Research methods Flashcards

1
Q

What is content analysis

A

a kind of observational study in which behaviours usually observed indirectly in visual written or verbal material, may involve either qualitative or quantitative analysis or both

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2
Q

What is thematic analysis

A

a technique used when analysing qualitative data, themes or categories are identified and then data is organised according to these themes

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3
Q

What is coding

A

coding is the process of placing qualitative data in categories

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4
Q

what are the strengths of content analysis

A
  • it has high ecological validity because it is based on observations of what people actually do - real communications that are current and relevant such as recent newspapers or the books that people read
  • when sources can be retained or accessed by others the content analysis can be replicated and therefore observations can be tested for reliability
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5
Q

what are the limitations of content analysis

A
  • observer bias reduces the objectivity and findings because different observers may interpret the meaning of the behavioural categories differently
  • content analysis is likely to be culture biased because interpretation of verbal or written content will be affected by the language and culture of the observer and the behavioural categories used
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6
Q

describe the content analysis procedure

A

sampling method
researcher has to decide the following
- if analysing the content of books, does the researcher look at every page or every fifth page
- if comparing the content in various books does the researcher select books randomly from a library or identify certain characterstics
- if analysing ads on TV does the researcher sample behaviours every 30 seconds and not whenever certain behaviours can occur

coding the data
- the process of coding basically means that the researcher uses behavioural categories, for example if the researcher wishes to look at the way men and women are portrayed in books they create a list of behavioural categories and then count instances

method of representing data

  • data can be recorded in two ways
  • you can count the instances = a quantitative analysis
  • you can describe examples = a qualitative analysis
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7
Q

describe a quantitative content analysis

A
  • Anthony Mansted and Caroline McCulloch were instested in teh way men and women were potrayed in TV ads, they observed 170 ads over a one week period
  • they ignored those that contained only children or those with animals and in each ad they focused on the central adult figure and recorded frequencies in a table
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8
Q

describe a qualitative content analysis

A
  • A Finnish study considered the role of the family in adolescent peer and school experiences
  • conducted a semi structured interviews with 19 adolescents aged 12-16 using questions such as what does your family know about your peers and how is your family involved in your school activities
  • produced 243 pages of notes which were analysed using a qualitative content analysis
    1. All answers to the question were placed together
    2. each statement was compressed into a briefer statement and given an identifier code
    3. these statements were compared with each other and categorised so that statements with similar content were placed together and a category identified
    4. the categories were grouped into larger units producing eight main categories for example -
  • enablement - yeah since my childhood we had lots of kids visiting
  • support - they help if i have a test by asking questions
  • negligence - my sister is not at all interseted in my friends
  • one of the conclusions if that schools should pay more attention to teh mutiple relationships that determine an adolescents behaviour
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9
Q

what are the main intentions of thematic analysis

A
  • to impose some kind of order on the data
  • to ensure that the order represents the participants persepctive
  • to ensure that the order emerges from the data rather than any preconceptions
  • to summarise the data so that hundreds of pages of test or hours of videotapes can be reduced
  • to enable themes to be identified and general conclusions to be drawn
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10
Q

what is an issue with thematic analysis

A
  • uses qualitative data
  • qualitative data is difficult to summarise
  • has to be summarised by identifying repeated themes in the material to be analysed
  • takes a long time as every item is carefully considered and the data is gone through repeatedily
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11
Q

what are the general method of thematic analysis

A
  • read and reread the data transcript dispassionately trying to understand the meaning communicated and the perspective of the participants, no notes should be made
  • break the data into meaningful units - small bits of text which are independently able to convey meaning, this may be equivalent to sentences of phrases
  • assign a label or code to each unit, such labels/code are initial categories that you are using, each unit may be given more than one code/label
  • combine simple codes into larger categories/themes and then instances can be counted or examples provide
    d- a check can be made on the emergent categories by collecting a new set of data and applying the categories, they should fit the new data well if they represent the topic area investigated
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12
Q

What is a case study

A

A research method that involves a detailed study of a single individual, institution or event. case studies provide a rich record of human experience but are hard to generalise from

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13
Q

what are the strengths of case studies

A
  • the method offers a rich in depth data information, such data can provide insights into the complex interaction of many factors, in contrast with experiments where variables are held constant this means that insights overlooked using other methods are likely to be identified
  • they can be used to look at instances of human behaviour that are rare, for example investigating instances of children locked in their room during their childhood, this enables researchers to see what effects disruption of attachment can have on an emotional development and it would not be ethical to generate such conditions experimentally
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14
Q

what are the limitations of case studies

A
  • it is difficult to generalise from individual cases
  • each one has unique characteristics, for example the case study of HM told us a great deal about the effects of his operation on his memory but we don’t know to what extent his epilepsy rather than the brain damage may have affected aspects of his behaviour
  • there are important ethical issues such as confidentiality and informed consent, many cases are easily identifiable because of their unique characteristics even when real names are not given
  • many individuals such as little Hans or HM are not able to give their consent
  • psychological harm may also be an issue when an individual such as HM is tested repeatedly over decades
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15
Q

describe some individual case studies

A

HM - hippocampus was removed to reduce epiletic seizures resulting in the inability to form new memories,
- Little Hans and Freud

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16
Q

What is inter-observer reliability

A
  • the extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour
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17
Q

what is reliability

A

reliability is consistency, the consistency of measurements, we would expect any measurement to produce the same data if taken on successive occasions

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18
Q

what is test-retest reliability

A

the same test or interview is given to the same participants on two occasions to see if the same results are obtained

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19
Q

how do you assess the reliability of observational techniques

A
  • important that this record is a reliable measurement of behaviour and they way this is assessed is for the observer to repeat the observations a second time
  • if the observations are reliable then the second set of observations should be more or less the same as the first set
  • better to have two or more observers to make sure there is not observer bias - better way to assess accuracy is to have two or more observers making separate recordings and then compare these records
  • the extent to which observers agree on the observations they record is called inter-observer reliability
  • this can then be calculated as a correlation coefficient for pairs of scores, has a result of .80 or more suggests good inter-observer reliability
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20
Q

How do you improve the reliability of observational techniques

A
  • if the score for inter-rater reliability is low then there are ways to improve this
  • it may be that the behavioural categories were not ope rationalised clearly enough, so one observer interpreted an action as hitting whereas another interpreted it as touching therefore behavioural categories need to be clearer
  • it may be that some observers just need more practise using the behavioural categories so they can respond more quickly
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21
Q

How to you assess the reliability of self-report techniques

- test-retest reliability

A
  • test-retest reliability is used to assess the reliability of a psychological test or other self-report measure
  • test is given to a group of people and then the same group of people a second time
  • short interval between tests, so that people dont remember there answers
  • if the measure is reliable the outcome should be the same every time and the scores for each person are compared using correlation
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22
Q

How to you assess the reliability of self-report techniques

- inter-interviewer reliability

A
  • in the case of interviews a researcher could assess the reliability of one interviewer by comparing answers on one occasion with answers from the same person with the same interviewer a week later
  • researcher may assess the reliability of the two interviewers using the same method as with two observers
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23
Q

How do you improve the reliability of self report techniques

A
  • low reliability in psychological test may be because some test items are ambiguous so people give different answers
  • for exdample a question might be what are your thoughts about dieting and some people might interpret this as being a question asking for factual information whereas some might think the question is about emotions and respond with their own feelings
  • need to be re-examined and rewritten
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24
Q

what is the dependent variable in an experiment measured with

A
  • rating scale or behavioural categories for example
  • study by Bandura et al on aggression using a bobo doll, in this study the dependent variable was teh aggressive behaviour of the children, this was assessed by observing their behaviour in a room full of toys and using behavioural categories such as vernal imitation
  • rutter and songua barke - used IQ test in study of Romanian orphans
  • reliabiltiy in an experiemnt may be concerned with whether the method used to measure the dependent variable is consistent
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25
Q

how do you improve the reliability of experiments

A
  • standradisation

- make sure the procedures are exactly the same each time otherwise we cannot compare the performance of participants

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26
Q

what is validity

A
  • refers to whether an observed effect is a genuine one
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27
Q

what is concurrent validity

A

a means of establishing validity by comparing an existing test or questionnaire with the one you are interested in

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28
Q

what is ecological validity

A

the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular setting in which it is demonstrated to other settings

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29
Q

what is face validity

A

the extent to which test items look like what the test claims to measure

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30
Q

what is temporal validity

A

concerning the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular time period of the study

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31
Q

what are internal validity examples

A
  • investigator effects
  • demand characteristics
  • confounding variables
  • social desirability bias
  • poorly operationalised behavioural categories
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32
Q

what are investigator effects

A
  • anything that an investigator does that has an effect on a participants performance other than what was intended
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33
Q

what are demand characteristics

A
  • cues that inadvertently communicate the aims of study to participants such as the bobo doll in Banduras study inviting an aggressive response
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34
Q

what are confounding variables

A
  • a variable in an experiment that varies systematically with the independent variable, and therefore confusion cannot be drawn about what caused changes in the dependent variable
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35
Q

what are social desirability bias

A
  • in a questionnarie the tendency for participants to provide answers that do not reflect reality because people prefer to show themselves in good light and don’t always answer questions honestly
36
Q

what is poorly operationalised behavioural categories

A
  • observers cant record reality because categories are not clear
37
Q

name examples of external validity

A

temporal validity (historical)
population validity
ecological validity

38
Q

example of a natural experiment

A
  • institutiosn on romanian orphans - IV is whether the children was adopted before the age of before or after 6 months
  • this variable was not controlled by the researchers and is sometimes described as varying naturally
  • but this naturalness does not make the study high in ecological validity
  • the key feature is to consider is the dependent variable not the IV
  • the romanian orphan study one DV was intellectural development assessed using IQ tests - conducted in a controlled environement and are quite artifical measures of intellectural development
  • need to consdier teh method used to assess the DV rather than teh naturalness of teh IV
  • IV is actually irrelevant to the ecological validity of the findings
39
Q

example of a field experinment

A

Godden and Baddeleys experiment with deep sea divers - divers learn a set of words either on land or underwater and then had to recall the word list either on land or in the water
- need to consider the mundane realism of the task

40
Q

what is ecological validity

A
  • not easy to decide whether a study has high or low ecological validity
  • must think about different aspects of the study all which contribute to whether an observed effect can be generalised to other settings
    Less about where people studied and more about how the DV was measured and whether participants knew their behaviour was being assessed
41
Q

how do you assess validity

A
  • researcher decides to test whether men or women are more stressed at work, he decide to use a questionnaire - can assess the reliability of the questionnaire but is it valid
  • face validity - this concerns the issue of whether a self-report measure looks like it is measuring what the researcher intends it to measure for example whether the questions on a stress questionnaire are related to the stress - face validity only requires intuitive measurement
  • concurrent validity - involves comparing the current method of measuring stress with a previously validated one on the same topic - to do this participants are given both measures at the same time and then their scores are compared, we would expect people to get similar scores on both measurements thereby confirming concurrent validity of the current questionnaire
42
Q

How do you improve validity

A
  • if the questionnaire is judged to have poor face validity then the questions should be revised so they relate more obviously to the topic
  • if concurrent validity is low then the researcher should remove questions which may seem irrelevant and try checking the concurrent validity again
  • in the case of internal and external validity issues, improvements could come from better research design for example double blind can be used to prevent participants guessing research aims
43
Q

what is scientific features based on

A
  • empirical methods
  • objectivity
  • replicability
  • replicability
  • theory construction
  • hypothesis testing
44
Q

describe empirical methods as an element of science

A
  • information is gained through direct observation or experiment rather than from unfounded beliefs or reasoned argument
  • there have been times in human history when scientific evidence has come from reasoned argument but scientists now look for empircally based facts this is important because people can make claims about anything but the only way we know such things to be true is through direct testing
45
Q

whats empirical

A

this is a method of gaining knowledge which relies on direct observation or testing not hearsay or rational arguement

46
Q

whats falsifiability

A

the possibility that a statement or hypothesis can be proved wrong

47
Q

what is paradigm

A

a shared set of assumptions about the subject matter of a discipline and the methods appropriate to its study

48
Q

describe objectivity as a feature of science

A

an important aspect of empirical data is that it should be objective and not affected by the expectations of the researcher

  • systematic collection of measurable data is at the heart of the scientific method
  • in order to be objective the ideal is to carefully control conditions in which research is conducted
  • such controlled environments are used for observational studies as well as experiments
49
Q

describe replicability as a feature of science

A

one way to determine the validity of any observation, questionnaire, or experiment is to repeat it

  • if the outcome is the same this affirms the truth of the original results
  • in order to achieve such replication it is important for scientists to record their procedures carefully so someone else can repeat them exactly and verify their original results
  • may sound like reliability but it is about validity, in order to test reliability we would test the same people in exactly the same way but for replication psychologists usually test a different group of people and use a slightly different task to see if similar behaviour is observed
50
Q

describe theory of construction as a feature of science

A

facts are meaningless

  • explanations or theories must be constructed to make sense of the facts
  • a theory is a collection of general principles that explain observations and facts
  • such theories can than help us understand and predict the natural phenomena around us
  • scientists use both inductive and deductive methods so sometimes theory comes before hypothesis testing and sometimes it comes after
51
Q

describe hypothesis testing as a theory of science

A
  • theories are modified through the process of hypothesis testing, this is an essnetial characterstic of science where the valditiy of a theory is tested
  • a good theory must be able to generate testable expectations
  • these are stated in the form of a hypothesis or hypotheses
  • if a scientist fails to find support for a hypothesis then the theory requires modification
  • hypothesis testing as we know it only developed in 20th century
  • science is a method for discovering reliable knowledge and the process itself is constantly evolving and improving
52
Q

describe falsifibabitlity

A
  • Karl Popper was a philosopher of science and brought about a major change in the way scientists thought about proof, he argued that it was not possible to confirm a theory but only possible to disconfirm it
  • no number of sightings of white swans can prove the theory that all swans are white whereas the sighting of just one black swan will disprove it
  • led to the realisation that the only way to prove a theory correct was to seek disproof
  • therefore we start research with a null hypothesis for example not all the swans in the world are white, then we go back and look for swans and record sightings but if we see no black swans this leads up to be certain that the null hypothesis is false therefore we can reject the null hypothesis thus this must mean the alternative hypothesis is true that all swans are right
  • one criticism of some scientific approaches is that they lack falsifiability
53
Q

describe paradigm

A
  • Kuhn proposed that scientific knowledge about the world develops through revolutions rather than teh process suggested by Poppers theory of falsification, Kuhn proposed that there are two man phases in science
  • normal science - this is where one theory remains dominant despite occasional challenges from disconfirming studies, grdually the disconfirming evdeince accumulates until teh theory can no longer be maintained and then it is overthrown
  • this is the second phase - a revolutionary shift,
  • Kuhn did not use the term theory but used paradigm
54
Q

describe the paradigm shift

A

an example would be the revolution in out understandng of the universe due to teh work of Polish Astronomer Copernicus in the sixteenth century,
- he overthew the belief held for almost 2000 yeras that the earth was the centre of the universe,
sceintific progress is more like a relgious conversion and is related to scoial actors,
- a change of view from seeing sceince as logical to science as a social construction t

55
Q

what is an alternative hypothesis

A

a testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables

56
Q

what is an null hypothesis

A

an assumption that there is no relationship in the population from which a sample is taken with resepect to the variables being studied

57
Q

what is a probability

A

a numerical measure of the likelihood or chance that certain events will occur, a statistical test gives the probability that a particular set of data did not occur by chance

58
Q

what is a type 1 error

A

occurs when a researcher rejects a null hypothesis that is true

59
Q

what is a type II error

A

occurs when a researcher accepts a null hypothesis that was not true

60
Q

what do we mean by chance

A

chance refers to something with no cause, it just happens,

- you cannot be 100% certain an observed effect was not due to chance but you can state how certain you are

61
Q

what are probability levels

A
  • in general psychologists use a level of probability of 95%, this expresses the degree of uncertainty, this means that there is a 5% chance of the results occuring if the null hypothesis is true
  • in other words a 5% probability is that the results would occur even if there was no real difference between the populations of which the samples were drawn
  • in some studies psychologists want to be more certain, such as when they are conducting a replication of a previous study or considering the effects of a new drug on health, researchers would use a more stringent probability of 1% or less
62
Q

describe type 1 and type 2 errors

A
  • psychologists use the 5% probability level because this is a good compromise between being two strict or too lenient about accepting the null hypothesis or a good compromise between a type 1 and a type 2 error
    so
  • if they were given a guilty verdict and they were actually guilty this is a true positive
  • if they were given a guilty verdict and they were not guilty then this is a false positive so a type 1 error
  • if they were given a not guilty verdict and were guilty then that was a false negative is a type 11 error
  • if they were found not guilty and they were not guilty then this was a true negative

can be applied to a research study
so for example if the alternative hypotehsis is true and you reject the null hypothesis then there is a true positive
if you reject the null hypothesis and the null hypothesis is true then this is a type 1 error
if you accept the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis is true then this is a type 11 error
if you accept that the null hypothesis is ture and the null hypothesis is true than it is a true negative

63
Q

what is the calculated value

A
  • The value of a test statistic calculated for a particular data set
64
Q

what is the critical value

A
  • In a statistical test the value of the test statistic that must be reached to show significance
65
Q

what is the degree of freedom

A
  • The number of values that are free to vary given that the overall total values are known
66
Q

what is the level of measurement

A
  • Refers to different ways of measuring items or psychological variables, the lower levels are less precise
67
Q

what is the one tailed test

A
  • Forms of test used with a directional hypothesis
68
Q

what is the significance

A
  • A statistical term indicating that the research findings are sufficiently strong to enable a researcher to reject the null hypothesis under a test and accept the research hypothesis
69
Q

what is the statistical test

A
  • Procedures for drawing logical conclusions about the population from which samples are drawn
70
Q

what is the test satistic

A
  • The name given to the value calculated using a statistical test, for each value has a specific name such as S for the sign test
71
Q

what is the two tailed test

A
  • Form of test used with a non direction hypothesis
72
Q

how do you use calculated and critical value

A
  • Each statistical test involves taking the data collected in a study and doing some arithmetical calulations which produce a single number called the test statstic,
  • The calculated value for any set of data is called the calculated value
  • To decide if the value is signfiicatn this figure is compared to another number found in the statistical table called the critical value – value that must be reached in order to reject the null hypothesis
73
Q

How do you use statistical tables

A
  1. Significance level this is usually P<0.05
  2. Kind of hypothesis to determine if it was a one tailed or two tailed test, if hypothesis was directional then it was one tailed if it is non direction then two tailed
  3. Value of N – this is the number of participatns in the study, if the study is independent groups design there is two values for N which are called Na and Nb and in some cases such as t tests and chi squatted tests you calculate the degree of freedom
74
Q

Describe tables of critical values and the importance of R

A
  • Some tests are signficiant when calculated value is equal to or greater than the critical valuea dn others it is the reverse
  • If there is the letter R than the calculated value should be greater than the critical value, if there is no R than the calculated value should be lower than the critical value
75
Q

what are the parametric criteria criterion

A
  • the level of measurement is interval or better
  • the data are drawn from a population that has a normal distribution
  • the variances of the two samples are not significantly different
76
Q

explain of parametric criteria

A
  • levels of measurement in year 1 cards
  • it is not the sample that must be normally distributed but the population, a normal distribution is when most items cluster around the mean with an equal number of items above and below the mean
  • the variance is a measure of how spread out a set of data is around the mean, it is the square of the standard deviation
77
Q

how to decide parametric criteria

A
  • are the data in categories (nominal) or order in some way (ordinal), this is non parametric statistics. are the intervals between the data truly equal intervals = parametric statistics
  • we expect physical and psychological characteristics to be normally distributed, therefore you can justify the use of a parametric test by saying that the characteristic measured is assumed to be normal - also check distribution scores to see if they are skewed or not
  • in the case of repeated measures any difference in the variances should not distort the results, for independent groups design you can check the variance - the variance of one sample should not be more than 4 times the variance of the other
78
Q

List the non parametric tests of difference

A

Wilcoxon test for related design

Mann-Whitney test for unrelated design

79
Q

List parametric tests of difference

A

related T test

unrelated T test

80
Q

List tests of correlation

A

non parametric test - spearmans RHO

A parametric test - Pearsons R

81
Q

why would you chose a Wilcoxon test for related design

A
  • the hypothesis states a difference between two sets of data
  • the two sets of data are pairs of scores from one person = related
  • the data is ordinal because there are not equal intervals between ratings
82
Q

why would you chose a Mann-Whitney test for unrelated design

A
  • the hypothesis states a difference between two sets of data
  • the two sets of data are from separate groups of participants = unrelated
  • the data are ordinal because there are not equal intervals between ratings
83
Q

why would you chose a related T test

A
  • the hypothesis states a difference between two sets of data
  • the two sets of data are pairs of scores from one person = related
  • the data are interval because there are equal intervals when counting frequency
  • the data fits the criteria for a parametric test: the data are interval, the population is assumed to have a normal distribution and the variance of the samples are the same because they come from the same participants
84
Q

why would you chose a unrealted T test

A
  • the hypothesis states a difference between two sets of data
  • the two sets of data are pairs of scores from separate groups of participants = unrelated
  • the data are interval because there are equal intervals when counting the frequency
  • the data fits the criteria for a parametric test - the data is interval, the populations are assumed to have a normal distribution and the variances of the samples are assumed to be the same, as the participants were randomly assigned to conditions
85
Q

why would you chose a Spearmans RHO

A
  • the hypothesis states a correlation between two sets of data
  • the two sets of data are pairs of scores from one person = related
  • the data is ordinal because numeracy skills are measured using a test and may not have equal intervals between scores
86
Q

why would you chose a Pearsons R

A
  • the hypothesis states a correlation between two sets of data
  • the two sets of data are pairs of scores that are related
  • the data is interval because they are counting the number of observations
  • the data fit the criteria for a parametric test: the data are interval, the populations are assumed to have a normal distribution and the variances of the samples are assumed to be the same as the participants are related
87
Q

why would you use a chi-squared test

A
  • the hypothesis states a difference/association between the two sets of data
  • the data in each cell are independent
  • the data re nominal because each person belongs to one of the 4 categories