This document is an overview of the Research Methods topic in A level Psychology, with outlines and evaluation points: BPS, ethical issues, consent and debrief, cost/benefit analysis, aim, experimental method, hypothesis, IV and DV, sampling method, extraneous variables, standardisation, experiment...
British Psychological Society (BPS)
● Helps maintain and promote professional standards
● Protects the welfare of ptps
● Provides a framework to practise
Ethical issues
● Informed consent - ptps must be told exactly what they will be doing and why they
are doing it so they can provide permission
● Confidentiality - any information and data provided by the ptp must be kept
confidential
● Deception - ptps should not be deceived unless absolutely necessary. If deception is
required, great care and consideration must be given. Ptps are made aware of
deception at the end in the debrief
● Privacy - hidden observational studies produce the most ecologically valid data but
raise the issue of invasion of privacy, have to take caution at time
● Protection - the safety and well-being of ptps must be protected at all times, both
physically and psychologically
● Right to withdraw - ptps should be free to leave the experiment at any time, or
withdraw data up to 4 weeks after the experiment
Consent form (given before experiment)
● Aim
● Task/task time
● Ensure confidentiality
● Right to withdraw
● Risks if any
● Any questions
● Tick box to show permission is given
Debrief form (given after experiment)
● Aim
● If deception was used
● State where to get support if needs be
● Confidentiality
● Right to withdraw
● Any questions
● Contact for the researcher
Pilot study - a small scale study conducted before the main to check that:
● Timings are accurate
● The instructions are clear (ptps understand them)
● The results do give data on what you intend to study
Aim - a general statement of what you intend to study (not testable)
Hypothesis - a testable prediction of what the outcome of the experiment will be
● IV - the conditions that are altered/changed
● DV - the measurement
● 1 tailed/directional hypothesis - eg “condition 1 will do better than condition 2 on..”,
used when there is past research➡️
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