Science skills

• independent variable is the variable that changes
• dependent variable is the variable that is measured
• controlled variable is held constant or limited
• Correlation study

  A non-experimental study where the researcher investigates relationships between variables in a sample of participants by measuring rather than manipulating any variables
• Extraneous variable is any variable other than the independent variable that may affect the dependent variable in an unwanted way
• Case study is an investigation of a specific behaviour, person, small group, event or issue. A case study usually involves a specific, small sample size. A case study is an in-depth investigation that includes real-world complexities
• Aim - to investigate the effect of (IV on DV)
• IV - the variable that is manipulated or changed
• DV - the variable that is measured
• Hypothesis

  P - population

  I - IV

  D - DV

  D - direction
• Within subjects design

  Same set of participants complete all trials, eliminates individual differences but order effects
• Between subjects design

  Two seperate groups are compared, no order effects but individual participant differences impact results
• Conclusion - answers hypothesis
• Generalisations - is the sample representative of the population?
• Extraneous variables - another variable (other than IV) that could impact DV
• Confounding variables - another variable (other than the IV) that has impacted the DV
• Primary data - data we collect ourselves from a study that we have designed
• Secondary data - analysing data collected by someone else
• Quantitative data - numerical data
• Qualitative - non-numerical data
• Sample - subset of the population
• Generalise conclusions from the sample to the population
• Sample must be representative of the population
• When sample size is small, affected by CV or not representative - more research with a larger/more representative sample is needed to support this study's conclusion
• Sampling techniques

  Convenience sampling - participants who are convenient to recruit e.g friends, family, first year psych students

  • Easy but not accurate representative of the general population
• Sampling techniques

  Random sampling - uses a chance process to ensure that every member of the population of interest has an equal chance of being selected e.g drawing names from a hat
• Sampling techniques

  Stratified sampling - a technique used to ensure that the sample contains the same proportions of participants from each social group or subgroup present in a population
• Controlled experiment - methodology used to test a hypothesis in which the researcher systematically manipulates one or more variables to investigate the effect of these manipulations on another variable
• Correlational studies - non-experimental study where the researcher investigates a relationship between variables, the researcher does no try to control or change any of the variables they observe and measure what naturally occurs
• Fieldwork - involves observing and interacting with a selected environment beyond the classroom/lab, researchers want to capture human thoughts, feelings and behaviours in a natural setting
• Modelling + simulation - creating a conceptual, mathematical or physical representation of a system of concepts, events or processes
• Product, process or system development - design or the evaluation of process, system or artefact to meet human need
• Literature review - report produced by reading scientific research on a particular area and writing a summary
• Random allocation - is a method used to minimise bias in assigning participants to groups
• A mixed design combines the within and between subject designs, with multiple groups and data recorded at multiple times.
• Case study - analysis of one particular example in an area of interest that is carried out to develop our understanding of a whole process
• Classification - is a scientific activity that seeks to systematically organise phenomena, objects or events into manageable sets
• Identification - the process of recognising phenomena as belonging to particular sets or possibly being part of a new or unique set
• Accuracy - the accuracy of a measurement means how close it is to the true value of the quantity being measured. Accuracy is not quantifiable, but data can be described as more or less accurate
• Precision - how close a set of measurement values are to one another (not necessarily to the true value)