research planning

• aim


  a result that your plans or actions are intended to achieve
• hypothesis


  an accurate and testable statement predicting the outcome of the research, what the researcher thinks the results will be (a guess)
• procedure

  steps taken in order to carry out research. the method the researcher took.
• findings


  information discovered as a result of the investigation
• conclusion


  the implications drawn from a study; what the findings tell us about people in general, rather than the particular participants of the study
• ethical issues


  refers to the correct rules of behaviours which is necessary when carrying out research. researchers have a moral responsibility to protect participants from harm, not deceive them and gain consent.
• validity


  the extent to which a researcher is measuring or testing what they set out to measure
• ecological validity


  how far you can generalise or apple the findings of the study beyond a particular setting (typically a lab) in which they were collected
• demand characteristics


  cues in an experiment which can lead to participants guessing the aim of the study, and therefore altering participants behaviour in the study and the results would be incorrect.