OCR PSYCHOLOGY: G541 - PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

EXPERIMENTS
1. TYPES OF EXPERIMENT
  1. LABORATORY
    1. Controlled enviroment; IV is manipulated
      1. STRENGTH: Precise control of variables/easy to replicate
      2. LIMITATION: Low in ecological validity
  2. FIELD
    1. Natural enviroment; IV is manipulated
      1. STRENGTH: High in ecological validity
      2. LIMITATION: Hard to control confounding variables
  3. QUASI
    1. The IV is not manipulated; naturally occuring.
      1. STRENGTH: Not as artifical as a laboratory experiment
      2. LIMITATION: Harder to establish a casual relationship
2. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
  1. MATCHED PAIRS DESIGN
    1. Different ppts for each condition; matched on a key variable e.g. IQ, age, gender
      1. STRENGTH: Controls ppt varibles without order effects
      2. LIMITATION: Time consuming/expensive
  2. INDEPENDENT MEASURES
    1. Using different ppts for each condition of experiement
      1. STRENGTH: No order effects
      2. LIMITATION: Potential errors from individual differences
  3. REPEATED MEASURES
    1. Testing the individuals in two or more conditions
      1. STRENGTH: Individual differences removed as a potential confounding variable
      2. LIMITATION: Order effects; use counterbalancing
SAMPLING METHODS
1. OPPORTUNITY
  1. Whoever fits the critesa and is present at the time of the study
    1. STRENGTH: Easy in terms of time and money
    2. LIMITATION: Can produce a biased sample; research may choose people from same social/cultural group
2. RANDOM
  1. Every member of target population has an equal chance of being selected
    1. STRENGTH: Provides an unbiased representitave sample of your target population
    2. LIMITATION: Time consuming and often impossible to carry out
3. VOLUNTEER
  1. Ppts volunteer to be part of the study due to response to an advert
    1. STRENGTH: Quick and relatively easy to do
    2. LIMITATION: Ppts may not be representitive of target population
HYPOTHESIS
1. TWO-TAILED:
  1. Does not predict the expected direction of results
2. ONE-TAILED:
  1. Predicts the expected direction of results
3. NULL:
  1. States that there will be no significant difference/results are due to chance
4. ALTERNATIVE:
  1. States the expected results but with no direction; there will be a significant difference
ETHICS
1. Participants confidentuality
  1. Personal information will NOT be published; will be confidential
2. Consent (informed)
  1. The ppts must give informed consent to take part in the study
3. No physical or mental harm
  1. Researchers must protect ppts from harm during research
4. Right to withdraw
  1. Make sure the ppts are clear that they can withdraw from the study at any point
5. Debriefing
  1. Make sure any stress from the procedure is removed; leave them feeling positive about the research
6. Deception
  1. Tell ppts true aim of research (unless absolutely necessary to decieve them)
NON-EXPERIMENTAL
1. SELF-REPORT
  1. INTERVIEW
    1. Spoken questionnaire, can be structured (pre-determined q's) or unstructed
      1. STRENGTH: Ppts can descirbe their own experiences, rather then inferring it from observation
      2. LIMITATION: Social desirability basis
  2. QUESTIONNAIRE
    1. Set of questions; in a highly structured written form
      1. STRENGTH: Study large samples of people fairly quickly and easily
      2. LIMITATIONS: Social desirabilty basis
    2. TYPES OF Q'S
      1. OPEN QUESTION
        Not restricted to catergories, allows ppt to expand
        STRENGTH:
        Rich in qual data, in-depth responses
        LIMITATION:
        Hard to compare to other ppts
      2. CLOSED QUESTION
        Allow for limited reponse, ppts can't expand
        STRENGTH:
        Quan data, easy to compare to other ppts
        LIMITATION:
        No in-depth insight/responses
      3. LIKERT SCALE
        A statement in which a participant has to agree or disagree on a numerical scale
        STRENGTH:
        More detail than a simple yes or no, gives an idea on how ppts feel
        LIMITATION:
        Ppts tend choose 'middle' option to appear less 'extreme'
      4. FIXED CHOICE
        Questions are phrased so ppts can give a yes, no or maybe response
        STRENGTH:
        Easy to measure and compare
        LIMITATION:
        Ppts may feel that their desired choice is not there
2. OBSERVATION
  1. PARTICIPANT
    1. The researcher is also a ppt in the activity being studied
  2. NON-PARTICIPANT
    1. Where the research does not join in with the activity being observed
      1. COVERT
        Researcher is hiding the fact that they are observing
      2. OVERT
        Researcher makes it aware to ppts that they are observing them
  3. EVENT SAMPLING
    1. Predetermined catergories, tallys every time the behaviour is seen
      1. if too many observations happen at once you could miss behaviour
  4. TIME SAMPLING
    1. Writes down all behaviour at time intervals, e.g. every five minutes
      1. Some behaviours may be missed w/ writing down all behaviour
  5. PILOT STUDY
    1. Practice study to make sure everything is working
      1. Improves inter-rater reliabilty
3. CORRELATION
  1. Relationship between two variables
    1. POSITIVE
      1. As one variable increases, so does theother
    2. NEGATIVE
      1. As one variable increases, the other decreases
    3. NO CORRELATION
      1. There is no association between the two variables
  2. LIMITATION: Does not show cause and effect
  3. STRENGTH: Can show the strength of a relationship between two variables
4. CASE STUDY
  1. A detailed study of an individual or small group
  2. STRENGTH:
    1. Useful in revealing the origins of abnormal behaviour; relates to ppts real life; in-depth, picture providing qual data
  3. LIMITATION:
    1. Cannot generalise results as it only carried out on individuals or small groups
VALIDITY
1. FACE VALIDITY
  1. To what extent does the research does the research appear to measure what it set out to, on the surface
2. ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
  1. Is it representitave of a real life situation?
3. TEMPORAL VALIDITY
  1. Will the research remain valid over time?
4. POPULATION VALIDITY
  1. To what extent can the results be generalised beyond the present situation
RELIABILTY
1. How consistent a study or measuring device is
2. INTERNAL:
  1. To what extent does the measure is consistent within itself
3. EXTERNAL:
  1. To what extent does the measure vary from one use to another

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OCR PSYCHOLOGY: G541 - PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

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