Realism
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Transcript of Realism
Realism • The aim of any study is to provide information
about how people behave in ‘real-life.’• IF the set-up of the study is too artificial then
the participants may not behave as they normally would (demand characteristics).
• Mundane realism – how an experiment mirrors the real world.
• Mundane = ordinary.
Generalisability• The point of realism in psychological research is to be
able to generalise the results beyond the particular unique research setting.
• In particular to be able to understand behaviour in everyday life.
• Lab study – difficult to generalise to real-life.• Sample – all American students – difficult to generalise
findings to other cultures/ages.
Demand Characteristics• An aspect of the research situation which triggers a predictable
response in participants causing them to respond in a similar way.
• Particular cues in an experimental situation may communicate to the participants what is expected of them and what the researcher hopes to find (may guess the aim).
• The outcome is that the results are biased in favour of research hypothesis, confirming the researcher’s initial beliefs.