Research methods from

• What is a target population?

  The target population is a group of individuals who meet a particular set of sampling criteria, such as: female, 18 years or older, new diagnosis of type II diabetes, not on insulin.
• What is the random sampling method?


  when all members of the population have an equal opportunity to be selected for the study.

  E.G names in a hat
• What is opportunity sampling?

  Taking a sample of people who are available at the time that the study is being carried out and fit the criteria of the research.

  E.G walking past
• What is volunteer sampling?

  Involves participants selecting themselves to be part of the sample

  E.g by advertisement
• What is snowball sampling?

  a method for acquiring a sample of people, in which existing participants suggest names of future participants to be recruited
• What samples are the most representative?

  Most ➡️ least:

  Random

  Opportunity

  Snowball

  Volunteer
• Which sample as the most easy to obtain?

  Easy ➡️ hard:

  Volunteer

  Snowball

  Opportunity

  Random
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of random sampling?

  Advantages:

  Unbiased

  Representative

  Disadvantages:

  Difficult to obtain

  High attrition rates
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of opportunity sampling?

  Advantages:

  Quick

  Useful for memory

  Disadvantages:

  Biased

  Not very representative
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of volunteer sampling?


  Advantages:

  Low attrition rates

  Disadvantages:

  Similar participants

  Not representative
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of snowball sampling?

  Advantages:

  Useful for study's on drugs

  Quick

  Disadvantages:

  Biased due to participants having similar characteristics

  Not representative
• What are the different types of ethics?

  Informed consent

  Deception

  Confidentiality

  Debriefing

  Withdrawal

  Protection form harm
• What is informed consent?


  permission granted in the knowledge of the possible consequences, typically that which is given by a patient to a doctor for treatment with full knowledge of the possible risks and benefits. But not needed in public
• What is deception?


  Either withholding information from participants or providing false information. Can be justified if the benefits of the study outweigh the negatives
• What is confidentiality?


  All information regarding a patient's condition including types of tests ordered or results is confidential
• What is withdrawal?


  Participants can choose to exit study at any time with no consequences or penalties and results also withdrawn
• What is debriefing?


  the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants
• What is protection from harm?

  Participants protected from physical and mental harm

  risk assessment must be done before experiment to assess this

  contact should be given after to allow protection to be long-term
• What is an interview?


  An interview involves verbal communication between the researcher and the subject during which information is provided to the researcher. Interviews may be structured or unstructured.
• What is a unstructured interview?

  A qualitative interview that has no set questions. Used in clincial settings to learn and help diagnose

  Requires attention to personal variables
• What is a structured interview?


  a research procedure in which all participants are asked to answer the same questions in a pre determined order
• What is a semi-structured interview?

  having an outline of questions to follow but with flexibility in a natural environment
• How variables influence interviews?

  Interpersonal variables

  Social desirability bias

  Factors such as race and sex
• How can interviews be improved?

  Clarify ambiguous questions

  More results can be collected like tone of voice and body language if assessed

  Make it more trailered to the individual
• What are questionnaires?


  A type of self report done by a participant only and can be done in any environment
• What are advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires?

  Advantages:

  Generates quantitative data

  Convenient

  Replicable

  Disadvantages:

  Low response rate

  Central tendency bias

  Requires interpretation due to ambiguity
• What is a open question?

  The participants can provide as much detail as they want

  Qualitative answer
• What is a closed question?

  a question requiring only a short, specific response

  Quantitative answer
• What is a rating scale?

  A rating scale lists an ordered series of categories of a variable that are assumed to be based on an underlying continuum.

  
  

  Ex. Rate your pain on a 1 - 10 scale with 10 being the worst....
• What is a likert scale?

  A type of rating scale that typically has four, five or seven categories that address agreement, evaluation, or frequency. It is used to determine the opinions or attitudes of study subjects.

  
  

  Ex. strongly agree, agree, uncertain, disagree, strongly disagree.
• What is a differential scale?

  The postition a person takes that is most representative of their answer between two opposite verbs

  e.g

  Are you happy?

  Unhappy ➡️➡️ happy
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of open questions?

  Advantages:

  More detail

  Increases validity

  Disadvantages:

  Difficult to analyse and compare
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of closed questions?

  Advantages:

  Easy to compare

  Generates quantitative data

  Disadvantages:

  Low quality answers

  Not representative
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of rating scales?

  Advantages:

  Show extent of answers

  Allow comparisons to be made

  Disadvantages:

  Ambiguous

  Central tendency bias
• What is a dependent variable?

  The dependent variable is the variable that is measured
• What are extraneous variables?

  they exist in all studies and can interfere with obtaining a clear understanding the relationships among study variables. Controlling extraneous variables enables a researcher to more accurately determine the effect of an independent or treatment variable on a dependent variable or outcome variable.
• What does it mean to operationalise?

  Making concepts measurable to test them

  Iv = groups/ conditions

  Dv = quantitatively measures
• What is a hypothesis?

  A hypothesis is a statement that can be tested and a prediction of results
• What is an alternate hypothesis?

  A specific testable prediction containing variables, and will state either a difference or relationship.
• What is a null hypothesis?

  null means zero. so a null hypothesis states that two variables are not related.