What does validity mean when evaluating a study?

Validity is how far a study measures what it claims to measure and how far its findings reflect real life. A memory test using meaningless letter strings may say little about how people remember real events.

What does generalisability mean when evaluating a study?

Generalisability is how far a study's findings can be applied to people and situations beyond the sample. A study using only male university students may not generalise to women, children or older adults.

What does objectivity mean in psychological research?

Objectivity means findings are based on facts and measurements that are not affected by the researcher's own opinions or feelings. Reaction times recorded by a computer are an objective measure.

What does subjectivity mean in psychological research?

Subjectivity means findings depend on a person's own opinions, feelings or interpretation. Freud's reading of the hidden meaning of a dream is subjective, because another analyst might interpret it differently.

How can a researcher make a study more objective?

The researcher can use precise measures such as scores or timings and the same standardised procedure for everyone. A double-blind technique stops the researcher's expectations from affecting the results.

Edexcel GCSE Psychology 1PS0

Development

Topic overview Early brain development Piaget's theory of cognitive development Dweck's mindset theory and Willingham's learning theory The three mountains task and Gunderson's praise study The development of morality

Memory

Topic overview Information processing, duration and capacity Retrograde and anterograde amnesia Bartlett's theory of reconstructive memory The multi-store model, reductionism and holism War of the Ghosts and the Peterson and Peterson study

Psychological Problems

Topic overview Symptoms of depression and addiction Incidence and effects of mental health problems Explaining depression Explaining addiction Treating depression and addiction Key studies and the nature–nurture debate

The Brain and Neuropsychology

Topic overview Lobes of the brain and the effects of damage Lateralisation and Sperry's split-brain study Neurons, synapses and the central nervous system Phineas Gage and how brain research has changed

Social Influence

Topic overview Conformity to majority influence Obedience to authority Bystander intervention Crowd behaviour, society and culture Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison study

Criminal PsychologyOptional topic

Topic overview Operant conditioning and social learning explanations of crime Eysenck's criminal personality theory Punishment, recidivism and rehabilitation Bandura's Bobo doll study and Charlton's St Helena study

The SelfOptional topic

Topic overview Self-concept and influences on self-esteem Erikson's identity stages and belief in free will Rogers' and Maslow's humanistic theory Measuring personality and trait theory Vohs and Schooler's cheating study and Van Houtte and Jarvis's pet study

PerceptionOptional topic

Topic overview Depth cues, visual illusions and constancies Gibson's direct theory and Gregory's constructivist theory Perceptual set The Haber and Levin and Carmichael studies

Sleep and DreamingOptional topic

Topic overview Sleep stages and the sleep cycle Influences on sleep and sleep disorders Freud's theory of dreaming and activation synthesis theory Freud's Little Hans and Siffre's cave study

Language, Thought and CommunicationOptional topic

Topic overview Piaget and Vygotsky on language and thought Linguistic relativism and determinism Human and animal communication Non-verbal communication and Darwin's evolutionary theory The Yuki and Boroditsky studies

Research Methods

Topic overview Variables, hypotheses and controls Sampling methods Experiments and experimental designs Interviews, questionnaires and types of data Correlations, case studies and observations Ethical issues in psychological research Evaluating studies and the core areas of psychology Averages, calculations and graphs

Research Methods

Evaluating studies and the core areas of psychology

3 things to know
Papers 1 and 2

Overview

Validity, reliability, generalisability, objectivity and subjectivity with examples, making a study more objective, reliable but invalid studies, the five core areas of psychology and what each studies, how Piaget, Bartlett, Caspi et al. and Phineas Gage link the areas, and holistic explanations.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What are the five core areas of psychology?

Evaluation

What does reliability mean when evaluating a study?

Process

What does the biological area of psychology study?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What does validity mean when evaluating a study?
Model answer
Validity is how far a study measures what it claims to measure and how far its findings reflect real life. A memory test using meaningless letter strings may say little about how people remember real events.
2
What does reliability mean when evaluating a study?
Model answer
Reliability is how consistent a study's findings are. A reliable study gives similar results when it is repeated using the same standardised procedure.
3
What does generalisability mean when evaluating a study?
Model answer
Generalisability is how far a study's findings can be applied to people and situations beyond the sample. A study using only male university students may not generalise to women, children or older adults.
4
What does objectivity mean in psychological research?
Model answer
Objectivity means findings are based on facts and measurements that are not affected by the researcher's own opinions or feelings. Reaction times recorded by a computer are an objective measure.
5
What does subjectivity mean in psychological research?
Model answer
Subjectivity means findings depend on a person's own opinions, feelings or interpretation. Freud's reading of the hidden meaning of a dream is subjective, because another analyst might interpret it differently.
6
How can a researcher make a study more objective?
Model answer
The researcher can use precise measures such as scores or timings and the same standardised procedure for everyone. A double-blind technique stops the researcher's expectations from affecting the results.

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Development

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The Brain and Neuropsychology

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