Debates and Methodological issues Flashcards
Define reliability
Reliability relates to how consistent a study is - does it have a large sample, a standardised procedure, a high level of control and is it replicable
Define validity
Validity relates to how true the study is in relation to whether it measures what it intends and whether it is true to life
Define ethics
The extent to which psychological research follows the regulations by the BPS to follow safe and moral principles
Define ethnocentrism
The extent to which findings of research apply to people from varying cultures
Define usefulness
Whether psychological research needs to be useful in a practical sense or whether it is sufficient for it to be intrinsically useful (ie whether it has practical applications)
Outline the reductions/holism debate
Reductionism is the belief that behaviour can be explained by only looking at one component of the behaviour while holism looks into multiple components and how they all affect behaviour
Outline the determinism/freewill debate
Determinism states that how we behave is beyond our control and can be influenced by both biological and environmental factors whereas free will suggests we have total control over how we behave
Describe the key features of psychology as a science
Research can be considered scientific if it is objective, replicable and falsifiable
Outline the nature/nurture debate
Whether the ways in which we behave are as a result of our biology (genetics, hormones etc) or as a result of how we have been brought up
Describe the positions of the individual/situational debates
Whether actions and behaviour are due to the aspects or the external environment or due to the internal characteristics of a person
When will research be considered socially sensitive
If it has wider negative implications for participants or for ‘type’ of individuals represented by research
What is sampling bias?
When the researcher influences the sample in order to portray a certain outcome or if the sample if imbalanced
