Human behaviour - The Methods of Social Psychology

10 important questions on Human behaviour - The Methods of Social Psychology

What does a participant observation involve?

It involves observing some phenomenon at close range.
-> I can involve living with a group or observing social situations by taking notes and interviewing

What is a experimental study?

It is when researchers aim to make strong inferences about how different situations or conditions affect people's behaviour.

When might a third influencing variable occur?

It can occur in correlation research.
  • Higher grades + faster learning
  • Never study anything twice
  • 100% sure, 100% understanding
Discover Study Smart

What is external validity and what does poor external validity mean?

It is an indication of how well the results of a study generalise to contexts besides those of the study itself.
Poor external validity means that is not possible to generalise the results of a study to real-life situations.

What is a field experiment and what can it ensure?

It is an experiment that takes place in the real world and usually involves participants who are unaware that they are involved in a study.
It can ensure external validity.

What does internal validity require?

It requires that only the manipulated variable could have produced the results.
-> Could be done by randomly assigning the participants to one condition and making sure there are no other external factor that could affect the outcome + requires experimental setup to seem realistic and plausible to the participants.

What is statistical significance and what are the two factors helping it occur?

It is a measure referring to the probability that a given result could have occurred by change.
  1. Size of the difference between groups in an experiment or the size of a relationship between variables in a correlation
  2. The number of cases the finding is based on
-> the larger they are, the greater the statistical significance gets

What does the institutional review board (IRB) do?

They examine research proposals of researches conducted at universities and make judgments about their ethical appropriateness.

What is a deception research?

This is a research type in which the participants are misled about the purpose of the research or the meaning of something that is done to them to obtain significant results.
-> In these researches it is not possible to obtain the informed consent

What is debriefing and when is it especially important?

It either involves asking a participant directly if they understood the instructions or whether they find the setup reasonable, or it is used to educate the participant about the question being studied.
It is especially important in the case of deception research.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

  • A unique study and practice tool
  • Never study anything twice again
  • Get the grades you hope for
  • 100% sure, 100% understanding
Remember faster, study better. Scientifically proven.
Trustpilot Logo