General
A hypothesis must include:
IV, Population, DV, strength, direction
What is the difference between primary and secondary data?
Primary data is collected directly by the researcher. Secondary data has been collected by someone other than the original user for their own purpose.
What is reliability?
Refers to the extent to which the results obtained from a research study are consistent, dependable and stable.
What are the four values identified by the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research?
1. Research merit and integrity
2. Beneficence
3. Justice
4. Respect for human beings
What is the first thing that is included in a written research report?
Title
What does it mean to operationalise variables? Give an example.
To say how the variables are measured i.e. coffee intake as measured by 3 cups of nescafe gold
What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative data?
Qualitative data- information about the qualities or characteristics of what is being studied.
Quantitative data- numerical information on the quantity or amount of what is being studied.
What is validity?
Refers to the extent to which the research study and its procedures measure what the research intended to measure.
When can deception be used? If it is used, what must you do?
Sometimes necessary to avoid influencing participants' responses and therefore the results.
If used, debriefing must take place at the end of the experiment.
What needs to be included in an introduction?
-Aim
-Hypothesis (including IV and DV)
What is the difference between an extraneous variable and a confounding variable?
Extraneous variables are any variables, other than the IV, that can affect the DV. We attempt to identify and control for these variables at the beginning of the experiment.
A confounding variable is a variable other than the IV that has an unwanted effect on the DV, making it impossible to determine which of the variables has produced the change in the DV.
Identify three ways that descriptive data can be presented.
Tables, graphs, bar charts, line graphs, percentages, mean, standard deviation.
True or False? An experiment can be reliable without being valid.
Name the seven ethical principles that all researchers must abide by, according to the APS?
1. Protection and security of participants' information
2. Confidentiality
3. Voluntary participation
4. Withdrawal rights
5. Informed consent procedures
6. Deception
7. Debriefing
What are the three subsections of a method?
Participants, Procedure and Materials
How would you control for the following extraneous variables?
Non-standardised instructions and procedures
Order Effects
Experimenter Effect
Standardised instructions and procedures
Counterbalancing
Single/double blind procedures
How do you work out a mean?
Add together all the scores and divide the total by the number of scores.
What is the difference between internal and external validity?
Internal- extent to which the results of a study are actually due to the variable(s) that was tested or measured.
External- extent to which the results obtained for a study can be generalised to the population from which the sample was drawn.
-Bodily systems and/or behaviours of some animals are similar to those of humans
-Animals have practical advantages over humans
-The behaviour of animals can usually be controlled to an extent not possible with humans
-Animals tend to be more easily obtained than humans when the research requires large numbers of participants
-Participant expectations are not a factor when dealing with animals
True or False? The scores obtained from participants go in the results section.
False. The scores are the raw data which makes up the appendices. The results section has descriptive statistics like mean, sd, percentages and is often presented in tables/graphs.
Explain what a repeated measures design is, then identify one advantage and one disadvantage of this design.
Each participant is in both the control and the experimental groups.
Advantage- Can effectively control potential confounding variables arising from individual participant differences.
Disadvantage- Participant attrition
Why is a standard deviation used? Why is it good to have a lower standard deviation?
Summarises how far scores within a set of scores spread out from the mean for those scores.
The lower the sd, the less variation in the scores, therefore the more representative the mean is of the overall results.
What is ecological validity?
Specifically used to refer to the extent to which the findings of a research study are able to be generalised to everyday, common real-life behaviours and natural settings.
Why do we need an ethics committee?
-decide whether the researcher is adequately experienced and qualified
-monitor approved research
-handle complaints
-ensure accountability of the researcher
What are the two characteristics of a written report?
1. There is enough information to enable close examination of all stages of the research and, if required, to replicate the research.
2. Reporting conventions are used.