Hypothesis is a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited

evidence as a starting point for further investigation.

A research question is an answerable inquiry into a specific concern or issue. It is the
initial step in a research project. The 'initial step' means after you have an idea of what
you want to study, the research question is the first active step in the research project.
A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked
about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service,
concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging.
Target population refers to the ENTIRE group of individuals or objects to which
researchers are interested in generalizing the conclusions. Thetarget
population usually has varying characteristics and it is also known as the
theoretical population.
A representative sample is a subset of a statistical population that accurately reflects
the members of the entire population. Arepresentative sample should be an unbiased
indication of what the population is like. Eg customers.

Sampling Methods
Definitions
A sample is the group of people who take part in the investigation. The people
who take part are referred to as participants.
Sampling is the process of selecting participants from the population.
The target population is the total group of individuals from which the sample
might be drawn.
Generalisability refers to the extent to which we can apply the findings of our
research to the target population we are interested in.

The Purpose of Sampling

In psychological research we are interested in learning about large groups of people
who all have something in common. We call the group that we are interested in
studying our 'target population'.
In some types of research the target population might be as broad as all humans, but in
other types of research the target population might be a smaller group such as
teenagers, pre-school children or people who misuse drugs.

It is more or less impossible to study every single person in a target population so

psychologists select a sample or sub-group of the population that is likely to be
representative of the target population we are interested in.
If the sample we select is going torepresent the target population then we need to
make sure that the people in it are similar to the other members of the target
population. This is important because we want to generalize from the sample to target
population.
The participants in research, the sample, should be as representative as possible of the
target population. The more representative the sample, the more confident the
researcher can be that the results can be generalized to the target population.

One of the problems that can occur when selecting a sample from a target population
is sampling bias. Sampling bias refers to situations where the sample does not reflect
the characteristics of the target population.
Many psychology studies have a biased sample because they have used an opportunity
sample that comprises university students as their participants (e.g. Asch).
OK, so youve thought up this brilliant psychological study and designed it perfectly.
But who are you going to try it out on and how will you select your participants?
There are various sampling methods. The one chosen will depend on a number of
factors (such as time, money etc.).

1. Random Sampling
Everyone in the entire target population has an equal chance of being selected.
This is similar to the national lottery. If the population is everyone who has bought a
lottery ticket, then each person has an equal chance of winning the lottery (assuming
they all have one ticket each).
Random samples require a way of naming or numbering the target population and
then using some type of raffle method to choose those to make up the sample.
Random samples are the best method of selecting your sample from the population of
interest.
The advantages are that your sample should represent the target population and
eliminate sampling bias, but the disadvantage is that it is very difficult to achieve (i.e.
time, effort and money).

2. Stratified Sampling
The researcher identifies the different types of people that make up the target
population and works out the proportions needed for the sample to be representative.
A list is made of each variable (e.g. IQ, sex etc.) which might have an effect on the
research. For example, if we are interested in the money spent on books by
undergraduates, then the main subject studied may be an important variable.
For example, students studying English Literature may spend more money on books
than engineering students so if we use a very large percentage of English students or
engineering students then our results will not be accurate. We have to work out the
relative percentage of each group at a university e.g. Engineering 10%, Social
Sciences 15%, English 20%, Sciences 25%, Languages 10%, Law 5%, Medicine 15%

The sample must then contain all these groups in the same proportion as in the target
population (university students).
Gathering such a sample would be extremely time consuming and difficult to do
(disadvantage). This method is rarely used in Psychology. However, the advantage is
that the sample should be highly representative of the target population and therefore
we can generalize from the results obtained.

3. Opportunity Sampling
Uses people from target population available at the time and willing to take part. It is
based on convenience.
An opportunity sample is obtained by asking members of the population of interest if
they would take part in your research. An example would be selecting a sample of
students from those coming out of the library.
This is a quick way and easy of choosing participants (advantage), but may not
provide a representative sample, and could be biased (disadvantage).

4. Systematic Sampling
Chooses subjects in a systematic (i.e. orderly / logical) way from the target
population, like every nth participant on a list of names.
To take a systematic sample, you list all the members of the population, and then
decided upon a sample you would like. By dividing the number of people in the
population by the number of people you want in your sample, you get a number we
will call n. If you take every nth name, you will get a systematic sample of the correct
size. If, for example, you wanted to sample 150 children from a school of 1,500, you
would take every 10th name.

The advantage to this method is that is should provide a representative sample, but
the disadvantage is that it is very difficult to achieve (i.e. time, effort and money).
Evaluating Information from Web Pages
How do you know information from a Web page is true, accurate and of reasonable quality?
Although publishers, editorial boards or reviewers usually decide whether books or published articles
are accurate and of decent enough quality to be published, anyone can create a Web page with no
screening at all; so it is especially important to evaluate information from the Internet. The questions
below should be asked when evaluating any web page. They can provide some useful guidelines
and criteria to help you evaluate the quality and reliability of web pages.

1) Who is the author that created the page?

Responsible web publications should name the creator of the information in a readily visible place on
the page. Is the author an organization? Is an author not given? (What about Wikipedia articles?
Click here for an explanation.)
If one or more individuals have written the page,is biographical information about the author(s)
available?

What are the author's QUALIFICATIONS or CREDENTIALS? What is his/her/their

background in terms of education, experience, occupation, position, affiliation, publications, etc. Do
these make him/her/they an expert?
Can you discern anything about the CREDIBILITY or REPUTATION of the author?
Do a Google search of the authors name. Can you find web pages that provide reliable
information about the person? (LinkedIn pages can be one good place to find someones experience
and education.)
For academic sources, authors should have an M.A. or PhD. degree in the subject area of
the source or they should be a professional journalist with experience writing for reputable
publications (magazines or newspapers)

2) What is the overall nature and purpose of the website (or the sponsoring
organization or publication)?

What is the basic purpose of the site? To inform? Explain? Persuade? Market a product?
Advocate a cause? Satirize a person, organization, or idea? Are the history, nature, and/or purpose
of the page/site described?
Look for a link to HOME (or the title of the larger website) and click on it
Look for a link such as About, About Us, or "Who We Are" to find a description and
background of the organization, publication or site, including its purpose, history and who are its
leaders.

Is it a relatively impartial group (like a university or government agency) or a group

established to promote certain ideas or a point of view (e.g. non-profit organizations or a political
party)?
Do a Google search of the organizations name. Can you find web pages (e.g.
a Wikipedia article) that provide reliable information about the organization?
If theres no home link, try shortening the URL one subdirectory at a time and pressing
<Enter>. This will sometimes bring you to the larger website that your page is part of.

Try to identify the type of site

scholarly (written by researchers or experts in the field) See: popular magazines vs.
academic journals
professional (written by and primarily for those in a specific profession)
popular (written for the general public) See: popular magazines vs. academic journals
advocacy (promoting particular opinions/causes), including blogs
commercial (promoting/selling services or products, or including advertisements for
products or services -- some sites might be a combination of some of the above types.)

Identify the domain type within the URL

This is can be a key factor when evaluating a site since it often indicates the type of site where the
information originates. The most common domain types are:

.edu: college or university (usually reliable, but can range from scholarly research to
students personal pages
.gov: a government body (usually very reliable, but sometimes may have a political bias)
.org: a non-profit organization (may have very good information but may be promoting
particular ideas)
.com: a commercial enterprise (may be trying to sell or promote a product or service or
display advertising, but also can be very credible organizations or publications, e.g. nytimes.com)
.net: originally for networking organizations, such as internet service providers, but now often
used as an alternative to .com

3) Evaluate the content:

Evaluate the research quality of this page by reviewing the content being presented:
Criteria 1: Length and substance of the text: Does this page provide a substantive, in-depth
discussion of the topic, or merely a cursory, superficial overview? Is this a brief sound-bite, or a
longer, more in-depth analysis? (In general, a page with less than about 10 medium-length
paragraphs of text would be considered brief.)
Criteria 2: Authors purpose: Is this a straightforward summary or overview of the topic, such as
you would find in an encyclopedia article? Or is the author presenting a new interpretation, view, or
explanation of the topic?

Criteria 3: Academic quality and reading level of the text: Is this a serious, complex, detailed,
academic treatment of the topic, or is it lighter popular discussion geared for the general public?
Criteria 4: Originality of the text: Is this original writing, or is it copied and compiled from other
sources and websites? Is this primarily a list of links?
Criteria 5: Objectivity: Is the text primarily personal opinion rather than an objective discussion? If
the text is primarily opinion, is this clearly stated, i.e. is the author clear about the fact that he/she is
presenting a subjective view of the topic? Does the author acknowledge that there might be other
worthy points of view?
Criteria 6: Sources & Documentation: Where did the author gather the information presented?
Was it from original research, experiments, observation, interviews, books and documents? If lots of
factual information is given, does the author cite his/her sources? Verify that the author used
authoritative sources to back up his/her arguments and conclusions.
Criteria 7: Currency: Is the information or the site itself out of date?
Criteria 8: Writing style:Is the content free of grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors?

Scientific research is the systematic investigation of scientific theories and

hypotheses. A hypothesis is a single assertion, a proposed explanation of something
based on available knowledge, for something yet to be explained. One that is subject to
further experimentation.
Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an
understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into
the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.
Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive
deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or
semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group
discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The sample size is
typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfill a given quota.
Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical
data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify
attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables and generalize results from
a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate
facts and uncover patterns in research. Quantitative data collection methods are much
more structured than Qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data collection

methods include various forms of surveys online surveys, paper surveys, mobile
surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal
studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.