OCR PSYCHOLOGY: G541 - PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

OCR PSYCHOLOGY: G541 - PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

1. EXPERIMENTS

   • TYPES OF EXPERIMENT
     • LABORATORY
       • Controlled enviroment; IV is manipulated
         • STRENGTH: Precise control of variables/easy to replicate
         • LIMITATION: Low in ecological validity
     • FIELD
       • Natural enviroment; IV is manipulated
         • STRENGTH: High in ecological validity
         • LIMITATION: Hard to control confounding variables
     • QUASI
       • The IV is not manipulated; naturally occuring.
         • STRENGTH: Not as artifical as a laboratory experiment
         • LIMITATION: Harder to establish a casual relationship
   • EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
     • MATCHED PAIRS DESIGN
       • Different ppts for each condition; matched on a key variable e.g. IQ, age, gender
         • STRENGTH: Controls ppt varibles without order effects
         • LIMITATION: Time consuming/expensive
     • INDEPENDENT MEASURES
       • Using different ppts for each condition of experiement
         • STRENGTH: No order effects
         • LIMITATION: Potential errors from individual differences
     • REPEATED MEASURES
       • Testing the individuals in two or more conditions
         • STRENGTH: Individual differences removed as a potential confounding variable
         • LIMITATION: Order effects; use counterbalancing

2. SAMPLING METHODS

   • OPPORTUNITY
     • Whoever fits the critesa and is present at the time of the study
       • STRENGTH: Easy in terms of time and money
       • LIMITATION: Can produce a biased sample; research may choose people from same social/cultural group
   • RANDOM
     • Every member of target population has an equal chance of being selected
       • STRENGTH: Provides an unbiased representitave sample of your target population
       • LIMITATION: Time consuming and often impossible to carry out
   • VOLUNTEER
     • Ppts volunteer to be part of the study due to response to an advert
       • STRENGTH: Quick and relatively easy to do
       • LIMITATION: Ppts may not be representitive of target population

3. HYPOTHESIS

   • TWO-TAILED:
     • Does not predict the expected direction of results
   • ONE-TAILED:
     • Predicts the expected direction of results
   • NULL:
     • States that there will be no significant difference/results are due to chance
   • ALTERNATIVE:
     • States the expected results but with no direction; there will be a significant difference

4. ETHICS

   • Participants confidentuality
     • Personal information will NOT be published; will be confidential
   • Consent (informed)
     • The ppts must give informed consent to take part in the study
   • No physical or mental harm
     • Researchers must protect ppts from harm during research
   • Right to withdraw
     • Make sure the ppts are clear that they can withdraw from the study at any point
   • Debriefing
     • Make sure any stress from the procedure is removed; leave them feeling positive about the research
   • Deception
     • Tell ppts true aim of research (unless absolutely necessary to decieve them)

5. NON-EXPERIMENTAL

   • SELF-REPORT
     • INTERVIEW
       • Spoken questionnaire, can be structured (pre-determined q's) or unstructed
         • STRENGTH: Ppts can descirbe their own experiences, rather then inferring it from observation
         • LIMITATION: Social desirability basis
     • QUESTIONNAIRE
       • Set of questions; in a highly structured written form
         • STRENGTH: Study large samples of people fairly quickly and easily
         • LIMITATIONS: Social desirabilty basis
       • TYPES OF Q'S
         • 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
         • 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
         • 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'
         • 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
   • OBSERVATION
     • PARTICIPANT
       • The researcher is also a ppt in the activity being studied
     • NON-PARTICIPANT
       • Where the research does not join in with the activity being observed
         • COVERT
           • Researcher is hiding the fact that they are observing
         • OVERT
           • Researcher makes it aware to ppts that they are observing them
     • EVENT SAMPLING
       • Predetermined catergories, tallys every time the behaviour is seen
         • if too many observations happen at once you could miss behaviour
     • TIME SAMPLING
       • Writes down all behaviour at time intervals, e.g. every five minutes
         • Some behaviours may be missed w/ writing down all behaviour
     • PILOT STUDY
       • Practice study to make sure everything is working
         • Improves inter-rater reliabilty
   • CORRELATION
     • Relationship between two variables
       • POSITIVE
         • As one variable increases, so does theother
       • NEGATIVE
         • As one variable increases, the other decreases
       • NO CORRELATION
         • There is no association between the two variables
     • LIMITATION: Does not show cause and effect
     • STRENGTH: Can show the strength of a relationship between two variables
   • CASE STUDY
     • A detailed study of an individual or small group
     • STRENGTH:
       • Useful in revealing the origins of abnormal behaviour; relates to ppts real life; in-depth, picture providing qual data
     • LIMITATION:
       • Cannot generalise results as it only carried out on individuals or small groups

6. VALIDITY

   • FACE VALIDITY
     • To what extent does the research does the research appear to measure what it set out to, on the surface
   • ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
     • Is it representitave of a real life situation?
   • TEMPORAL VALIDITY
     • Will the research remain valid over time?
   • POPULATION VALIDITY
     • To what extent can the results be generalised beyond the present situation

7. RELIABILTY

   • How consistent a study or measuring device is
   • INTERNAL:
     • To what extent does the measure is consistent within itself
   • EXTERNAL:
     • To what extent does the measure vary from one use to another