Research Methods
What are 3 sampling methods?
1. Volunteer sampling
2. Opportunity sampling
3. Random sampling
Describe the ethics of Andrade and identify if it was a weakness or not, and explain why
in Andrade, ethics are not a weakness. Deceptions was minor and required for experiment, followed by immediate debrief and apology
What is the aim of the Andrade study?
To test whether doodling aided memory and attention in a boring task
Define validity in the context of psychological research
Did the study measure what it claims it measured?
Describe what an individual explanation is
Individual explanations account for behaviors that result from personal factors like personality, ability, and personal characteristics
What is informed consent?
Knowing enough about a study to decide whether you want to agree to participate.
Was generalizability a strength or weakness and why?
Weakness - The sample used featured people who volunteer regularly for psych research and was large majority female
How many places and names were in the recorded message?
8 names and 8 places
Explain what is meant by reliability in research.
Reliability refers to consistency of results and replicability
Describe what a situational explanation is
Situational Explanations account for behaviors that result or are influenced by the external environment one finds themselves in
What are 2 techniques that self-reports use?
1. Questionnaire
2. Interview
Why was replicability a strength of Andrade?
Andrade had a highly standardized procedure, including the length and words per minute of the message, size of paper, and time between monitoring task and recall task
Describe the sample used for the andrade study?
40 person Opportunity sample, aged 18-55 year olds who volunteered to be part of a participant panel for psychological research at the University of Plymouth. 35 women, 5 men
State two weaknesses of Independent measures design
Participant Variables more likely to impact DV
More participants required
Useful for society because it helps us explain behaviors and understand effective ways to shape them.
A study has the hypothesis "Eating an entire pizza with cause a child to run faster"
What kind of hypothesis is this?
Directional or One Tailed Hypothesis
How were Ps allocated to their conditions in the Andrade study?
P’s randomly allocated to their group
Identify 2 types of extraneous variables
2 of 3 must be named
1. Uncontrolled Variables - Variables that cannot be controlled by researcher
2. Participant Variables - Variables that participants bring with them
3. Situational Variables - Variables the situation brings to the study
What is the problem of the Nature side of the Nature vs Nurture debate
If behavior is perceived as solely a result of nature than this can lead to segments of society potentially pursuing harmful ideas like eugenics
What are the 3 experimental designs?
1. Independent measures
2. Repeated measures
3. Matched pairs
What kind of data was collected and what is the strength of that kind of data?
Quantitative - Quan. data is objective, makes for clear and easy analysis, and is precise
What was the research method used?
Lab Experiment
What is the difference between Internal and External Validity?
Internal Validity - whether a study establishes cause and effect (the IV causes change in DV)
External Validity - Whether a study is generalizable or has relevance to real life
What are the problems with conducting useful research?
1. Studies might be unethical to gain valid results
2. Studies need to be high in ecological validity, which is difficult to balance against internal validity