
  • S: higher level of external validity, con obtain more in depth data
  • L: observer may lack objectivity
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6
Q

What is non participant observation?

A
  • The person observing does not take part in the activity being observed?
  • S: observer can be more objective
  • L: lower external validity, researchers may miss behaviours due to lack of proximity
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7
Q

What is structured observation?

A
  • Researcher identifies target behaviours that will be main focus of investigation
  • Researchers can quantify their observations using categories
  • S: can compare behaviour more easily
  • L: issues with internal validity, observer may be missing relevant behaviours
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8
Q

What is unstructured observation?

A
  • Researcher may record all types of behaviour that they see
  • Produces a lot of rich, qualitative data
  • S: richer data can be obtained
  • L: risk of observer bias due to lack of behavioural categories, can take longer
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9
Q

What is a questionare?

A
  • Made up of pre set list of written questions which a participant responds
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10
Q

Advantage of questionare?

A
  • Can be distributed to a lot of people
  • Easily replicable
  • Closed fixed choice questions are straight forward to analyse
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11
Q

Disadvantages of questionare?

A
  • Social desirability bias
  • Anonymity can cause difficulty in knowing if participants have told the truth
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12
Q

What are open questions?

A
  • Respondent provides own answers express in words e.g. how are you finding this?
  • S: responses not restricted
  • L: difficult to analyse
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13
Q

What are closed questions?

A
  • Respondent has limited choices e.g. how many hours?
  • S: easier to analyse
  • L: responses restricted
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14
Q

What is a Likert scale?

A
  • Type of scale where the respondent indicates their level of agreement
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15
Q

What is an interview?

A
  • Face to Face interactions between interviewer and interviewee
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16
Q

Advantages to an interview?

A
  • Better awareness of truthfulness of interviewee (body language)
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17
Q

Disadvantages to an interview?

A
  • Risk of interviewer bias
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18
Q

What are structured interviews?

A
  • List of pre determined questions asked in a fixed order
19
Q

What are unstructured interviews?

A
  • No set questions, general topic to be discussed but interaction is free flowing and interviewee encouraged to elaborate
20
Q

What are semi structured interviews?

A
  • List of questions in advance but further questions asked
21
Q

What to consider in an interview?

A
  • Quiet room - avoid distractions
  • Rapport - more detail when comfortable
  • Ethics - do not deceived or stress and stay confidential
22
Q

What is social desirability bias?

A
  • Giving socially favourable answers due to presence of interviewer
23
Q

What is the interviewer effects?

A
  • Effect interviewers presence has on answers and causing bias
24
Q

What is a case study?

A
  • A detailed, in depth analysis of an individual/small group
  • Tend to be longitudinal studies, gathering large amounts of (usually qualitative) data from many sources
  • Idiographic method
25
What are examples of case studies?
- Phineas Gage ( metal rod in his head due to an accident, change in personality) - Clive Wearing ( suffered virus which effected memory) - Little Hans
26
Strengths of case studies?
- Rich, detailed insight enabling the study of unusual behaviour - Often used to support/challenge other larger scale research
27
Limitations of case studies?
- Prone to researcher bias - Not reliable, has little population validity
28
What is content analysis?
- Research method that turns qualitative data into quantitative data by coding - Categories set before research
29
Strengths of content analysis?
- Reliable way to analyse qualitative data as coding units are not open to interpretation and so are applied in the same way over time with different researcher - Allows a statistical analysis to be conducted if required as there is quantitative data as a result
30
Limitations of content analysis?
- Only describes the data so cannot extract any deeper meanings or explanations of the data patterns - Findings may lack validity if initial coding is inaccurate - Researcher can ignore the context that the words/pictures are used in
31
How can psychologists assess the reliability of an experiment?
- Test retest
32
What is a correlation coefficient?
- Number between +1/-1 which informs us of the strengths and direction of the relationship between the two co variables
33
What is the difference between a correlation and an experiment?
- Correlation is only assessing the relationship between 2 co variables, not like an experiment which is looking for cause and effect between an IV and DV - Cause and effect cannot be established in correlation analysis
34
Strengths of correlation analysis?
- Useful starting point for research - Relatively economical (usually secondary data)
35
Limitations of correlation analysis?
- No cause and effect can be established - Intervening variables may explain the relationship seen and lead to false conclusions
36
What is an alternative hypothesis?
- Hypotheses written for correlation analysis - No DV and IV
37
Describe a directional alternative hypothesis?
- ' There will be a positive/negative correlation/relationship between ...'
38
Describe a non directional alternative hypothesis?
- ' There will be a correlation/relationship between ...'
39
What is meta analysis?
- Combining results from a number of studies on a particular topic to provide an overall view of that topic
40
Strengths of meta analysis?
- Allows us to create a larger more varied sample, and results can then be generalised across a much larger population, increasing validity - Using secondary data means less ethical issues
41
Limitations of meta analysis?
- May be prone to publication bias, the researcher may not select all relevant studies, choosing to leave out studies with negative/ non significant results Therefore conclusions from the meta analysis would be biased because they only represent some of the relevant data - Using secondary data means there is no knowledge of the accuracy of the data
42
Examples of meta analysis?
- Fisher and Greenberg (1996) : - Critics often claim there is no evidence for psychoanalysis and the claims aren't testable, however, many of the claims have been tested and confirmed with the scientific method - Fisher and Greenburg summarised 2500 of these studies concluding that experimental studies of psychoanalysis compare well with studies relevant to other areas of psychology
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