AQA 'A' Psychology Research Methods
Key terms Exam Questions and Answers
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Aim - ✔✔General statement of why the study is being carried out.
Null Hypothesis - ✔✔An assumption that there is no relationship between
the variables.
E.g. There is no relationship between age and intelligence.
Directional hypothesis (one-tailed) - ✔✔States the kind of relationship
between two conditions.
E.g. People who do homework without the TV on produce better results
than those who do homework with the TV on.
Non-directional hypothesis (two-tailed) - ✔✔Simply predicts that there will
be a difference or relationship between two conditions.
E.g. There is a difference between work produced in noisy or silent
conditions.
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Independent groups design - ✔✔Participants are allocated to two or more
groups representing different experimental conditions.
Matched pairs design - ✔✔Participants are matched in terms of key
variables such as age and IQ.
Repeated measures design - ✔✔Each participant takes part in every
condition under test.
Random sampling - ✔✔Every member of the target population being tested
has an equal chance of being selected. .
Opportunity sampling - ✔✔Sample of participants produced by selecting
people who are most easily available at the time of the study.
Volunteer sampling - ✔✔Sample of participants produced by a sampling
technique that relies solely on volunteers to make up the sample.
Behaviour categories - ✔✔Dividing a target behaviour into a subset of
behaviours.
Qualitative data - ✔✔Data that express a complete account of what people
think or feel.
Quantitative data - ✔✔Numerical data that represent how much, how long
or how many.