Aqa A Level Psychology: Research Methods Think Like A Scientist, A

AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH METHODS - THINK LIKE A SCIENTIST, ANALYSE LIKE A PRO! AQA A Level Psychology Research Methods Empirical method The only source of knowledge comes through our senses (not inherited) and is gained through experience Objective All sources of bias are minimized and personal or subjective ideas are eliminated Control All extraneous variables need to be controlled in order to be able to establish cause and effect Predictability/determinism We should be aiming to be able to predict future behaviour from the findings of our research Replication (reliability) Whether a method and finding can be repeated with different/same people and/or on different occasions, to see if the results are similar Features of scienceEmpirical methods Objectivity Replicability Hypothesis testing/ theory Scientific research methods Lab experiment, field experiment, observation, natural experiment and quasi-experiment Non-scientific research methods Case study, questionnaire, interviews, content analysis and correlations Aim general statement of the purpose of an investigation Hypothesis testable statement about the expected outcome of the investigation Operationalisation Making the variables testable importance of operationalisation a hypothesis can only be tested if the variables being studied can be measured Independent variable the variable the researcher changes in order to test its effect on