Practical work 2: RM Student Responses. June 2018. P2 Flashcards
Example Answers for Research Methods: A Level Psychology, Paper 2, June 2018(AQA). 1:Q= A psychologist was reading an article about typical dream themes in adults.
Figure 2 shows the main dream themes identified in the article.
Figure 2 Main dream themes
1 2 Using Figure 2, estimate the percentage of dreams that were reported to be about being
chased. Shade one box only.
A = Remember to consider the circle of the pie chart as a whole.
C = 27%.
1.2. Q = The psychologist was interested in finding out whether dream themes differed between box
males and females, particularly in terms of social interaction. She decided to conduct a
pilot study. Twenty undergraduate students (8 male and 12 female) volunteered for the
study. For a six-week period the students were interviewed at 9 am each morning when
they arrived at university. Interviewers, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried
out and recorded the dream interviews.
1 3 What is meant by a pilot study? Explain one possible reason why the psychologist
decided to conduct a pilot study for this investigation.
[3 marks]
A = 1 mark for a clear and coherent definition of a pilot study.
Pilot studies are small-scale investigations conducted before research.
Plus
2 marks for a clear, elaborated reason for why the psychologist decided to conduct a pilot study for this
investigation.
1 mark for a limited/muddled reason for why the psychologist decided to conduct a pilot study for this
investigation.
Possible reasons:
- to identify whether there needed to be any modifications in the design, eg whether the interview
questions were sufficiently relevant to dream content
- to identify whether it would be feasible to conduct a study on the differences in dream themes across
gender.
SA = Pilot studies are small-scale prototypes of a study that are carried out in advance of the full research to find out if there are any problems with the methodology. This helps to ensure that time, effort and money are not wasted on a flawed methodology.
One possible reason why the psychologist decided to conduct a pilot study for this investigation could be to ensure that their measuring instrument generated the data required, in this case, that the questions relating to dreams in the interview produced valid responses from participants.
1.3. Q = The interviews produced qualitative data.
What is meant by qualitative data? Give one strength of collecting qualitative data in this
study.
[2 marks].
A = Marks for this question: AO1= 1 and AO2 = 1 maths
1 mark for a clear and accurate description of qualitative data.
Qualitative data is non-numerical/descriptive data.
Plus
1 mark for a clear strength of collecting qualitative data in this study.
Possible strengths:
- enables the students to talk in detail about their dreams to develop deeper understanding of
dream content
- enables the researcher to develop a deep understanding of the content of the dream to improve
classification and identification of dream themes.
Credit any other relevant strengths.
Note – zero marks should be awarded for a generic strength
SA = Qualitative data is non-numerical, language-based data expressed in words which are collected through semi/unstructured interviews and open-ended questions in a questionnaire.
One strength of collecting qualitative data in this study is the rich detail obtained by the researcher. Since participants can develop their responses about their dreams freely, this provides meaningful insights into dreaming which enhances the external validity as findings are more likely to represent an accurate real-world view.
1.4. Q = What are investigator effects? Suggest one way in which they could have been minimised
during the dream interviews.
[3 marks].
Marks for this question: AO1 = 1 and AO3 = 2
1 mark for a clear description of investigator effects.
Any (unintentional) influence of the researcher’s behaviour/characteristics on participants/data/outcome.
Plus
2 marks for a clear and elaborated way that the psychologist could minimise investigator effects in this
study.
1 mark for a limited/muddled way that the psychologist could minimise investigator effects in this study.
Possible ways:
provide a standardised script for the interviewers to use so that they all asked the same
questions in the same way to avoid any bias in the students’ responses
the interviewers could have been trained to greet the students in the same way and ask
questions with a neutral tone
ensure all interviewers were female or all interviewers were male
ensure that the students were interviewed by someone of the same gender as themselves.
Credit any other relevant ways.
Note – Do not credit any answers referring to using a blind procedure (eg ‘ensuring the interviewer was
not aware of the purpose of the study’) as this is already stated in the stem
SA = Investigator effects are where a researcher, consciously or unconsciously, acts in a way to support their research prediction. This can be a particular problem when observing events that can be interpreted in more than one way.
Investigator effects can be minimised by not allowing either the participants or the researcher to know the aim of the dream research. This is achieved by using a double-blind experimental technique. In this instance, only the person who originally designed the experiment knows the true aim about whether dream themes differed between males and females. The person carrying out the interview and the interviewee would be blind to the aim of the experiment; this would reduce the opportunity for either party to manipulate responses to support the research aim.
1.5. Q = Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content
analysis of the interview data. Explain how this content analysis could have been
conducted.
[4 marks].
Marks for this question: AO2 = 4
Award 1 mark for each of the following points:
identify/devise important categories/themes (from the interviews)
example of possible category/theme (eg references to aggressive interactions)
work through transcribed conversations / repeatedly listen to segments of the recording
count/tally the number of occurrences of each of the categories/themes.
SA = The other researcher would read through the dream interview data, highlighting important points of reference and annotate the margins with comments. Using these comments, the researcher would categorise the data, e.g. evidence of social interaction. This process will be repeated for each interview transcript.
Once completed, the categories which emerged through the process of analysing the content are reviewed. With the well-defined (operationalised) categories, the researcher then returns to the original interview data and tallies the occurrence of each ‘behaviour’ accordingly. The qualitative data has now undergone analysis to produce quantitative data which can undergo further analysis such as statistical testing.
1.6. Q = The psychologist wanted to assess the reliability of the content analysis. Explain how the
reliability of the content analysis could be assessed.
[4 marks].
A = Marks for this question: AO3 = 4
Test-retest reliability - Award 1 mark for each of the following points:
content analysis repeated on a second occasion using the same interview data
compare the results of the two separate analysis (number of occurrences of each)
researchers could calculate the correlation between the two ratings
researchers generally accept 0.8 correlation (accept 0.7-0.9) between the test and the re-test.
Inter-rater reliability - Award 1 mark for each of the following points (up to 4 marks):
use a second person to work with the original researcher
they could read the interviews (separately) and devise a set of categories (and agree operational
definitions)
they could tally the occurrences of each of the categories of the interviews (separately)
they could compare their tally charts looking for agreement
researchers could calculate the correlation between the two ratings
researchers generally accept 0.8 correlation (accept 0.7-0.9) between the test and the re-test.
SA = Inter-rater reliability refers to the extent to which two or more researchers are rating or recording behaviour in a consistent way. This is a particularly useful way of ensuring reliability in situations where there is a risk of subjectivity, such as a content analysis of dreams, to make sure that the categories are being used in the correct manner.
Another independent psychologist would observe the same data set from the original interviews, and then their categories and tallies would be correlated to see whether they are suitably similar. If reliability is found to be poor, the categories used in the first content analysis will need to be refined and then re-categorised in order to achieve consistency.
1.7. Q = When comparing the data for males and females, the psychologist found that there was a
difference in the proportion of friendly and aggressive social interactions. This is shown in
Table 2.
Table 2 Percentage of friendly and aggressive social interactions in dreams reported by
males and females
Males, Females
Friendly 40%, 56%
Aggressive 60%, 44%
A total of 375 dreams reported by males included social interaction. Use the data in Table 2
to calculate how many of these dreams reported by males were classified as aggressive.
Show your workings.
[2 marks].
A = 2 marks for correct answer: 225 (even if no correct workings are shown).
1 mark if incorrect answer is provided but all workings are correct.
SA = workings:
375 ÷ 100 = 37.5
37.5 x 60 = 225
Answer = 225.
1.8. Q = Draw a suitable graphical display to represent the data in Table 2 box . Label your graph
appropriately.
[4 marks].
A = mark for each of the following:
appropriate title with reference to the IV and the DV
accurately plotted data, bars must not touch
accurate y-axis label, percentage/% is sufficient
accurate x-axis label with key, where necessary.
Note – If the graphical display is not suitable candidates can be awarded a maximum of 1 mark for an
appropriate title.
Note – Do not credit the title if it explicitly refers to a histogram.
SA = As two sets of data are being compared a Bar chart would be appropriate. With the two comparisons between males and females and their respective percentages displayed on the graph.
