Now available On-Demand, the third in a trilogy of related psychology research methods films (the first and second look at Experimental and Non-Experimental Research Methods respectively) examines how statistical data are collected, compared and explained through an examination of three key issues in this process:
1. Sampling introduces and illustrates a range of important concepts (target population, sample, representativeness, generalisability), explores different types of probability and non-probability sampling (simple random, stratified, opportunity…) and evaluates their respective strengths and weaknesses in the context of developing statistical data.
2. Correlations outlines and explains the concepts of positive and negative correlations, introduces the idea of correlation co-efficient and explores the strengths and limitations of correlations in the context of statistical data.
3. Experimental Design begins by looking at the idea of causation in the context of experimental methods and research design. The strengths and limitations of three types of design (Repeated Measures, Independent Measures and Matched Pairs) are illustrated using a range of contemporary and classic studies.