Identify Research Problem/ Formulate Hypothesis
How can we identify what we want to research
Which sampling method is most representative of the population and why?
Stratified - it divides the population into smaller groups and the sample chosen is in the same proportion as the population making it the most representative
What is the best experimental design: To compare the effectiveness of different psychotherapies for treating spider phobia, participants with a spider phobia are allocated to one of two treatment conditions or a control condition
Independent groups
What is a P value and generally, what is its number?
P values are a value of statistical significance that help us determine if our hypothesis is supported or not. The P value must be < 0.05 for our hypothesis to be supported
Ethics are standards that enable individuals to identify acceptable behaviour
What is the definition of a hypothesis and what does it need to include?
A hypothesis is a testable prediction of the relationship between two or more variables.
Must include population, operationalised IV and DV and direction of relationship
Explain each of the sampling procedures (random, convenience, stratified).
Random: every member of the population of research interest has an equal chance of being selected to be part of the sample.
Convenience: selecting participants who are readily available
Stratified: dividing the population to be sampled into strata, then selecting a separate sample from each stratum
Explain the best way to combat order effects?
What are the 6 types of data?
Objective, Subjective, Qualitative, Quantitative, Primary, Secondary
What are the 4 main values of The National Statement?
Research merit
Beneficence
Justice
Respect for human beings
Explain what an IV and DV are and what it means to operationalise them
IV:The variable that is manipulated in order to measure its effects on the Dependent Variable.
DV:The variable that is used to observe and measure the effects of the Independent variable.
Operationalising: Involves defining the IV and the DV in terms of the specific procedures or actions used to measure them.
Matched participants as the researcher can match each twin together to determine whether they experience the same emotions
What is the best design and why? A study on whether males and females are persuaded differently by a female car salesperson and for each male of a particular age there is a female of that age.
Matched participants - being matched on age
What are inferential statistics and why are they used?
Involve judgements, especially conclusions regarding the hypothesis and whether data from the sample can be applied to the population from which it was drawn.
Used by researchers to interpret and give meaning to data.
Identify the 7 ethical issues
Confidentiality
Deception
Debriefing
Withdrawal rights
Informed consent
Voluntary participation
No harm
Identify which is which in these scenarios: Students work better when its hot. Does playing violent video games cause aggressive behaviour?
IV: 1. Temperature, 2. Playing video games
DV: 1. Work/performance, 2. Aggressive behaviour
Identify an advantage and disadvantage of each of the experimental designs.
Independent: A - avoids order effects, D - participant differences
Repeated: A - Fewer people required, D - Order effects
Matched: A - avoids order effects, D - lose x2 data if someone drops out
What is the best experimental design and why? To study whether meditation reduces stress, participants blood pressure is measured before and after a period of meditation
Repeated measures as each participant is measuring the blood pressure before and after the independent variable (meditation) is introduced
Compare and contrast reliability and validity
Reliability is the extent to which a measurement tool produces results that are consistent, dependable and stable, whereas validity is the extent to which a measurement tool accurately measures what it claims to measure.
Identify and explain the ethical issues: Participants enrolled in a study looking at how punishment and rewards influence learning. In an experiment, the researcher had participants (aged 15) sign their own consent forms and sit a verbal IQ test. Every time they got an answer wrong the would get an electric shock, however they were not allowed to leave until the test was done. The researcher allowed the participants to leave straight away after they finished the test.
Withdrawal rights: participants weren't allowed to leave
No debriefing occurred after
Harm was done when they were shocked
Informed consent: 15yr olds can't give consent without a guardian
Identify the population, IV and DV in this hypothesis:
Among 100 Year 11 students, it was hypothesised that those who drank a glass of orange juice would dance better at their Deb Ball than those who didn't.
Population: 100 Year 11 Students
IV: Drinking OJ
DV: Performance at Deb
Identify and explain 3 possible ways to control for extraneous or confounding variables
Use of appropriate sampling procedures for selection and allocation of participants
Counterbalancing : Changing the order of treatments or tasks for participants to be exposed to (deals with order effect)
Single-blind procedures: participants aren’t aware of the condition they have been allocated to. (deals with participant bias)
Double-blind procedures: both the participant and researcher are unaware of the condition they have been allocated to. (deals with experimenter effect)
Placebos: a fake treatment given to control group. (deals with participant bias)
Standardised instructions and procedures : instructions and procedures are the same for ever participant.
Use of appropriate experimental research design
The researcher needs to develop a standardised procedure for both groups so that they avoid effects that are not actually due to the medication but instead due to the time they had taken it - not what the researcher is actually investigating
What is the difference between internal and external validity?
Internal: the extent to which the results obtained are actually due to the variable being tested and not some other factor.
External: the extent to which the results obtained can be generalised to the population from which the sample was drawn or to other people in other settings and over time.
Which of the 5 points in animal research does this case breach?
Knowing full well that juvenile monkeys stay with their mothers for longer than most mammals, a researcher isolated young monkeys in small, lonely chambers. Every monkey in hi experiment had already bonded with its mother, and therefore the monkeys soon became extremely depressed. After a short amount of time, the monkeys stopped playing and interacting, and two of them even starved themselves to death by refusing to eat
Educational merit - he already knew that monkeys stay with their mother so they would feel depressed when taken away
Did not support the wellbeing of the animals (let them die)
Brought harm and distress on the animals