Sampling
Controlled experiments
Research methodology
Safety and ethical understanding
Data quality
100
Identify the population and sample.
A researcher wants to investigate whether smelling stinky socks increases cortisol levels in Australian adults. 150 males and 125 females ages 18-65 across Australia participated (n=?).
Sample: 150 males and 125 females ages 18-65 across Australia (n=275).
Population: Australian adults
100
What is the purpose of a control group?
A control group forms a baseline level to compare the experimental group with.
100
One advantage and one limitation of relying on self-report methods.
Ad: Easy to collect lots of data.
Lim: Subjective data which is biased/hard to compare.
100
When can a participant withdraw from a controlled experiment?
At any time.
100
What does internal validity mean?
Whether a study investigates what it sets out to investigate/measures what it sets out to measure.
200
What is a limitation of a small sample size?
- May not be representative of the population
- An outlier may have a large effect on the results
200
Describe the characteristics of a between subjects design.
Participants are randomly allocated to either their control or experimental condition. Participants only complete one condition in the experiment.
200
When would it be useful to use a case study?
When a limited number of participants are available.
When you're investigating a rare phenomenon/disorder.
When it is unethical to try and cause a person to develop a disorder in order to study its effects.
When the research requires an in-depth, holistic analysis of an effect.
200
Define the ethical concept non-maleficence in psychological research?
Avoiding harm to participants.
200
Difference between an extraneous and a confounding variable.
Extraneous: Has the POTENTIAL to affect the dependent variable. E.g. Individual differences
Confounding: HAS ALREADY impacted the relationship b/w IV and DV. We don't know if it was the IV or the confounding variable.
300
What is the most important requirement when using a random sampling technique?
Ensuring that each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected to participate in the study
300
Describe the characteristics of a mixed methods design.
A mixed methods design combines elements of a between subjects design and a mixed subjects design.
300
Provide an example of a simulation. Be specific.
Simulating an emergency in-flight situation to see how a new pilot would respond.
A virtual reality CBT session.
A virtual driving test to test the performance of sleep-deprived participants
300
Identify and explain an ethical guideline that must be followed when conducting psychological research.
Confidentiality
Voluntary participants
Informed consent
Withdrawal rights
Use of deception
Debriefing
300
Difference between repeatabilty and reproducibility.
Repeatibility (on repeat): SAME CONDITIONS SAME RESULTS
Reproducibility: DIFFERENT CONDITIONS SAME RESULTS
400
Explain the steps you would take when using a stratified sampling technique.
First, divide the population into subgroups, then randomly select participants from each subgroup in the proportion that they appear in the population.
400
Identify TWO limitations of a within subjects design.
Prior participation in the first condition may influence their behaviour in the second condition (practice effects)
More time-consuming
Higher rate of participants withdrawal
400
What did Abdullah write on the front cover of every one of his SACs.
40/40 or 40%
400
Why might deception be used in research?
You might use deception in an experiment if participants knowledge of the true purpose of the investigation could potentially affect their behaviour.
400
Provide an example of a personal error in research.
Incorrect record of a participants behaviour.
Miscalculation
500
Explain how a large enough random sample could improve external validity.
A large sample is more likely to be representative of the population, meaning the results of the research can be applied to similar individuals in a different setting (external validity).
500
Professor Latina, a sleep researcher, is interested in finding out if meditating for 15 minutes before bedtime will help reduce insomnia compared to no meditation. She recruits 50 people who suffer from insomnia.
Professor Latina employs a within-subjects design.
a. In terms of the procedure for this study, what does this mean?
b. A within-subjects design will minimise extraneous variables that a between-subjects design will not.
Name and explain one such extraneous variable.
a. All participants will participate in both the experimental (meditating before bed) and control (not meditating before bed) conditions.
b. Individual differences.
500
An educator wants to find out the relationship between starting salary and IQ. Which research methodology would be most suitable?
What is a limitation of this kind of research methodology?
Correlational study (we don't need to manipulate anything to see if there's a relationship between these two data points).
We cannot draw a cause-effect relationship from this methodology, only a relationship
500
Define one of the following ethical concepts:
Integrity
Beneficence
Respect
Justice
(don't say the word in your answer)
Integrity: Searching for knowledge and reporting honestly
Beneficence: The commitment to doing good and minimising the risks
Respect: Acknowledging the value of all living things and considering this fact when designing investigations.
Justice: Ensuring that there is fair consideration of all communities involved, and that the risks and benefits are fairly distributed
500
Explain how an outlier can influence results.
Skewed distribution.
In a small sample size, an outlier can have a large impact on results (e.g. such as when calculating mean)