AS Level Psychology

Research Methods
● Recognise aims and directional (one-tailed) and non-directional (two-tailed)
hypotheses and null hypotheses
● Write aims and directional (one-tailed) and non-directional (two-tailed)
hypotheses and null hypotheses

Complete your booklet along with the lesson each time mentioned
Task 2

»Identify the Independent Variable (IV) & Dependent

Variable (DV) in the statements in your booklet.
3
4
Hypotheses 5

»You may have noticed that the statements look like

examples as hypotheses, which they are! A hypothesis
is a statement of intent or a prediction for an
experiment.
Hypotheses 6

»In experiments the psychologist first puts forward an alternative or

experimental hypothesis; this is the statement they wish to test and this can be
written in different ways due to the nature of the experiment:

»Directional (one-tailed) hypothesis: this is a statement predicting the direction of a

relationship between variables.

»Non-directional (two-tailed) hypothesis: this is a statement predicting that one variable

will be related to one another but it won’t state in which direction.

»Null hypothesis: this simply states that the results obtained were due to chance and not the
independent variable that the researcher changed or the situation that they engineered.
Some examples… 7

»Alcohol will increase reaction times on a driving simulator

»Directional (one-tailed)
»There will be a difference in reaction times of drivers who
consume alcohol
»Non-directional (two-tailed)
»There will be no difference in reaction times of drivers who
consume alcohol
»Null hypothesis
 8

There is no relationship between the

number recalled and who recalls them.

ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.

 9

There will be a difference in how many

numbers are correctly recalled by children
and adults.

ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.

 10

Adults will correctly recall more words than

children.

ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.

 11

Control of Variables

What variables
could we control
to encourage the
plant to grow?
The Control of Variables 12

»There are other factors that can affect the outcome of

an experiment (the DV) and these are known as
extraneous variables (think, extra things!)

»Read through the following information about the

control of different variables in your booklet and
make notes in the table that follows
Situational Variables 13

»These are outside influences that could affect an experiment

such as time of day, weather, noise, the type of room the
experiment takes place in and so on.
»One way to control for situational variables is through
standardisation, where all participants receive the same
instructions for the experiment as well as the experiencing the
same procedures, scoring and even the environment will be
identical.
Participant Variables 14

»Participant variables are individual

differences between participants that can
include IQ, age and personality, which could
affect their behaviour in a study and therefore
affect the IV.
»Repeated measures designs eradicate
participant variables, but lead to order effects.
Matched pairs designs minimise participant
variables, but even twins have some
differences that could be significant.
Participant Variables 15

»Random allocation - the order of tasks, presentation of data and so on is

decided on the toss of a coin or another random method of selection to control for
order effects.
»Counterbalancing – this would be used in a repeated measures experimental
design. The researcher changes the order of the tasks for each participant or uses
the ABBA technique. For example, in an experiment testing the effect of alcohol
on reaction times, half of the participants would be tested first without alcohol
and then with A and then B) and the other half first without alcohol and then with
(B and then A).
Counterbalancing
16

» Counterbalancing is a technique used to deal with order effects when using

a repeated measures design. With counterbalancing, the participant sample
is divided in half, with one half completing the two conditions in one order
and the other half completing the conditions in the reverse order. E.g., the
first 10 participants would complete condition A followed by condition B,
and the remaining 10 participants would complete condition B and then A.
Any order effects should be balanced out by this technique
Demand Characteristics 17

»These are when participants may work out the aim of

a study and this can affect their behaviour, for
example, they may try to please the researcher by
providing socially desirable (social desirability)
answers. A single blind test could be used to help
overcome this.
Investigator Effects 18

»These are the ways in which researchers may unwittingly/unconsciously influence the
results of research and this can occur in several ways:

» Physical characteristics of the investigators such as age and gender.

» Accent or tone.
» Investigators may be unconsciously biased in their interpretation of data and find
what they expect to find.

»A double-blind test could be used to reduce this.

Confounding Variables 19
You have two minutes to
complete the test to see
what you have learnt so far
in research methods!