GCSE PsychologyUnit 1: Research Methods (also assessed in Unit 2)

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Form:

Teacher: Mrs Masters

Hypotheses & VariablesAll psychological studies start with an aim – a general statement that explains the purpose of the study

Aim: To investigate whether performance on a task (throwing balls into a bucket) is affected by an audience being present or not

Independent variable: The thing that is varied or changed by a researcher to see if affects the DV. In a well designed study this should be the only thing allowed to influence the DV. Our IV has two conditions: in front of an audience, or without an audience

Dependent variable: The thing that will be measured by a researcher to see if changing the IV has had any effect. This should be clear and precise, e.g. “how many balls out of 10 land in the bucket” rather than “how good you are at getting the balls in the bucket”

Hypotheses

• A hypothesis states the relationship between IV and DV

• A null hypothesis states that there is no relationship between IV and DV

• The number of balls thrown into the bucket is not affected by the presence or absence of an audience

• An alternative hypothesis states that there is a relationship between IV and DV

• The number of balls thrown into the bucket is affected by the presence or absence of an audience (non-directional alternative hypothesis)

Or/

• The number of balls thrown into the bucket is increased by the presence of an audience (directional alternative hypothesis)

Extraneous Variables

• A variable that is not the IV but that might affect the DV. If EVs are not controlled, the researcher cannot be certain what caused any change that occurs in the DV.

• In other sciences you will have called these control variables

• Some EVs are easy to control, some cannot be controlled but need to be taken into account

• What extraneous variables do we need to control in our experiment?

Check your understanding:

A researcher uses an actor to serve students in a college canteen. When she hands them their change, half of the students she touches lightly on the hand, and half she does not. The researcher then asks each student to rate the likeability of the actor on a scale of 1 (extremely dislikes) to 7 (extremely likes)

1) Write an aim for this study

2) What is the independent variable

3) What is the dependent variable

4) Write a suitable null hypothesis

5) Write a suitable alternative hypothesis

Sampling MethodsTarget Populations

Psychological research looks at how people behave in a certain situation. The target population is the group of people the researcher wants to study, e.g. women, 4-year olds, adopted children, prisoners etc.

The researcher cannot study everyone in the target population so studies a sample (a small group of people who represent the target population).

It is important that the sample are representative (same characteristics and abilities) of the target population – if they are then the researcher can assume their behaviour matches the behaviour of the whole target population

The Four Sampling Methods:

Experimental Design

Allocation of participants to conditions

Random Allocation:

The researcher should not have any influence over which participants go into which condition of a study. This would be a form of bias.

In Independent Group design the researcher can use random allocation to achieve this; he might write 10 ‘A’ card and 10 ‘B’ cards and have the 20 participants randomly pick them out of a bag.

In Matched Pair design each person in the pair must be randomly allocated a group; there could be 1 ‘A’ card and 1 ‘B’ card and each pair would have to pick the cards at random from a bag.

Counterbalancing:

With Repeated Measures design, all participants do each condition, but this could result in order effects. To even this out, Counterbalancing is used where half the participants start with one condition, and the other half start with the other condition

Standardised procedures:

A same method and set of instructions are used for all participants in the same condition when carrying out a study.

Instructions to Participants:

Written or spoken information provided to participants before and during an experiment.

If different things are said to participants then this could influence how they behave or perform during the study – another extraneous variable.

Instructions need to be the same at 3 stages:

1) During briefing – what is said before the experiment to get a person to participate. Ethical information, consent, anonymity, right to withdraw etc.

2) Instructions about how to carry out the experiment

3) During debriefing – after the experiment when the aim of the study is given and the right to withdraw is emphasised.

Randomisation

• Randomisation means using chance (e.g. tossing a coin) to decide order in an investigation

• This should reduce bias

• E.g. if you had a list of 2 words to learn and memorise, randomise the order of the words in the list.

Designing Research: ExperimentsThere are 3 types of experiment you can do in Psychology:

Laboratory Experiments Field Experiments Natural Experiments

An experiment that is carried out in an unnatural, controlled environment

An experiment that is carried out in a naturally occurring environment.

Research that is carried out into the effect that changes in the IV has on the DV, but in which it is nature or other factors outside the control of the researchers that assigns people to the conditions of the IV, such as their age or gender.

Advantages Advantages Advantages

Disadvantages Disadvantages Disadvantages

Examples Examples Examples

Designing Research: Interviews and Questionnaires

Use pages 76-81 of your text book to complete this section

What is a Questionnaire?

Closed Questions Open Questions

Writing Questions for a Questionnaire

Strengths of Questionnaires Weaknesses of Questionnaires

What is an Interview?

Structured Interview Unstructured Interview

Strengths of Interviews Weaknesses of Interviews

Designing Research: Case StudiesMake a few quick notes about Genie here, so you can use her as an example of a case study:

Use pages 82-3 of your text book to complete these notes:

What is a Case Study?

Strengths of a Case Study Weaknesses of a Case Study

Check your understanding:1) Give two reasons why a psychologist might choose to investigate behaviour using the case study

method?

2) Identify one weakness that might arise when a researcher uses the case study method

3) Explain how the weakness you identified in Q2 could be dealt with by the researcher

Designing Research: Observational Studies

• Collecting data by watching and recording the behaviour of people• On its own it’s not an experimental method – there is no IV and DV – no cause or effect• BUT, this technique can be used in experiments as a way of measuring the DV• Observation studies can be:

• Natural or controlled• Overt or covert• Participant or non-participant

Categories of behaviour

Researchers need to agree on categories of behaviour so that observers agree what to record.

Target behaviour: “Playground behaviour”

Categories of behaviour: Running, Hopping, Skipping, Standing,

Target behaviour: “Use of the pedestrian crossing outside school”

Categories of behaviour:

Target behaviour: “Aggression at a Football Match”

Categories of behaviour:

Interobserver Reliability

• Observational studies should be carried out by more than one researcher to avoid researcher bias

• Researchers agree categories of behaviour before the observation

• They compare data after the observation – it should match exactly

• If it doesn’t match they need to review the categories of behaviour

Evaluation

Correlations

Just because there’s a correlation, this does NOT mean that one variable CAUSED anotherA cause and effect relationship cannot be established as the data was not collected in an experiment and extraneous variables have not been accounted for.

The relationship could:

• a coincidence

• have a 3rd related variable

• be cause and effect

Even if there is a cause and effect relationship, have you got cause and effect the right way around?

What is a correlation?

• Where two variables are plotted against each other to see if there may be a relationship

• Pairs of data are plotted on a scattergraph

• Predications can be made based on the data you have

Evaluation

Can be used to look for a relationship which a researcher can then do an experiment to try and establish causal relationship

Can be used when it would be unethical or impossible to carry out an experiment, e.g. with diseases

Cannot be used to determine cause and effect relationship

Needs a very large sample size

Data HandlingMuch of this section will have been covered in GCSE maths. Make a note of the areas you are less confident on

Quantitative Data Qualitative Data

Primary Data Secondary Data

Notes on: Mean, Median, Mode, Range, Ratio Fraction, Percentages, Standard Form as needed

Frequency Tables and Diagrams Bar Charts

Histograms Scatter Diagrams

Normal Distribution

Reliability Validity

Ethics In PsychologyUse this page, and pages 92/3 of your text book to make some notes in whatever format you choose.