methods

• lab experiment - aim is to control all varaibles except the one you want to study
• pros of lab - control - replication - causal relationships
• cons - artificial - demand characteristics - ethics
• field experiemnts - conducted outside of a lab - behaviour measured in natural environement
• pros field - causal relationships - demand characteristics - ecological validity
• field cons - less control - ethics
• natural experiment - looks at how an independant varaibe which isn't manipulated - event which occurs naturally
• pros natural - ethical - demand characteristics - ecological validity
• cons natural - causal relationships - ethics
• quasi experiment - researcher cannot use random allocation - iv is normally a feature of the participants
• quasi cons - participant allocation - causal relationships
• quasi pros - control - ecological validity
• observational techniques - involve observing in their natural environment
• observational cons - extraneous variables - observer bias - ethics
• observational pros - ecological validity - theory development
• correlational research - looks for relationships between variables
• pros correlational - causal relationships - ethics
• cons correlational - ethics - causal
• questionnaires - self report - written - face to face - phone - internet
• pros questionnaires - practical
• cons questionnaires - bad questions - biased samples - self report - ethics
• interviews - conversations with face to face questionnaires
• structured - fixed set of questions
• unstructured - may have discussion topics but more less restricted
• pros interviews - rich data - pilot study
• cons interviews - self report - impractical - data analysis - ethics
• case studies - allows researchers to identify unusual cases
• case studies pros - rich data - unique cases
• case studies weaknesses - casusal relationships - generalisation - ethics
• content analysis - analyse secondary data - splitting data into assigned categories
• content analysis pros - inexpensive - ethics
• content analysis cons - data analysis - subjectivity
• matched pairs design - participants matched on particular varaibles
• independant - two unmatched groups complete tasks
• repeat - same group completes both conditions
• counter balencing - mixing order of tasks to prevent order effects
• standardised instructions - experiment is experienced the same way for all participants
• randomisation - material presented in a random order
• non experimental method - don't investigate cause and effect
• single varaible - measure one variable