Research Methods - Research Methods in Psychology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Research Methodology

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Research Methods

How do researchers carry out

research?

Objectives:



Understand how participants are

selected



Understand the experimental designs &

methods

When psychologists design an

experiment they need to identify the IV

and the DV so that they can write these

in the hypothesis

This experiment is looking at the effect

of ................(IV) on ...................(the DV)

EXAMPLE:

“This experiment is looking at the effect of

whether the person has or has not blonde

hair on the amount of fun they have”.

Copy this information & highlight/underline important terms etc

IV

DV

Null Hypothesis

A prediction that the independent variable

will have no effect on the dependent

variable

•

Example; “participants will not gain

weight if they eat their own body

weight in chocolate”

Copy this information & highlight/underline important terms etc

Write a Null Hypothesis for each of

these

• A study to find out if girls watch more TV

than boys.

• A study to investigate whether lack of

sleep affects schoolwork

• A study to find out if people remember

the words that appear earlier on the list

rather than those that appear later.

• A study that looks at whether Hamsters

are more intelligent than budgies.

• A study that looks at whether owning a

computer affects a students a grades

Write answers on the sheet

and Stick in book

Types of Experiment

• There are three types of experiment: 1. Laboratory – usually in a specially designed room

of a university, with full experimenter control

2. Field – less artificial than a laboratory experiment.

Conducted in the ‘real world’… not necessarily an

actual field

3. Natural –allows the psychologist to study ‘real’

problems

in a ‘natural’ environment – nothing is altered. E.g.

Effects of an emotional film on men & women

Copy all the information and draw a picture/

diagram for each type of experiment (15min)

Type of method used by researchers

to find out if there is a cause-and-

effect between variables

Choosing Participants

Researchers can’t possibly look at

EVERYONE so they select a SAMPLE of

people that will REPRESENT the

POPULATION they want to study

(for example; students under 15, obese Men, mothers......)

Copy all the information & draw a diagram

like the one above (5 minutes)

=

Sampling Methods/techniques

Opportunity

Sampling

Sample = who is

available & willing

Random Sampling

Sample = every

member of target

population has equal

chance of being

chosen

Stratified Sampling

Sample= made up of sub-

groups representing each

strata of target

population

Systematic Sampling

Sample = members of

target population chosen

by a system e.g. every 5

th

person on list

Copy the information, fill-in the advantages &

disadvantages (p.77) and draw a picture/

diagram for each one on your sheet (

minutes)

Experimental designs

These are all experimental designs

•

Repeated measures

•

Independent groups

•

Matched pairs design

P.70-

Copy this information

“How the

participants are

used in the

experiment”.

CONDITION(S)

•

An experiment is usually organised so

there are two trials (do the experiment twice) ,

after which the performances (how well the

participants did) are compared. These are

the conditions of the experiment.

•

Example; Researchers want to find

out the effects of studying with a

Television on

Copy this information

The conditions are; the

TV on and the TV off

Experiment Design

Independent

Groups

• Different

participants

take part in

each

‘condition’ of

the study,

• e.g. one

group studies

with TV on,

one group

without

Repeated

Measures

• (one group)

The same

participants

take part in

two different

conditions,

• e.g.

studying with

TV on, and

one without

TV on

Matched Pairs

• Participants

are matched

(e.g. two

students with

similar scores

on earlier

tests) and one

takes part in

each condition

(TV on & TV

off)

Fill in your sheet with the information below and find one disadvantage &

advantage for each using page 71.

Extraneous Variables

Things that can/could spoil the

experiment

Explain what extraneous

variables are – draw a

picture for each & label

them

EV

Extension: Design your own

experiment

(in a group/pairs)

1. An Aim
2. A hypothesis
3. Identify the IV and the DV
4. Type of experiment
5. How you will select your participants –

sampling method

6. The experimental design
7. Things that could go wrong –Extraneous

variables/ethical issues

You will have to look back

through your notes in your

books to help you..