Research Methods

• Which variable is measured?

  Dependent variable
• Which variable is changed?

  Independent variable
• What are the strengths of correlation analysis?

  It uses naturally occurring variations in the independent variable and shows the strength of the relationship between the IV and DV
• What is a limitation of correlation analysis?

  It is difficult to establish cause and effect and has low levels of control over extraneous variables
• What are the strengths of laboratory experiments?

  They have high levels of control over extraneous variables and can establish cause and effect
• What are the limitations of laboratory experiments?

  They have low mundane realism and high demand characteristics
• What are the strengths of field experiments?

  They have high mundane realism and low demand characteristics
• What are the limitations of field experiments?

  They have low levels of control over extraneous variables and a lack of informed consent
• What are the strengths of natural experiments?

  They have low levels of harm and high ecological validity
• What are the limitations of natural experiments?

  They have low levels of control over extraneous variables and it is hard to establish cause and effect
• What is a laboratory experiment?

  In a controlled environment
• What is a field experiment?

  In a natural environment
• What is a natural experiment?

  Uses a naturally occurring difference in the independent variable
• What is a repeated measures design?

  Uses the same participants in all conditions
• What are the strengths of repeated measures?

  It removes individual differences and clearly shows the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable
• What are the limitations of the repeated measures?

  It has high demand characteristics and order effects are likely
• What is an independent groups design?

  It uses different participants in each condition
• What are the strengths of independent groups?

  It removes order effects and makes demand characteristics less likely
• What are the limitations of independent groups?

  It has individual differences and twice as many people are needed
• How to balance order effects?

  Counter balancing (ABBA) or randomisation (AB or BA)
• How to control extraneous variables?

  random allocation of participants or standardisation
• How to reduce demand characteristic?

  single blind technique where the participant doesn’t know which condition they have been allocated to
• How to reduce experimenter effects?

  double blind technique where neither the participant nor experimenter knows who’s been allocated to which condition
• How to overcome deception?

  debriefing or prior general consent
• How to overcome lack of informed consent?

  presumptive or prior general consent
• How to overcome harm?

  debriefing
• How to overcome right to privacy?

  informed consent
• How to overcome right to withdraw?

  debriefing or reminders
• What is a strength of the mean?

  It represents all scores
• What is a limitation of the mean?

  It can give peculiar outcomes
• What is a strength of the mode?

  It is not distorted by extreme scores
• What is a limitation of the mode?

  It only represents the most frequent score
• What is a strength of the median?

  It is not distorted by extreme scores
• What is a limitation of the median?

  It only represents the middle data set
• What is a strength of the range?

  It is easy to calculate
• What is a limitation of the range?

  It is distorted by extreme scores
• What is a strength of standard deviation?

  It uses all scores
• What is a limitation of standard deviation?

  It is difficult to calculate
• What are the strengths of random, stratified, and systematic sampling?

  They have high population validity and low experimenter bias
• What are the limitations of random, stratified, and systematic sampling?

  They can have low population validity and are impractical