Research Methods

A procedure that is the same for all participants except where variation is introduced to test a hypothesis

A systematic way of organising and explaining observations, which includes a set of propositions, or statements, about the relationships among various phenomena

A sample that is representative of the population

Measures that are reliable (that produce consistent results)

A tentative belief about the relationship between two or more variables. It predicts the findings that should be observed if the theory is correct

Any phenomenon that can differ, or vary, from one situation to another or from one person to another

A variable that can be placed on a continuum, from none or little to much

A variable comprised of groupings, classifications or categories

A group of people or animals of interest to a researcher from which a sample is drawn

A subgroup of a population that is likely to be representative of the population as a whole

Occurs when the sample is not representative of the population as a whole

A study must meet the criteria of employing methods that convincingly test the hypothesis (internal validity) and the findings must be generalisable to situations outside the laboratory (external validity)

A concrete way of assessing a variable

A measure’s ability to produce consistent results

The tendency of a test to yield relatively similar scores for the same individual over time

Where several ways of asking the same question yield similar results

A measure of the similarity with which different raters apply a measure

The measure’s ability to assess the variable it is supposed to assess.

Demonstrating the validity of a measure by showing that it consistently relates to other phenomena in theoretically expected ways

Discrepancy between the phenomenon as measured and the phenomenon as it really is

Theories that propose that the need for relatedness is a central motive in humans and that people will distort their personalities to maintain ties to important people in their lives

This approach to psychology involves using empirical methodologies such as observation and experimentation to gain knowledge

Summarising the data your research has produced in a way that makes the events and their relationships easily understandable

Using the outcome of your research to be able to identify what would happen in the future, given the same circumstances