Research methods

• This term refers to a set of assumptions, methods and terminology shared by scientists. One problem for the idea of psychology being a science is that it may not share a single on of these e.g. an approach may have one of its own

  Paradigms
• A... happens when the established ideas and methods of a science has been challenged to the point that a different set takes its place. The change from a predominantly behaviourist approach to psychology to a cognitive one in the 1960's could be an example

  Paradigm shift
• What is an independent variable?

  The aspect of an experimental situation which is changed by the researcher or changes naturally
• What is a dependent variable?


  The variable that is measures by the researcher, and change should be a result of a change in the IV
• What does operationalisation mean?

  Devising a clear way of measuring/changing a variable
• Research ideas may begin with terms such as 'memory' or 'mood' as variables to manipulate or measure... describes how these variables are expressed in a form that can be measured accurately. For example 'memory' could be measured as the number of words recalled


  Operationalisation (of variables)
• What is an aim?

  A general statement that the research intends to investigate
• What is a hypothesis?

  A detailed statement, which is clear, precise and operationalised, stating the relationship between the variables being tested
• What is a directional hypothesis?


  One-tailed- the direction of the difference or relationship between the two conditions stated
• What is a non-directional hypothesis?

  Two-tailed- simply states that there could be a relationship or difference but does not state what this will be
• What is a null hypothesis?

  A prediction there will be no relationship between the two variables in a study
• What is an experimental hypothesis?

  A prediction of the expected relationship between the two variables in a study
• What do we mean by the term 'internal validity'?

  The extent to which the design of a psychology study allows it to actually measure the things it wants to
• What is the difference between internal and external validity?


  Internal validity is concerned with measurement (whether the design of a psychology study allows it to actually measure the things it wants to), whereas external validity is concerned with generalisation (whether the results and conclusions of the study can be applied more widely)
• What is an extraneous variable?


  Variables other than the IV that can affect the DV if not controlled
• What is a confounding variable?

  A variable that hasn't been controlled and varies systematically with the conditions of the IV, meaning that it could be an alternative explanation for changes in the DV (not all extraneous variables are confounding variables)
• What is the difference between an extraneous and confounding variable?

  An extraneous variable is any variable other than the IV that could have an effect on the DV if not controlled... whereas a confounding variable is an extraneous variable which is not controlled and which VARIES SYSTEMATICALLY with the conditions of the IV.
• Name some factors which may affect the internal validity of a psychology study

  Investigator effects

  Demand characteristics

  Confounding variables (caused by poor control of extraneous variables)

  Social desirability bias

  Poorly operationalised DV (in an experiment) or behavioural categories (in an observational study)
• When psychologists talk about ecological validity, they are referring to:

  A form of external validity which looks at how well a study's methods (i.e. settings and tasks) can represent settings beyond the study (and so how well results can be generalised)
• When psychologists talk about 'external validity' they are referring to:

  How well the results of a study can be applied to real life in general (ecological, population, temporal validity)
• What are demand characteristics?

  These are features of a piece of research which allow the participants to work out its aim and/or hypotheses. Participants may then change their behaviour (either to match what they think the researcher wants or to deliberately undermine it). This reduces the internal validity of a study. This is more likely in repeated measure designs for experiments. It is also a problem for repeating historical research projects as participants may be familiar with the results of original research.
• What are investigator effects? why would investigator effects reduce internal validity in a study?

  Where the language or behaviour of the investigator (sometimes unconsciously) affects the behaviour/responses/results of the participant. If this happens then the research may actually be measuring the effect of the investigator, not the the effect of the IV. If an experiment does not actually measure the thing it wants to, then it lacks internal validity.
• Controlling extraneous variables


  Usually increases internal validity
• Controlling extraneous variables


  Usually decreases ecological validity
• Controlling extraneous variables


  Means they do not become confounding variables (variables which affect the DV and which vary systematically with the conditions of the IV)
• Internal validity


  The study will still be measuring what it is trying to measure (and not just the effect of the confounding variable)
• Ecological validity


  Controlled environments and tasks tend to be unrealistic, and do not closely resemble real world settings
• What do we mean by the term 'temporal validity'? Why would low temporal validity be a problem?


  The extent to which the findings of any psychology study can be generalised to other time periods. Low temporal validity means that results of psychology studies may only reflect the time period that they were obtained in
• What do we mean by the term 'population validity'? Why would low population validity be a problem?

  Population validity refers to the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to the larger population. Low population validity would be a problem because it would limit the ability to apply the findings to a broader group of people.
• Types of validity


  • Internal validity
  • External validity
• Internal validity


  • Confounding variables
  • Demand characteristics
• External validity


  • Ecological validity
  • Temporal validity
• Methods of checking validity

  • Face validity
  • Concurrent validity
• Types of validity


  Ways in which a research study might not end up measuring what it wants to measure, either because of the design of the study (internal validity) or because of generalisability to real life (external validity)
• Methods of checking validity

  Ways that the validity of a research study or task can be assessed
• What do we mean by the term 'concurrent validity'?

  This is a method of assessing the validity of research findings. It involves comparing the current test/measure with a previously validated test/measure of the same topic.

  • We would expect participants to achieve similar results for both tests/measures (this would show HIGH concurrent validity)
• What do we mean by the term 'face validity'?

  A method of assessing the validity of research designs. It asks whether a test/measure looks like it is measuring what the researcher was intending to measure.

  • Only requires intuitive measurement
• How do you check inter-observer reliability? (In as much detail as possible)

  1. Two researchers observe the same behaviour at the same time and record results 2) Compare results looking for similarity 3) Use Spearman’s rho looking for a correlation of >0.8 to consider it reliable.
• How do you check test-retest reliability? (In as much detail as possible)

  For Experiments - Standardisation of procedures (e.g. instructions, task, materials etc)

  For Self-Report Methods - Reduce ambiguity of items (e.g. in questionnaires/interview questions), so that people are more likely to give consistent responses

  For Observation studies - Operationalising behavioural categories, or training observers to use the behavioural categories, so that they understand each behaviour category fully.
• What happens in an independent measures design?

  Participants only complete experimental condition (so there are different participants in each experimental condition)