Research Methods- Psychology AS AQA
Inter-interviewer reliability
Extent to which 2 interviewers produced same outcome from interview
Experimental realism
Extent to which participants become involved in an experiment and become less influenced by cues about how to behave
Inter-observer reliability
Extent to which there is agreement between 2 or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour
Event sampling
Observational technique which a count is kept of number of times certain event occurs
Covert observations
Observing people without their knowledge
Independent variable
Variable you control e.g study on whether music helps revise. This is the condition they're in (controlled by the experimenter)
Quasi-experiments
'Almost' experiments but lack one or more features of a true experiment--> full experimenter control over IV and random allocation of participants to conditions
Demand characteristics
A cue that makes participants aware of what researcher expects to find, or how they're meant to behave. Can change outcome of study because participant will conform.
Random allocation
Allocating participants to experimental groups or conditions using random techniques
Ethical guidelines
Concrete, quasi-legal documents that help guide conduct within psychology by establishing principles for standard practice and competence
Investigator effect
Anything investigator does which has an effect on participants performance in a study other than intended.
Experimental condition
Condition containing the experimental treatment
Field experiment
Controlled experiment outside a laboratory.
Observer bias
Danger that observers might 'see' what they expect to see
External validity
Degree to which research finding can be generalised: to other settings (ecological validity); to other groups of people (population validity); over time (historical validity)
Qualitative data
Descriptions, words, meanings, pictures and texts.
Measure of central tendency
Descriptive statistic that provided information about a 'typical' response for a data set.
Measure of dispersion
Descriptive statistic that provides information about how spread-out if scores is
Correlational analysis
Determining extent of a relationship between two variables
Repeated measures
Each participant takes part in every condition under test
Interviewer bias
Effect of interviewers expectations, communicated unconsciously, on respondents behaviour
Investigator/experimenter bias
Effect that an investigator/experimenter has on participants and thus on results of research study
Laboratory experiment
Experiment carried out in controlled setting
Counterbalancing
Experimental technique used to overcome order effects. Ensures each condition is tested first or second in equal amounts.
Stratified sample
Group of participants selected according to their frequency in population in order to obtain representative sample
Experimental group
Group of participants which receives the experimental treatment
Control group
Group of participants who receive no treatment.
Target population
Group of people researcher is interested in
Ethics committee
Group of people within research institution that must approve study before it begins
Order effect
In repeated measures design, extraneous variable arising from order in which conditions are presented e.g practice effect of fatigue effect
Control condition
In repeated measures experiment, condition that provides a baseline measure of behaviour without the experimental treatment, so that effect of experimental treatment may be assessed
Confederate
Individual in study who isn't real participant- could act as independent variable
Structured interview
Interview in which questions decided in advance
Unstructured interview
Interview where there are general aims and maybe some questions but interviewees answers guide the questions
Correlation coefficient
Number between -1 and +1 that tells us how closely the co variables in a Correlational analysis are related
Quantitative data
Numbers and measures of something.
Cross cultural study
Kind of natural experiment in which IV is different cultural practices and DV is a behaviour.
Attrition
Loss of participants from a study over time- likely to leave a biased sample or a smaller which is too small
Effect size
Measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables
Presumptive consent
Method of dealing with lack informed consent or deception, by asking group of people who are similar to participants whether they would agree to take part, if they consent it is presented real people would also agree
Double blind
Neither experimenter or participant are aware of research aims so have no expectations
Longitudinal study
Observation of same items over long period of time
Cohort effects
One group of participants may have unique characteristics because of time specific experiences during development of it's members
Cross sectional study
One group of participants of a young age are compared with another older group, with view to finding out the influence of age on behaviour in question
Extraneous variables
Outside effect which experimenter can't control e.g individual differences
Matched pairs
Pairs of participants matched on terms if key variables suck as age and IQ. One member of each pair placed in experimental group and other in the control group
Independent groups
Participants allocated to two or more groups representing different experimental conditions.
Informed consent
Participants have right to be given comprehensive information concerning nature and purpose of research and their role in it so they can decided whether want to take part
Confidentiality
Participants right to have personal information protected
Right to withdraw
Participants should have right to withdraw from taking part in study where they're feeling uncomfortable, also have right to refuse permission for researcher to use any data they produced
Protection from harm
Participants shouldn't experience negative physical or psychological effects
Privacy
Persons right to control flow if information about themselves
Non-directional hypothesis
Predicts that there will be a difference between two conditions or groups, without stating direction of difference
Control
Refers to extent to which any variable is held constant or regulated by a researcher
Mundane realism
Refers to how a study mirrors real world. Task environment is realistic to experiences encountered in real world.
Natural experiment
Research method in which experimenter can't manipulate independent variable directly, but where varies naturally and effect can be observed on a dependent variable
Meta analysis
Researcher looks at findings from number of different studies in order to reach a general conclusion
Opportunity sample
Sample of participants produced by selecting people who are most easily available at time of study
Random sample
Sample of participants produced by using random technique- everyone has equal chance of wing selected
Systematic sample
Selecting every fifth or tenth person
Experimental design
Set of procedures used to control influence of factors such as participant variables in an experiment
Standard deviation
Shows the amount if variation in a data set. Assesses the spread of data around the mean
Pilot study
Small scale study run of study to test any aspects of design
Directional hypothesis
States direction of predicted differences between two conditions or two groups of participants
Imposed Etic
Technique or theory is developed in one culture and them used to study another different culture with different norms, values, experiences etc
Hawthorne effect
Tendency for participants to alter behaviour as a result of knowing they're being observed
Social desirability bias
Tendency for respondents to answer questions in a way that will present them in a better light
Single blind
Type of research design in which participant isn't aware of research aims.
Intervening variable
Variable that comes between 2 other variables
Volunteer bias
Volunteer participants usually more highly motivated than random- sampling bias
Dependent variable
What you see change e.g. This is how much they've learned after given test after either listening to music or not- what they score
Deception
Where participant isn't told true aims of a study and thus can't give truly informed consent
Internal validity
Whether the study has tested what it meant to test; degree to which observed effect was due to experimental manipulation rather than extraneous variables