Research Methods

• Ethical Terms:

  • Access
  • Competence
  • Confidentiality
  • Debriefing (Tell participants nature of research after)
  • Deception
  • Giving Advice
  • Informed Consent (After understanding entire research)
  • Physical/Psychological Harm (No long-term, up to normal stress)
  • Withdrawal
• Validity

  • Extent researchers measure what they claim to
  • External: Assess generalisability and application of findings
  • Ecological: Accurate real world representation?
  • Population: Accurate target population representation?
  • Experimental: Accurate procedure refelts objectives? Credible?
  • Internal: Establishes causal relationship between IV and DV
  • Construct: Measures studied phenomena, operationalised?
  • Predictive: Predicts future behaviour
  • Concurrent: Results align with other measures
  • Face: Accurate measurement of what it claims, appropriate test?
• Reliability

  • Result consistency , linked but not replication
  • Key feature of standardised procedure)
  • Test-retest (external): If participants retake test, will performance be similar or was original “one-off”
  • Inter-rater: If two researchers rate or score behaviour in same way, we can be fairly confident results are reliable
  • Equivalent forms: Give other behaviour test, see if results are same (e.g. multiple types of IQ test or measure of intelligence)
  • Split-half: Performance on one half compared to performance on other, ensures all test items measure same construct
• Key Terms (Bias)


  • Alpha-bias: Exaggerates gender difference
  • Beta-bias: Minimises gender difference
  • Imposed ETIC: EMIC assumed/forced as ETIC
  • Experimenter/researcher bias: Affect consistency; research personal opinions/preferences
• Key Terms (procedure)

  • Empiricism: Can't measure what you can't observe
  • Falsification: Only way to prove theory is to look for disproof
  • Idiographic: Study individuals in uniqueness
  • Experimental control: Methods to stop confounding variables
  • Matched Pairs Design: Match experimental and control groups
  • group in both
  • Holism: Opposite of reductionism
• Key Terms (Evaluate)

  • Deduction: Use existing theories to explain observations; general to specific
  • Induction: Use observations to make theories; specific to general
  • Nomothetic: Establishing general principles to apply more broadly
  • EMIC: Knowledge and interpretations unique to culture
  • ETIC: Knowledge on behaviour considered universally true
• Key Terms (Effects)

  • Experimenter effects: Researcher subtle cues influence participant responses; skewing results
  • Hawthorne Effect: Researchers’ presence can affect experiment outcome; explains why others can't replicate some results
  • Counterbalancing: Overcome order effects; experimenter alternates condition orders for each participant
  • Order effects: Due to order participants experience conditions different
  • Randomisation: Experimenter randomly allocates participants to conditions (average order effects)