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Summary AQA Psychology Research Methods
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Research Methods notes for all of AS level and some of A2 level (omission of other tests e.g. t-tests)
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Research MethodsEthics
Psychological research and practice should aim to improve our self-understanding, be
beneficial to people and to try to improve our quality of life. As professionals, psychologists
are expected to conduct their work in an ethical manner. The British Psychological Society
(BPS) has developed ethical guidelines to follow when they're designing studies so that
participants are protected. They are formal principles that describe what is considered
acceptable or unacceptable.
(a)Consent-to agree to something. Consent comes in two forms, informed and uninformed.
Basic consent is consent where the participant doesn’t not know what the experiment will
entail. And informed consent is when the participant is told the nature and aims of a study
before they agree to do it. For participants over 16 verbal consent is fine but if a participant
is under 16 there are three rules:
consent given by a parent/guardian, written consent and written-informed consent.
(b)Confidentiality-participants must remain anonymous. In order to maintain confidentiality,
in a report, they must be referred to by letters and numbers.
(c)Right to Withdraw-participants have the right to withdraw from the study at any time.
The psychologist, as the lead of the experiment has the responsibility to remind and allow
the subject to withdraw from the study at any time.
(d)Protection of Participants-participants must be protected from harm and must leave the
study in the same mental, physical and emotional state in which they came.
(e)Brief-done before the experiment begins and is written word-for-word on the report. It
must include confirmation of consent, insurance of confidentiality and a reminder of the
participants right to withdraw.
(f)Debriefing-done at the end of the study and is written word for word on the report. Must
include a thank you for participating, an explanation of the experiment, hypotheses and in
the event of deception, an explanation of what the ‘other group’ did and a request to keep
the participant’s data, a reminded of the right to withdraw and insurance of confidentiality.
(g)Deception-the general consensus is that no participant is ever deceived. However, it is
also understood that deception can be necessary in regard to the quality of results so, if
deception is used participants must be fully informed of it in the debrief and the deception
must not harm the participants.
(h)Animal rights-while animal rights should always be considered, it is important to decide if
experimenting on animals has a use or is just a means to an end.
It should be noted that there is no punishment an unethical experiment, but they would likely
be kicked from the BPS. Also, not only is it difficult to measure psychological harm or justify
deception but there is the issue again of ends and means.
, Variables
A variable is anything which can change in value. Variables play a huge part in experiments
as a key factor in making experiments as important as they are to psychologists.
Independent Variable-The variable which is manipulated by the experimenter.
Dependent Variable-The variable whose changes we wish to study. Its changes will be
measured in response to changes in the IV.
Extraneous Variable-Any variable other than the IV that could affect the DV that should be
thought about and controlled before the experiment.
Confounding Variable-An extraneous variable that has not been controlled and may affect
the true nature of the study.
Subject Variable-Personal factors such as age, gender, and intelligence of the participants
which could be controlled by the design of the experiment.
Operationalisation-Variables must be operationalised. This means describing the process by
which the variable is measured. This is usually done via a test or some sort of score.
Aims and Hypotheses
Research Aims are the stated intentions of what question(s) are planned to be answered. An
aim is a statement of a studies’ purpose. Research should state its aim beforehand so that its
clear what the study intends to investigate.
A hypothesis is a precise, testable statement of what the researcher intends to investigate.
The research will either support or not support this prediction.
The difference is that the aim is a general statement of what the researcher intends to
investigate whereas the hypothesis shows exactly what is tested. This is why it is essential to
operationalised
A non-directional (two tailed) hypothesis-is an anticipation of a difference but does not
state a direction. This is used when there is no previous research or evidence. There will be a
significant difference in the DV depending upon the IV.
For example: There will be a significant difference in the scores on a spelling test of boys and
girls
A directional (one tailed) hypothesis-states a direction to the research goals. It is normally
used when there is existing research or other evidence to suggest a difference will be found.
For example: There will be a significant difference in the scores on a spelling test in that boys
will score more highly than girls.
, Sampling
Key Definitions:
Population-The group of people you wish to study, from which you will take your sample,
including a location.
Sampling-a selection of the population which is chosen to take part in the research.
Generalisation-application of the results from your sample to the wider target population
Representative-a cross-section of the population that is typical of the whole group.
Sampling Bias-a sample that is not representative of the target population.
Sampling Types:
Random- every member of the target population has an equal chance of selection. Done by
drawing names of members of the population out of a hat without looking.
Advantage: -provides the best chance of an unbiased representative sample of a target
population
Disadvantage: -the larger the target population the more difficult it becomes to sample
randomly since compiling a list is more impractical.
Stratified-dividing the target population into sub categories (strata) then selecting members
of each strata in proportion to that in which they feature in the target population.
Advantage: -a deliberate effort is made to identify the characteristics of a sample most
important for it to be representative of the target population.
Disadvantages: -Time consuming for subcategories to be devised and their proportions
calculated and is also costly to do.
Systematic-involves selecting a name at every nth interval from a sampling frame.
Advantages: -quick and convenient
-population is more likely to be evenly sampled over other methods
Disadvantages: -unrepresentative as not everyone has an equal chance of being selected.
Opportunity-involves selecting subjects that are around and readily available at the time.
An effort may be made not to be biased by selecting particular types of subjects, for
example, university psychology students may select their sample from their students.
Advantages: -Quick and convenient to do –the most economical method of sampling
Disadvantages: -Unrepresentative samples –
is often bias as the researcher may only choose subjects which will be most useful.
Volunteer-often referred to as self-selection, participants put themselves forward to be part
of the sample.
Advantages:
easy and less time consuming than other methods
-more in-depth analysis and accurate results (statistically)
Disadvantages:
asking for volunteers may attract a certain ‘type’ of person whom may have a vested interest
in the experiments outcome thus may not be representative.
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