Research Methods Exam 12th June Thursday afternoon They ALWAYS What are hypotheses? contain 2 They are statements (NOT QUESTIONS!!!!) variables about the outcome of an experiment. I.e. There is a link between being blonde and being an awesome teacher Or There is a correlation between being in Miss Baynes’ class and getting an A*! What is a H1 and a H0? • H1 – an alternate hypothesis which predicts a difference or correlation. E.g. eating parmos makes my bum bigger. • H0 – a null hypothesis (null means no) which predicts NO difference or correlation. E.g. eating parmos will NOT make my bum bigger. H1 H0 What are INDEPENDENT and DEPENDENT variables IV – the thing the psychologist controls (THE CAUSE) DV – the thing that is measured (THE EFFECT) E.g. If I did an experiment to see if smelly students get better grades, my IV would be the stench of the student What type of variables are these? 1. There is a difference in how participants rate their mood when in blue rooms and red rooms. 2. Men are slower drivers than women 3. The amount of parmos I eat effects the size of my butt. IV DV Telling a joke Age Sex amount remembered attitude amount they touch Age how they are portrayed Sex how much they forgive Type of treatment how effective it is What are extraneous variables and how can they be controlled? They are variables that make the results unreliable as they can have an effect on the DV. E.g. In Haber and Levin, Joe might have not been able to tell how far away the teddy was because it was foggy that day. Standardisation is a way of controlled the extraneous variables so that they remain constant for all trials. E.g. Haber & Levin should test everyone in the fog then! What is a representative sample? It’s when you take a sample of the TARGET POPULATION (your target population could be all teenagers in Brotton, or all ugly people in Middlesbrough or all suicidal teachers) that is an accurate reflection of the group. E.g. within the suicidal teachers sample, does your sample contain old and young teachers, male and female, maths, english and science teachers, smelly teachers, fat teachers, thin teachers etc? What type of sampling would you use? Random – names out of a hat, everyone has equal chance of being picked. Better chance of a representative sample, unlikely to get freak sample. Takes ages and people might not want to take part. Opportunity – available or convenient participants. Quick and easy but usually not representative. Experiments!! Repeated measures! One group does two different trials and you compare the results. Independent Groups Two groups do different conditions and you compare the results CONDITION A CONDITION A CONDITION B + Not as many participants needed + No participant variables either! - Order effect – bored, tired, better! CONDITION B + No order effect - Participant variables Need more participants Laboratory experiments Takes part in a CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT + Easy to establish cause and effect if environment is controlled, i.e. NO EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES!!! - Lacks ecological validity as not a real life setting - More DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS. The environment sometimes gives away what the experiment is about and so people behave differently! Field Experiments An experiment carried out in a natural setting + High ecological validity as carried out in a real life setting - Less control over variables, so get extraneous variables which effects reliability of results. Ethical considerations Informed consent – agrees to take part knowing what the aim is Right to withdraw – stopping taking part at any time Confidentiality – Protecting the identity (Don’t tell anyone!!!) Debriefing – check they’re okay before leaving! WHY???? Why do we need ethics? No deception, no distress, no embarrassment, no harm! Questionnaires A.K.A a self report! Open questions – e.g. what’s your favourite colour? Dark white. Closed questions – e.g. is your favourite colour white? Yes/No • Access thoughts and feelings • Same questions – patterns and trends easily found • Easy to administer to lots of people quickly, lots of data!! Facebook. • LIARS!!!!! Social desirability • Don’t understand questions • Closed questions – no correct answer there • Can’t explore individual responses if you ask everyone same questions Interviews Also a SELF REPORT Structured – question are pre set Unstructured – more like conversation, q’s based on answers. • Can access thoughts and feelings • Double checking and clarification • LIARS!!! Social desirability • Have to be able to explain your own feelings and thoughts. Observations OVERT COVERT Participant observation is when the observer takes part with the group being observed. This is so they can observe more closely. Non participant observation – they just watch and don’t join in. This is so they don’t effect the dynamic of the group. Pro’s and Con’s of observations! • • • • Overt – more ethical than covert, no deception involved. Covert – people act naturally as they don’t know they are being watched Participant observations – the experimenter experiences the situation from the participants point of view Non participant – more objective when standing back and just watching and not joining in • Overt – observer effect when you know you are being watched • Covert – unethical • Participant – effects dynamics of group • Non participant – miss details • OBSERVER BIAS – open to interpretations. OVER COME WITH INTER RATER RELIABILITY (need more than one observer) Types of studies CASE STUDY Small sample, in depth analysis using interviews, observations, records e.g. criminal, school etc. CORRELATION Collect 2 sets of data and look for a link between them. Positive correlations – one thing increases so does the STUDY other. Negative correlation – one goes up, one goes down! LONGITUDINAL Long period of time, e.g. Mednick’s adoption study STUDY CROSS When you compare different groups, e.g. SECTIONAL Piaget compared different age groups of children STUDY Types of data Quantative – NUMERICAL DATA Qualitative - DESCRIPTIVE DATA Number of words you can remember Quantative QUALITATIVE Diary entries of a serial killer The average number of times someone stops to help a stranger The different ways a teacher treats boys and girls A tape recording of an interview with David Reimer (twin boy) How long it takes to recognise a face The mean, median or mode Mean – the average Median – middle number Mode – most frequently occuring Limitations Reliability – more than one observer (inter rater reliability). Make sure the data is replicable, if you do it again will you find the same results? Validity - Do the findings reflect the truth? Did the questionnaire measure what it was meant to measure? Did the study find a real answer or did it have to many problems to be valid? Types of bias Gender bias – when one gender is favoured over another in the findings, doesn’t represent both sexes – can’t be applied to both sexes Cultural bias – one SOCIAL GROUP is favoured over another in the findings, therefore findings cannot be applied to a wider population Experimenter bias – When the experimenter interprets the results to support a theory. Alternative evidence is overlooked or ignored.