PSYA1 – Research Methods
PY2 and PY3 – Research Methods
Use the table below to define key terms, and other two mark answers that you will need for research methods questions.
|Method |Definition |
|Laboratory Experiment |An experiment carried out in a controlled setting, which allows the experimenter to control |
| |extraneous variables and so have more confidence that the IV is causing any change in the DV|
|Field Experiment |An experiment carried out in a more natural setting outside the lab. The experimenter still |
| |manipulates the IV but has less control over extraneous variables, so can’t be so sure about|
| |causality. On the other hand, participant behaviour is more likely to be natural. |
|Quasi Experiment |An “almost” experiment that lacks one of the features of a true experiment – such as a |
| |difference study or a natural experiment. |
| |An example of a natural experiment would be comparing rates of mental illness before and |
| |after an earthquake. |
|Natural Experiment |An experiment where the IV occurs naturally and the experimenter measures a change in the |
| |DV. The experimenter has no control over extraneous variables. An example of a natural |
| |experiment would be comparing rates of mental illness before and after an earthquake. |
|Correlation Study |Research that studies the strength of connection between two variables. If the both increase|
| |together, that is a positive correlation. When on increases and the other decreases this is |
| |a negative correlation. We cannot assume that one variable is causing the other – eg ice |
| |cream sales and shark attacks are positively correlated. |
|Difference studies |A quasi experiment where the IV is not really altered (it just exists eg gender) Sheridan |
| |and King measured male and female obedience when asked to shock puppies.The Iv is gender |
| |which occurred naturally |
|Naturalistic Observation |A research method that takes place in a natural environment where behaviour is simply |
| |observed and no variables are controlled. Eg Diane Fossey observing mountain gorillas in the|
| |wild. |
|Controlled Observation |Research that takes place in an environment where certain variables are controlled by the |
| |observer. Eg Milgram’s research on obedience involved controlling certain variables, such as|
| |the prompts given when participants wanted to stop. |
|Self Reported Data |Any method where participants are asked to report their own attitudes, abilities or feelings|
| |such as a questionnaire or interview. Eg Buss asked participants about what they would look|
| |for in a life partner. |
|Questionnaire |A written list of questions completed by a participant on their own. The question may be |
| |open questions “What do you think about smoking?” or closed “Do you smoke – yes or no” |
|Interview |A face-to-face interaction between researcher and participant. The interview can be |
| |structured (like reading out a questionnaire) semi-structured (where questions can be |
| |followed up depending on the participant’s response) or unstructured, where the researcher |
| |states the aims and a discussion takes place. |
|Content Analysis |A kind of indirect observational study where the researcher draws conclusions about |
| |behaviour based on written or verbal material. For example, we could study attitudes to |
| |sexism based on the content of TV adverts. |
|Case Study |A research investigation that involves a detailed study of an individual, group, institution|
| |(eg a school) or an event. Case studies produce rich and detailed information about |
| |participants, but are hard to generalise from. |
|Method |Advantages and Disadvantages |
|Laboratory Experiment |Advantage: Control over extraneous variables mean we can be confident that any change in |
| |the DV is caused by the IV. |
| |Disadvantage: High levels of control make the situation artificial, which means participants|
| |may behave differently from real life, causing ecological validity to be low |
|Field Experiment |Advantage: Participants are in their natural environment which means that their behaviour |
| |will be less influenced by demand characteristics and so will be more generalizable. |
| |Disadvantage: The experimenter has less control over extraneous variable, so wil be less |
| |sure that the IV caused the change in the DV. |
|Natural Experiment |Advantage: It allows us to research topics where the IV cannot be manipulated for ethical or|
| |practical reasons eg Earthquakes |
| |Disadvantage: Because the IV is not manipulated we cannot demonstrate causal links. Also, |
| |extraneous variables are not controlled either, making it difficult to draw causal |
| |conclusions. |
|Correlation Study |Advantage: If a correlation is found between variables then it is worth investigating a |
| |causal relationship by doing an experiment. |
| |Disadvantage: A correlation between two variables does not suggest that one cause the other |
| |a third variable may be responsible eg increased ice cream sales don’t cause shark attacks. |
|Naturalistic Observation |Advantage: Naturalistic observation gives us a picture of how people behave in ordinary |
| |settings, so produces high ecological validity. Eg – littering behaviour: it is more |
| |accurate to watch littering behaviour than give out questionnaires. |
| |Disadvantage: There is little control of extraneous variables which means that the observer |
| |cannot be sure about what is causing the behaviour. |
|Controlled Observation |Advantage: Control over extraneous variables mean we can be more confident about what is |
| |causing the behaviour than we would with a naturalistic observation. |
| |Disadvantage: High levels of control make the situation artificial, which means participants|
| |may behave differently from real life, causing ecological validity to be low |
|Self Reported Data |Advantage: The participant is giving their own explanation of the behaviour involved, or |
| |telling us their attitude about something. |
| |Disadvantage: Participants may not tell us the truth for a range of reasons – to impress |
| |(social desirability bias), because they can’t remember or simply because they don’t know. |
|Questionnaire |Advantage: Compared to an interview, we can work much faster – lots of participants can |
| |complete a questionnaire at the same time, so we can collect much more data in the same |
| |amount of time |
| |Disadvantage: The method is limited to people who can read and who have the time and |
| |motivation to complete the form. |
|Structured Interview |Advantage: Easily replicated because it follows standardised procedures – the interviewer |
| |ask the same questions in the same order with no follow-ups. |
| |Disadvantage: Reliability could be low though, if the researcher behaves differently for |
| |each participant, or if more than one researcher is used. |
|Semi-Structured Interview |Advantage: A skilful researcher can ask follow-up questions that can provide rich detailed |
| |information about each participant. |
| |Disadvantage: The expectations of the interviewer may influence their interpretation of the |
| |participant’s answers – this is known as interviewer bias. |
|Content Analysis |Advantage: High ecological validity, because it is based on what people actually do – they |
| |are not aware that their work is being studied so their won’t be demand characteristics. |
| |Disadvantage: Observer bias – each observer may be influenced by their expectations and only|
| |see what they are looking for. Eg they may notice sexism in car adverts but not in furniture|
| |ads. |
|Case Study |Advantage: You can use a variety of methods to get rich detailed information about the |
| |individual/group or institution you are studying. |
| |Disadvantage: It is difficult to generalise any findings because of the sample size and |
| |possible lack of control. |
Glossary Pages 3 and 4
|Investigation |Definition |
|Hypothesis – Directional |A prediction which tells us how the experimenter thinks the IV |
| |will affect the DV. Eg Particpant doing a memory test in a noisy room will score less than a|
| |control group in a quiet room. |
|Hypothesis – Non-directional |A prediction by an experimenter which says that the IV will affect the DV, but doesn’t say |
| |how Eg men and women will score differently on a personality test. |
|Null Hypothesis |A prediction that the IV will have no effect on the DV or that any difference will be due to|
| |chance |
|Experimental Design |Depending on the research, experimenters may choose to use different participants in each |
| |condition (independent measures) or have the same participants do both conditions (repeated |
| |measures) |
|Independent Groups |An experimental design where participants take part in only one condition. This avoids order|
| |effects, but can be affected by participant variables. |
|Repeated Measures |An experimental design where the same participants take part in all conditions of an |
| |experiment. This can lead to order effects, but avoids participant variables |
|Matched Pairs |An experimental design that matches participants for important characteristics such as age, |
| |gender, IQ. Participants do only one condition, which avoids order effects. The matching |
| |process reduces participant variables. |
|Design of Questionnaires |This involves creating a standard list of questions to be given to all participants. The |
| |researcher would decide on how many “Open” or “Closed” questions to ask, depending on |
| |whether they were looking for quantitative or qualitative data. |
|Design of Natural Observations |Researchers decide whether their research will be overt or covert, and then create an |
| |observation schedule or checklist to help them record the behaviour they are interested in. |
| |The may train observers to guarantee inter-observer (or inter-rater) reliability. |
|Design of Interviews |The researcher may choose to use a structured interview (with a standard list of questions |
| |like a questionnaire) or an unstructured interview, where a subject is explored without a |
| |list of questions. Unstructured interviews require a lot more skill and the data they |
| |produce is harder to analyse. |
|Operationalised Variables |The researcher decides what they want to measure when investigating a particular variable. |
| |For example, stress may be operationalised as the increase in a participant’s heart rate. |
|Independent Variable |The variable manipulated by the experimenter to investigate its effect on the DV. |
|Dependent Variable |The variable measured by the experimenter to see if it has been affected by the IV |
|Pilot Studies | A Small-scale study conducted by the researcher before the main study to check whether the |
| |standardised procedures work in an experiment, or to findout if the questions on a |
| |questionnaire are clear. |
| | |
|Extraneous Variable |Any variable other than the IV that might have an effect on the DV. For example, temperature|
| |may have an effect on performance in a memory test where you are comparing males or females.|
|Confounding Variable |Any variable other than the IV that does have an effect on the DV. For example, temperature|
| |may have affected performance in a memory test where you are comparing males or females |
|Reliability |Refers to how consistent a study’s results are. If you repeat the study using standardised |
| |procedures and get similar results, then those findings can be said to be reliable. |
|Test-Retest Reliability |This involves repeating an experiment after a reasonable amount of time and comparing the |
| |results. If they are similar the findings are reliable. |
|Split-Half Reliability |The questions on IQ or personality tests should be consistent. To check, we randomly split |
| |the test into two halves – if the scores are similar, the test is reliable. |
|Inter-Rater reliability |This involves comparing the scores of researchers on an observation. If there is found to be|
| |more than 805 agreement, those scores are reliable. |
|Validity |This refers to how truthful findings from research are. For example, if we have controlled |
| |all extraneous variables in a lab experiment we can be fairly sure that it is true to say |
| |that the IV has caused the change in the DV. This is called internal validity. |
|Experimental Validity |This is where we are sure that - because the experiment has been well-controlled – the IV |
|(Internal Validity) |has caused the change in the DV |
|Ecological validity |We believe that the findings are generalisable outside of the research to the target |
| |population, because the sample was representative and because the experiment had mundane |
| |realism. |
|Content Validity |This is where we are happy that the content of a test or questionnaire is focused on the |
| |area of interest. For example, you wouldn’t include maths questions in an English skills |
| |test. |
|Concurrent Validity |This where participants score the same results on a new test as they would on a |
| |well-established test. For example you would expect people to score similarly on two |
| |different personality tests. |
| | |
|Construct Validity |This is where a test fully covers all the parts of the subject being investigated. For |
| |example, an iQ test would not have construct validity if it only measured maths ability. |
|Ethical Issues |Definitions |
|BPS Code |A list of guidelines, written by the British Psychological Society, that psychologists are |
| |expected to follow when doing research. The code aims to make sure that psychologists |
| |respect the rights of their participants. |
|Ethical Issues – Protection from Harm|Participants should not experience physical or psychological harm when taking part in |
|(Risk of Harm Yr 12) |research. This includes embarrassment or lowered self-esteem. |
|Ethical Issues – Informed Consent ( |Participants must be given comprehensive information about the purpose of research, and |
|Valid consent for Yr 12) |their part in it, so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not to take |
| |part. |
|Ethical Issues – Deception |A participant is not told the true aims of research and so cannot give valid consent. It is |
| |often done to prevent dmand characteristics. |
|Ethical Issues – Right to withdraw |Participants have the right to withdraw form research at any time if they feel uncomfortable|
| |at any point. They also have the right to refuse permission for the researcher to use their |
| |data. Especially important where valid consent hasn’t been possible |
|Ethical Issues – Confidentiality |The participant should not be identified personally within the reporting of research, and |
| |are generally identified by a participant number – they may not wish other people to know |
| |how they behaved in a particular piece of research. |
|Ethical Issues – |The area of our lives that no-one has the right to invade – this might be our personal |
|Privacy |space, or it might be to do with places where we would not expect to be observed. |
|Ethical Issues – |A group of people in a university who decide whether a study can go ahead on ethical |
|Ethical Committees |grounds. They would so a cost-benefit analysis weighing the possible risk to participants |
| |against the possible benefits the research might bring. |
|Ethical Issues |Evaluation and Dealing With issues |
|BPS Code |The code is not a legal document, and so psychologists might be tempted to try and bend the |
| |rules to achieve valid results. However, a serious breach of the code could lead to a |
| |psychologist being expelled from the BPS and unable to do further research. |
|Ethical Issues – Protection from Harm|Psychologist try and do research which does not cause risk of harm greater than the |
|(Risk of Harm) |participant’s everyday life. However, it is very difficult to predict the harm that might be|
| |caused by research. |
|Ethical Issues – Informed |It is difficult to give the participant sufficient information about research without |
|Consent(Valid Consent) |causing demand characteristics – its often dealt with by debriefing the participants after |
| |the study is completed, and explaining the true purpose of the research. |
| | |
|Ethical Issues – Deception |Deception should be approved by an ethics committee that has analysed the costs and benefits|
| |of the research. Debriefing should be used, but it can’t turn the clock back if any |
| |psychological harm has been done. |
|Ethical Issues – Right to withdraw |Though they may feel uncomfortable, participants may remain in the study for two reasons – |
| |if they have been paid expenses, they may feel an obligation to stay. Or, they might simply |
| |not want top soil the research. |
| | |
|Ethical Issues – Confidentiality |Researchers should not record participant names – however in some situations it may be |
| |possible to work out identities from other information eg a school that took part in a |
| |study. |
| | |
|Ethical Issues – |The researcher should not study people without valid consent unless it’s public behaviour in|
|Privacy |a public place. However not everyone agrees what a “public” place is. |
| | |
|Ethical Issues – |Ethical committees often have non-psychologists on them to provide a more balanced decision.|
|Ethical Committees |However, as the majority are psychologists, they may still be biased in favour of the |
| |researcher. |
| | |
|Ethical Issues – |Participants who have been deceived are told the true purpose of the research at the end of |
| |the study. However, you can’t turn the clock back, and some psychological harm may have been|
|Debriefing |done. |
| |Participant Selection |
|Random Sampling | |
|Voluntary Sample | |
|Opportunity Sample | |
|Stratified Sample | |
|Quota Sample | |
|Demand Characteristics | |
|Investigator Effects | |
| | |
|Data |Definition |
|Quantitative Data | |
| | |
|Qualitative Data | |
| | |
|Bar Charts | |
| | |
|Histograms | |
|Scattergraphs | |
|Tables | |
| | |
|Measures of Central Tendency | |
|Mean | |
| | |
|Median | |
| | |
|Mode | |
|Measures of Dispersion – Standard | |
|Deviation | |
|Range | |
|Analysis of Correlational Data | |
|Presentation of Qualitative Data | |
|Content Analysis | |
|Coding System | |
|Categorisation | |
|Descriptive Statistics | |
|Inferential Statistical Test | |
|Levels of Measurement | |
|Nominal Data | |
|Ordinal Data | |
|Interval Data | |
|Ratio Data | |
|Level of Significance | |
|Chi- Squared Test | |
|Mann-Whitney U-Test | |
|Sign Test | |
|Wlcoxon Matched Pairs- Signed Ranks | |
|Test | |
|Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation | |
|Coefficient | |
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