VCE Psychology Question Thread!

[nadiaaa]

I think it means whether the experiment is Repeated Measures (eliminates effects of participant variables such as personality traits), Matched Participants (eliminates effects of the confounding variable the participants are "matched" on) or Independent Groups (eliminates bias as long as the sample is large enough). So those three would be your sub-sub headings (or whatever you call headings under subheadings  ) and you would add the advantages and disadvantages of each under that. 

Hope that helps!!

Oh i get it now thank you so much  

[Joseph41]

Hi guys, im doing my Psychology summary for researh methods and in the study design it mentions 'Ways of minimising confounding and extraneous variables including type of experiment'
Im just confused on what i write under the subheading type of experiment
Any feedback is appreciated thank you!

I think it means whether the experiment is Repeated Measures (eliminates effects of participant variables such as personality traits), Matched Participants (eliminates effects of the confounding variable the participants are "matched" on) or Independent Groups (eliminates bias as long as the sample is large enough). So those three would be your sub-sub headings (or whatever you call headings under subheadings  ) and you would add the advantages and disadvantages of each under that. 

Hope that helps!!

Good discussion! I'm not sure I agree with this, though.

On the study design (I'm looking at page 22 in particular), VCAA outlines experimental research, including both:

- "type of experiment"; and
- "types of experimental research designs including independent-groups, matched-participants, repeated-measures".

From what I glean, then, 'type of experiment' and 'type of experimental research design' are different things you need to know.

Foodieisanunderstatement provided some good advantages of each experimental research design. My understanding is that 'type of experiment' refers to things such as case studies, observation, interviews, surveys and psychological tests.

To quote from this page:

Case studies

Case studies involve observation of an individual or individuals over a period of time. The findings cannot be generalised as each case is specific.

Observation

Observation involves natural observation (watching the subject behave in their natural environment), which is realistic but uncontrolled, and controlled observation (watching the subject behave in an ‘artificial’ environment), which can be manipulated but is less realistic.

Interview

Interviews include structured interviews, where there are pre-determined questions and fixed responses, and clinical interviews, where there is more flexibility.

Surveys

Surveys are easy to compare, and allow for data to be quantified, but may produce limited or biased responses.

Psychological tests

Psychological tests (an intelligence quotient test, for example) are easy to replicate and compare, but are subjective in validity.

Regardless, I don't think it's a particularly significant part of the course.

All the best.

[japanese]

What biases are present in convenient sampling?

[Joseph41]

What biases are present in convenient sampling?

Hi japanese,

As you may know, convenience sampling is based on, well, convenience. Basically, that just means selecting people from the population to be part of the research based on what is going to be quickest, easier, or most financially effective. Or a combination of the three.

Sounds great, right? Yeah, but as you note, convenience sampling is likely to come with a number of biases. The types of biases depends a little on the research sample at hand, but here are some possibilities.

- Skewed toward age. Say Mrs. Brown, for example, is conducing a study on the impact of sleep deprivation on school results in secondary school students. Mrs. Brown is a Year 12 teacher, so she just uses her Year 12 class as the sample - it would be much quicker and easier that way. But that's not reflective of the entire population, because it would only include 17-18 year olds, rather than 12-18 year olds.

- Skewed toward capability. Say there's a study on the impact of drug use on literacy levels. The study acquires its participants through on a 'first come, first serve' basis after advertising in the local paper. Because you need to be able to read to understand the written ad, the study is already skewed toward those who can read in the first place.

- Skewed toward location. A study, say, on the impact of country of residence (Australia or Japan) on mental health. But the study is being conducted in a remote town in Australia, so only Australians from that remote town are selected to 'represent' the entire nation.

These aren't great examples (this response is replacing sleep haha), and I'm happy to be challenged, here. But the point is that, depending on the situation, there are a lot of possible biases. Gender, height, wealth, personality, experience, and so on. Did you have a particular scenario in mind, or was it more of a general question?

All the best!

[Robert243]

Hey guys, when describing something such as level of awareness or cognition or time orientation in nwc what word do you use?i know in asc you would say something such as distorted ?

[yearningforsimplicity]

Hey guys, when describing something such as level of awareness or cognition or time orientation in nwc what word do you use?i know in asc you would say something such as distorted ?

For level of awareness in NWC, you can use terms such as: clear, alert, awake
For cognition in NWC, you can say: clear, logical, rational, systematic, organised thoughts
For time orientation in NWC, you could use: flowing, clear, distinct sense of time

[friedchromosome]

Couple questions, are the text book questions worth spending time on? most of the learning activities just seem either straight forward or even irrelevant?
Also what are the most useful resources e.g. checkpoints etc??
thanks in advance

[scout]

Hi guys

Can you ever really tell whether a variable is confounding or not in an experiment in the exam (for example)?

Also, aren't extraneous variables and potentially confounding variables the same thing (since they're potential, they may or may not affect the DV, just like for extraneous variables)?

Thanks 

[cameotodd]

TSSM sacs are pretty horrible lol, would not recommend them at all and I usually found that they consistently had the wrong answers in solutions and some of their '2015 exams and sacs' contained content from previous study designs.

[HasibA]

TSSM sacs are pretty horrible lol, would not recommend them at all and I usually found that they consistently had the wrong answers in solutions and some of their '2015 exams and sacs' contained content from previous study designs.

thanks, my teacher move on from them THANK GOD LOL

[HasibA]

are the following correct:

short term memory has a capacity of approx. 7 +- 2. It's duration is approx 12-20 seconds (some books say 18-20 , not too sure bout this?)

Echoic memory has a longer duration as most auditory information (words like electroencephalograph) are generally quite long, so they tale some time to process , and hence have a longer duration. OR Echoic Memory interprets sound waves which continue to vibrate in your ear, specifically in the Cochlea of the ear, which causes action potential and sensations, and hence it's duration increases

confused as to if that's right 

[16FreemanR]

are the following correct:

short term memory has a capacity of approx. 7 +- 2. It's duration is approx 12-20 seconds (some books say 18-20 , not too sure bout this?)

Echoic memory has a longer duration as most auditory information (words like electroencephalograph) are generally quite long, so they tale some time to process , and hence have a longer duration. OR Echoic Memory interprets sound waves which continue to vibrate in your ear, specifically in the Cochlea of the ear, which causes action potential and sensations, and hence it's duration increases

confused as to if that's right 

Yep your right about the short term memory capacity, as for the duration you can say anything between 18-30 seconds without rehearsal, they are fairly lenient on the exam as different books say different things
For the echoic memory I have never heard those descriptions as for why it has a longer duration but I would say that it has a longer duration because it is important for understanding speech sounds and linking them together so you hear the whole word/sentence rather than each individual sound (it the duration was shorter we would only hear individual sounds which would now make much sense, the longer duration allows us to group the sounds together and make them meaningful). Compared to iconic memory which has a short duration so you can see smoothly as the next image overlaps the old image.
A classic example of this is when someone asks you a question and you immediately say what, but once you say what you realise the answer to their question, their question has been held in echoic memory and you have been able to re access it because of its longer duration
Hope this helps! 

[16FreemanR]

Hi guys

Can you ever really tell whether a variable is confounding or not in an experiment in the exam (for example)?

Also, aren't extraneous variables and potentially confounding variables the same thing (since they're potential, they may or may not affect the DV, just like for extraneous variables)?

Thanks 

Yes you should be able to, A confounding variable is identified after the experiment is completed and is thought to have affected the dependent variable. These variables are any other factors that may have influenced the results.
It could be any thing, age, gender, height, motivation, intelligence, hand eye coordination, so long has it can influence how the participant performs during the experiment in relation to the DV.
For example you wouldn't say that height would affect a persons IQ, how ever their socioeconomic background might.
Hope that clears things up!

[HasibA]

are we required to know criticisms and strengths of each theory of memory? my textbook is quite ambiguous about this section -.-

[16FreemanR]

are we required to know criticisms and strengths of each theory of memory? my textbook is quite ambiguous about this section -.-

no not specifically, as it is not mentioned in the study design, but you do need to know the strengths and limitations for the theories of forgetting.
However it is helpful to know why one is better than the other..
Hope this helps!