Part 1

• Aim


  General statement of the purpose of an investigation
• Hypothesis


  A testable statement that states the relationship between the variables to be investigated
• Importance of operationalisation


  A hypothesis can only be tested if the variables being studied can be measured accurately
• Null hypothesis


  A statement which predicts no difference or relationship in the results
• Experimental/alternative hypothesis


  A statement that predicts a difference or a relationship in results
• Directional hypothesis (one-tailed)


  Specifies the direction of results and is done when previous research has been done
• Non-directional hypothesis(two tailed)


  States there will be a difference between 2 groups in an operationalised way without stating the direction of results

  Is used when there is no previous research or previous research has found contradictory results
• Extraneous variable

  Nuisance variables such as weather or noise that do not vary systematically with the IV
• Confounding variable


  A kind of EV that varies systematically with the IV
• Pilot study


  Small scale trial run of a study which takes place before the study
• Aims of a pilot study

  Check procedures, materials and measuring scales work, and allow the researcher to make changes if needed
• Use of pilot studies (questionnaires + interviews)

  Try out questions in advance, re-word and remove confusing ones
• use of pilot studies (observation studies)

  check behavioural categories + coding systems
• Significance of pilot studies


  Improves quality of research and avoid unnecessary work, save time and money
• What is an Independent Variable?


  Something that is manipulated by the researcher or naturally changes
• What is a Dependent Variable?


  Variable that is measured by the researcher
• What does operationalise mean?


  To be precise and clear about what is being measured. It must be testable and repeatable
• Examples of operationalisation?

  • Number of words accurately recalled
  • Reaction times in seconds
  • Number of faces accurately recognised
• What is a population?

  A group of people who are the focus of the researcher's interest from which a small sample is drawn
• What is Generalisation?


  The extent to which findings from a particular investigation can be applied to the population
• Double Blind Procedure

  • Neither PPs nor the researcher who conducts the study is aware of the aims of the investigation (third party conducts the investigation without knowing its main purpose)
  • Double-blind procedures are an important feature of drug trials
  • Treatment may be administered to PPs by someone who is independent of the investigation and who does not know which drugs are real and which are placebos
  • If they don’t know what each PP is receiving then expectations cannot influence participant behaviour
• Self Report Technique


  Method in which a person is asked to state their own feelings and behaviours related to a given topic
• Questionnaire

  A set of written questions used to assess a person’s thoughts and experiences
• Interview

  A live encounter where an interviewer asks a set of questions to assess an interviewee’s thoughts or experiences. The questions may be pre-set or may develop as the interview goes along
• Likert Scale


  One in which the respondent indicates their agreement with a statement using a scale of usually five points. The scale ranges from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree
• Rating Scale

  A rating scale works in a similar way but gets respondents to identify a value that represents their strength of feeling about a particular topic
• Fixed Choice Option

  Includes a list of possible options and respondents are required to indicate those that apply to them
• Designing Interviews

  • List of questions that the interviewer intends to cover and it should be standardised to reduce interviewer bias
  • The interviewer will take notes throughout the interview or it may be recorded and analysed later
  • It is good practice to begin the interview with some neutral questions to make the interviewee feel relaxed and comfortable
• Writing good questions

  • Avoiding the use of jargon - using technical terms that the person may not understand
  • Avoid leading questions and emotive language - it creates bias for the person as they are already leaning towards a specific answer
  • Avoid double barrelled and double negatives - double barrelled means asking 2 questions in one and double negatives can be confusing for people to answer
• Randomisation

  The use of chance methods to control for the effects of bias when deciding the order of experimental conditions
• Standardisation

  Using exactly the same formalised procedures and instructions for all participants in a research study
• Effects of Randomisation

  • Randomisation can minimise the effect of extraneous and confounding variables
  • Is an attempt to control investigator effects
  • A memory experiment may involve participants recalling words from a list so the order of the list should be randomly generated so that the position of each word is not decided by the researcher
• Effects of Standardisation

  • All participants should be subject to the same environment, information and experience
  • All procedures are standardised so there is a list of exactly what will be done in the study
  • This includes standardised instructions that are read to each participant
  • Such standardisation means that non standardised changes in procedure do not act as extraneous variables