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Research Methods AS Summary
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A complete summary of the first year of research methods in the current AQA A-level, from a student who scored over 90% overall in their psychology A-level.
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By: anikaahmed • 3 year ago
TRUST HER NOTES!!!! I got one of the lowest marks on my research methods section in my class, and practised half her notes, skimmed everything but only revised some of the parts properly, didn't even get time to do exam questions, and when I say this improved my grade, NO JOKE THIS IMPROVED MY GRADE!!! actual A* notes, thank you for this!! :)
By: scienceandpsych • 3 year ago
Hello! I'm so glad I was able to help! Good luck with your exams!
By: anikaahmed • 3 year ago
Thank you!! thank you so much for your notes though, I couldn't go into detail in the review because of the character limit but looking around, your notes are far by the best I've seen so far and it helped me out in ways I can't explain Thank you, I hope your exams go well for you also! (unless their finished lol) :)
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Psychology Research MethodsResearch Methods
Experimental Method
Aims
An aim is a general statement of what the researcher intends to investgate; i.e. the purpose of
the study
o E.g. to investgate whether energy drinks make people more talkatve
The aim should include a general statement of why the research is taking place, what is being
studied and what the study is trying to achieve
Hypotheses
Hypothesis: a clear, precise, testable statement that states the relatonship between the
variables to be investgated. It is stated at the outset of a study
o Experimental hypothesis: predicts a significant diference in the dependent variable as a
result of the manipulaton of the independent variable
o Null hypothesis: predicts no significant diference in the dependent variable as a result
of the manipulaton of the independent variable. It simply suggests your results could
have occurred by chance
A directional hypothesis indicates which way the dependent variable will change
o This is used when findings from previous research suggest a partcular outcome
A non directional hypothesis suggests that there will be a diference but that the diference
could be either an increase or a decrease in the DV
o This is used when there is no previous research, or previous research is contradictory
A hypothesis should include:
o The IV (both conditonss and the DV
o Operatonalisaton of variables
Operationalisation: clearly defining variables in terms of how they can be
measured
E.g. “blondes are really dumb” would have an operatonalised IV of ‘diferent hair
colours from a hair colour chart (natural hair onlys’ and a DV of ‘level of intelligence
from IQ test’
o Directonal or non-directonal
o The word ‘significant’
Directonal example: People who *IV first conditon* do significantly beter at *DV* than people
who *IV second conditon*
Non-directonal example: There is a significant diference in *DV* between people who *IV first
conditon* and people who *IV second conditon*.
Null hypothesis examples:
o There is no significant diference in *DV* between people who *IV first conditon* and
people who *IV second conditon*. Or…
o Any diference between *IV first conditon* and *IV second conditon* when *DV* is
due to chance.
Correlatonal examples:
o There is a significant positveenegatve correlaton between variable A and variable B
o There is a significant correlaton between variable A and variable B
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