Practical Investigations

Question 1

Aim of Social Psychology Practical Investigation

Answer 1

A questionnaire to investigate whether females or males perceive themselves to be more obedient, using self-report aggression scales (out of 50).

Question 2

One-tailed directional hypothesis of Social Psychology Practical Investigation

Answer 2

There will be a significant difference in the perceptions of obedience between males and females measured by scores out of 50 and themes identified, females will be more obedient than males.

Question 3

Procedure of Social Psychology Practical Investigation

Answer 3

1. 20 students (10F 10M) aged 12 years old completed the questionnaire on self-reported levels of obedience in their classrooms in silence for 15 mins.
2. All questionnaires were anonymous, no names were used, only gender indicated.
3. 10 closed questions using the Likert-type scale and 5 open questions were included.
4. How likely are you to follow instructions from your parents? (1 = highly likely, 5 = highly unlikely)
5. Describe one situation where you have obeyed the instructions of someone in authority.

Question 4

Results of Social Psychology Practical Investigation

Answer 4

• The calculated standard deviation was 0.96 which is close to 0, indicating that data points were concordat and close to the mean.
• We accept our experimental hypothesis and reject our null hypothesis @ p = 0.05.
• We can be at least 95% confident that our IV did influence our DV

Question 5

Data plot sketch of Social Psychology Practical Investigation

Answer 5

A bar chart to show the average self-report obedience scores (out of 50) in males and females.

Question 6

Aim of Cognitive Practical Investigation

Answer 6

A laboratory experiment to investigate the influence of acoustically similar and acoustically dissimilar word lists, measured by a score out of 10 in the correct order.

Question 7

One-tailed directional hypothesis of Cognitive Practical Investigation

Answer 7

Participants will recall more acoustically dissimilar words in the correct order from a list of 10 compared to a list of acoustically similar words (out of 10)

Question 8

Procedure of Cognitive Practical Investigation

Answer 8

1. 20 students completed the experiment in their classrooms in 3o minutes and were split using an independent groups design, randomly allocated into 2 groups of 10.
2. A standardised script was read aloud to inform studnts of the true aim, the right to withdraw throughout and debrief of results after data collection.
3. Each group were given either acoustically similar or acoustically dissimilar 10-word lists, each word being presented visually for 2 seconds.
4. Interference task: 6-digit span presented and recalled.
5. Pps had 20 seconds to recall the 10 acoustic or semantic word lists in the correct order.

Question 9

Results of Cognitive Practical Investigation

Answer 9

Level of data: ratio
Experiemental design: independent groups
Therefore we used Mann Whitney U statistical test and found that there was a significant difference. The calculated U value of 22.5 is less than the critical value of 27 at p =0.05 for a one-tailed test when Na/Nb = 10, so a significant difference exists.
We can accept our experimental hypothesis and reject our null hypothesis.

Question 10

Data Plot Sketch of Cognitive Practical Investigation

Answer 10

A bar chart to show the average recall of acoustically similar or dissimilar word lists in the correct order scored (out of 10)

Question 11

Aim of Biological Practical Investigation

Answer 11

A correlation study into age of students in a DC sports team and self-rated levels of aggressive behaviour (scored out of 50)

Question 12

One-tailed directional hypothesis of Biological Practical Investigation

Answer 12

There will be a significant correlation between the age of student (years) and self-rated levels of aggressive behaviours (out of 50). Students who are older will score higher for self-rated aggressive behaviour.

Question 13

Procedure of Biological Practical Investigation

Answer 13

1. Opportunity sampling was used to sample 25 male students in total, 5 from each year group (aged 11, 12, 14, 16, 18) at 1:30 m lunchtime.
2. 25 male students completed the self-report questionnaire about self-reported aggression levels in their classrooms in 30 mins under standardised conditions with the presence of the researcher
3. Questionnaires were anonymous, no names or class codes were recorded - only the age of the participant.
4. A standardised script was read aloud to inform the students of the true aim, the right to withdraw throughout and a debrief of the results after data collection.

Question 14

Results of the Biological Practical Investigation

Answer 14

• As our level of data was interval and we were looking for a relationship between two co-variables, we used a Spearman Rho statistical test and found that there was a signficant correlation between age (years) and self-rated levels of aggressive behaviours (out of 50).
• The calculated value +0.401 was higher than the critical value of 0.337 when n=25 and p=0.05 for a one-tailed hypothesis.
• Therefore there was a positive significant correlation between age in years and self-reported levels of aggressive behaviours for students in DC.

Question 15

Data Plot Sketch of Biological Practical Investigation

Answer 15

A scattergraph to show the average self-reported aggression scores (out of 50) and the student’s age (years0