Research Methods

Research Methods

1. experimental method

   • Hypothesis
     • null hypotheses- these predict that no difference will be found in theThere will be no difference'
     • one-tailed (directional) hypothesis- will use as there is previous research on this topic
       • E.g.‘People who drink more monster use more words in one minute than people who drink less monster
     • two-tailed (non-directional) hypothesis- will use as there is no previous research on this topic
       • E.g. ‘There will be a difference in the number of words said per minute between people who drink monster and people who don’t drink monster’​
   • aims
     • General statements that describe the purpose of an investigation ​
       • E.g ‘to investigate whether drinking energy drinks makes people more talkative’​
   • independent and dependant variables
     • Experimenter manipulate the IV and measures the DV. Other variables that could affect DV must be controlled in order to establish a cause and effect relationship.​
   • operationalisation of variables
     • When a variable is defined by the researcher and a way of measuring that variable is developed for the research.​
       • ‘After drinking 300ml of monster, participants say more words in the next five minutes than participants who drink 300ml of water’​

2. research issues

   • extraneous variables
     • Unwanted variables that could affect the dependent variable. Need to minimise their influence​
   • confounding variables
     • Change systematically with the IV. E.g if one group of pp saw Beyonce on the way to the exp they would naturally be more excited compared to the other pp​
   • demand characteristics
     • PP will try and wok out what the aim of the study is and therefore what is expected of them. So they will change their behaviour to fit this. Making the behaviour no longer natural so it’s an extraneous variable.​
   • investigator effects
     • Participant reactivity leads to investigator effects. Unwanted influence of the investigator on the research outcome. E.g leading questions​
   • standardisation
     • All pp should be subject to same environment, information and experience. Includes standardised instructions read to each pp​
   • randomisation
     • The use of chance methods to reduce the researches unconscious biases when designing an investigation- an attempt to control investigator effects. E.g if recalling words from a list the order of the list should be randomly generated so that the position of each word is not decided by the researcher​