variables & Ethics
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of class size on the academic results of students. Identify IV and DV
IV: class size
DV: academic results
Describe what fieldwork is
any research involving observation and interaction with people and environments in real-world settings
outline difference between primary and secondary data
primary data is collected first hand, secondary data is data that someone else has collected
limitation of a small sample size
unlikely to be representative of the population, therefore not generalisable.
Describe how to abide by informed consent
Must tell participants about the investigation and what it would entail, then they must complete a consent form. If under 18 years, parents must give consent as well.
Describe what a literature review is
collating and analysing secondary data related to other people’s scientific findings and/or viewpoints, in order to answer a question or provide background information to help explain observed events, or as preparation for an investigation to generate primary data
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of class size on the academic progress of students. Identify quantitative and qualitative data that could be collected.
Quantitative: test scores before and after
Qualitative: teacher observations of engagement in class
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of mindfulness meditation on stress levels in teenagers in melbourne. How would a random sample be obtained for this investigation?
All teenagers in Melbourne would need to have equal chance of being selected for the study (e.g. a number assigned to each teen and a number generator used to draw the sample).
Outline what non-maleficence means
Principle of not causing harm. An investigation must be designed to reduce harm at all points.
Outline the difference between correlational research and controlled experiments
controlled experiments has deliberate manipulation of the IV (to look at the effect the IV has on the DV), while correlational research does not, instead is looking at if there is a relationship between the two variables
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of mindfulness meditation on stress levels in teenagers. Outline how a stress measurement tool would have high accuracy
If stress levels measured were close to the true level of stress the person was experiencing
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of mindfulness meditation on stress levels in teenagers. Outline what high internal validity would mean in this study
that if there is a difference in stress levels that it was due to the mindfulness meditation and not other factors (like stressful life events etc.)
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of class size on the academic results of students. Outline how participant related variables could act as an extraneous variable.
student may naturally have different abilities, so should not be compared to each other, but rather themselves (before and after)
Identify 1 advantage and 1 limitations of a within-subjects experimental design
+: less people needed, eliminates the effect of participant variables, good for real world settings
-: order effects, drop outs cause more impact on data (because all conditions are affected)
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of mindfulness meditation on stress levels in teenagers. Give a hypothesis
It is hypothesised that teenagers in Melbourne that engage in mindfulness meditation would have reduced stress levels compared to when not engaging in mindfulness meditation
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of mindfulness meditation on stress levels in teenagers. What would high repeatability and reproducibility look like here?
If the same level of change in stress levels was seen when the investigation was repeated with the same participants in same conditions (repeatability) and with different participants, different conditions, different experimenter, or different measurement tools (reproducibility)
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of class size on the academic results of students. Outline how non-standardised conditions and procedures could act as an extraneous variable.
If classroom instruction was different (conditions) between conditions, or the tests used to measure academic results were different (procedures) this would be an unfair test
Identify 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage of a mixed experimental design
-: can be more costly and time consuming, demanding for researchers to be across multiple conditions/procedures etc.
A researcher is interested in investigating the effect of mindfulness meditation on stress levels in teenagers. When would a median be better to use than a mean in this context?
If the data is skewed in any direction, as mean is impacted by outliers.
Describe what standard deviation means
a measure of variability, expressed as a value that describes the spread of data around the mean