Personal Investigation 2

Question 1

What is the aim of our second investigation?

Answer 1

To invesitgate the relationship between mathmatic ability and score on a stroop test

Question 2

What are the two co-variables of our study?

Answer 2

Grade achieved in GCSE Maths to show mathematical ability (0-9)

Score on a stroop test, in time taken to complete in in minutes and seconds

Question 3

Is our hypothesis directional or non-directional?

Answer 3

Directional hypothesis

Question 4

Justify why our hypothesis is directional or non-directional?

Answer 4

Its directional because previous research suggests that stroop test score correlates with acedemic ability

Question 5

Which research method was used?

Answer 5

A test of Correlation

Question 6

Justify why we used the research method we did

Answer 6

We are investigating the relationships between mathematic ability ( GCSE Maths score) and time taken to complete a stroop test in minutes and seconds

Question 7

Which experimental design was used?

Answer 7

None as its a test of correlation

Question 8

Justify why we didn’t use an experimental design?

Answer 8

There would not be as its a test of correlation betweeen two co-variables

However we have related data due to both sets of data coming from the same ppt (GCSE Maths grade and time taken to complete a stroop test)

Question 9

Which sample technique did we use?

Answer 9

We used oppertunity sampling

Question 10

What are two strengths of our choice of sampling technique?

Answer 10

It is very effecient as we select ready and able ppts only

Cost effective as we dont need to advestise to gather participants

Question 11

What are two limitations of our sampling techniques?

Answer 11

It may cause a sample bias as ppts were free at that specific time (Mums after a school run) , this will lead to ppt charecteristics

Very high chance that you dont gather a large enough sample

Question 12

Which descriptive statistic was used?

Answer 12

None as its a test of Correlation

Question 13

Explain why our choice of descriptive statistics are appropriate?

Answer 13

We cant measure a trend for a test of correlation

Thats why a correlation co-effecient will be appropiate

Question 14

Which graphical representation should we use

Answer 14

A scatter graph

Question 15

Why is our choice of graphical representation appropriate?

Answer 15

As we are investigating a correlation between our co-variables we want to be able to show the relationship on our graph

Question 16

Which inferential statistic is appropiate?

Answer 16

Spearman Rho

Question 17

Why would we use our inferential statistic in our study?

Answer 17

Because its a correlation and the data we gather (time taken to complete a Stroop test and GCSE Maths grade) is Ratio data due to it having a true 0 and we used related data

Question 18

What were two issues of reliability we faced in our study?

Answer 18

Instructions may have been unclear to ppts as we used multiple researchers to deliver the brief (inter-rater reliability)

Ppts may struggle to read the item , specifically , ppts may strugle to tell the colours apart, it may be exacerbated by any colour blindness or any other impediment to their vision

Question 19

How did we deal with these 2 issues of relability?

Answer 19

We created standardised instructions for researchers to deliver to ppts

We dealt with the potential issues with the item by running a pilot study and rectifying any mistakes we found (eg colour of fonts being too similar)

Question 20

How did we deal with the two issues of reliability in our study?

Answer 20

We dealt the the issue of conflicting instructions by producing a standardised instruction pamphlet for researchers to read to ppts

Another way we dealt with the issue of reliability is we ran a pilot study , this helped us work out any issues with the item , an example of this was a participant couldnt read the yellow , so we outlined it in black

Question 21

What were two issues of validity we encountered in our study?

Answer 21

One issue of validity was the noise in the class room , during our pilot study , multiple ppts complained about the noise in the lab

Another issue was the sample , as we used oppertunity sampling in a college , meaning we may have known the ppts selected , this may have caused social desirability bias to become an issue

Question 22

How did we deal with the two issues of validity?

Answer 22

The way we dealt with the variable of noise was limiting the amount of participants in the lab at one time , we only allowed 2 ppts at the same time so the noise was quiet

Another way we dealt with the issue of validity was only selecting ppts we didnt know to combat social desirability bias

Question 23

What are two ethical issues we ran into during our study?

Answer 23

One ethical issue was gaining valid consent from ppts as we didnt reaveal the true aim to them

Another issue was confidentiality of ppts , they may have been concerned with their data being traced back to them

Question 24

How did we deal with these ethical issues?

Answer 24

We dealt with the issue of valid consent by debriefing the ppts after they had completed the Stroop test and reminded them of the right to withdraw

We dealt with the ethical issue of confidentiality by only gathering key information from our ppts ( e.g. our co-variables , Maths GCSE grade and time taken to complete a Stroop test in minutes and seconds

Question 25

What are two ways we could improve our research

Answer 25

We would use a larger sample size in order to make it more generalisable

We would use a more sophisticated measure of intelligence (e.g. instead of GCSE Maths grade 1-9 , we’d use and IG Test)

Question 26

What is an appropriate null hypothesis for our study?

Answer 26

The academic ability of a participant will have no affect on the time taken to complete a stroop test in minutes and seconds , any correlation is due to chance alone