Research Methods

Question 1

A scientist has the question: ‘Do you think that you concentrate on your work ‘better’, ‘worse’ or ‘the same’ if you listen to music while working?’

What type of hypothesis should be used? Why?

Answer 1

A non-directional hypothesis is suitable

As there is no reference to evidence that allows the psychologist to predict the direction of the results (1).

Question 2

A scientist has the question: ‘Do you think that you concentrate on your work ‘better’, ‘worse’ or ‘the same’ if you listen to music while working?’

Explain why using stratified sampling might improve this study.

Answer 2

Stratified sampling increases representation/generalisation by sampling many subsets of students

Stratified sampling reduces research bias as the subsets of students are selected randomly.

Question 3

Explain what is meant by ‘primary data?

Answer 3

Primary data is original data

Collected specifically for the research being carried out.

Question 4

Explain one reason why the mean would be the most appropriate measure of
central tendency to summarise the data in this table?

Participant Task A (silence) Task B (Music)
1 67 82
2 24 70
3 33 70

Answer 4

The mean can be said to be representative of all the data collected as it is calculated using all the
individual values.

The mean is the most sensitive measure of central tendency as it uses all the values in set of
data

Question 5

Discuss the purpose of counterbalancing

Answer 5

it controls the impact of order effects (practice, fatigue or boredom).

Allows order effects to be distributed evenly across both conditions.

Making each condition of the IV occur as the first task and the second task equally.

Counterbalancing does not eliminate order effects which will be present because there are two
separate tasks to be completed by each person

Question 6

A psychologist wanted to test whether listening to music improves running
performance.
The psychologist conducted a study using 10 volunteers from a local gym. The
psychologist used a repeated measures design. Half of the participants were
assigned to condition A (without music) and half to condition B (with music).
All participants were asked to run 400 metres as fast as they could on a
treadmill in the psychology department. All participants were given
standardised instructions. All participants wore headphones in both conditions.
The psychologist recorded their running times in seconds. The participants
returned to the psychology department the following week and repeated the
test in the other condition.

Identify the type of experiment used in this study

Answer 6

Laboratory

Question 7

A psychologist wanted to test whether listening to music improves running
performance.
The psychologist conducted a study using 10 volunteers from a local gym. The
psychologist used a repeated measures design. Half of the participants were
assigned to condition A (without music) and half to condition B (with music).
All participants were asked to run 400 metres as fast as they could on a
treadmill in the psychology department. All participants were given
standardised instructions. All participants wore headphones in both conditions.
The psychologist recorded their running times in seconds. The participants
returned to the psychology department the following week and repeated the
test in the other condition.

Identify the operationalised dependent variable in this study.

Answer 7

Running time in seconds

Question 8

Explain why a histogram would not be an appropriate way of displaying the means shown?

Condition A (without music) Condition B (with music)
Mean 400m time (s) 123 117
Standard deviation 9.97 14.5

Answer 8

You need to have continuous data

Identifying that the data represents two separate conditions (with music/without music

Question 9

When are histograms used?

Answer 9

For continuous data

Question 10

What do the mean and standard deviation values in Table 1 suggest about the
participants’ performances with and without music? Justify your answer

Condition A (without music) Condition B (with music)
Mean 400m time (s) 123 117
Standard deviation 9.97 14.5

Answer 10

400m performance - participants run faster with music

(take less time to run 400 metres)
mean time is greater in condition A than condition B

The standard deviations suggest about the spread of
scores in each condition – performance is more consistent in condition A than condition B

a justification about the difference between the standard deviations in each condition –
standard deviation is smaller in condition A than in condition B (or standard deviation is greater in
condition B than condition A).

Question 11

What graph would you use for non continuous data?

Answer 11

Bar Charts

Question 12

When are line graphs good to use?

Answer 12

When you have more than one set of data?

Question 13

What to use with quantitive data?

Answer 13

Tables

Question 14

Describe the process of peer review?

Answer 14

Other psychologists check the research report before deciding whether it could be published
• independent scrutiny by other psychologists working in a similar field
• work is considered in terms of its validity, significance and originality
• assessment of the appropriateness of the methods and designs used
• reviewer can accept the manuscript as it is, accept with revisions, suggest the author
makes revisions and re-submits or reject without the possibility of re-submission
• editor makes the final decision whether to accept or reject the research report based on the
reviewers’ comments/recommendations
• research proposals are submitted to panel and assessed for merit

Question 15

People’s perception of how they spend their time at the gym is often not very
accurate. Some spend more time chatting than on the treadmill. A psychologist
decides to observe the actual behaviour of an opportunity sample of gym users
at a local gym.

Explain why it is more appropriate for the psychologist to use an observation
than a questionnaire in this case.

Answer 15

An observation would be more appropriate because a self-report method like a questionnaire
would lead to socially desirable answers/lying/self-delusion/misremembering, so would not reflect
what really happens at the gym, so the data would lack validity.

Question 16

A psychologist wanted to test whether listening to music improves running
performance.
The psychologist conducted a study using 10 volunteers from a local gym. The
psychologist used a repeated measures design. Half of the participants were assigned to condition A (without music) and half to condition B (with music).
All participants were asked to run 400 metres as fast as they could on a treadmill in the psychology department. All participants were given
standardised instructions. All participants wore headphones in both conditions.
The psychologist recorded their running times in seconds. The participants returned to the psychology department the following week and repeated the
test in the other condition.

Identify one extraneous variable that could have affected the results of this
study. Suggest why it would have been important to control this extraneous
variable and how it could have been controlled in this study?

Answer 16

eg type/rhythm of
music/equipment/environmental variables

an explanation of why it is important to control their chosen variable in the context of
this study ie the impact on the DV.
(e.g may run to the rhythm of music)

how the stated variable could be controlled.
(e.g ensure same song used)

Question 17

Explain why it was important to match the students on their high level of interest in business studies? (extraenous variable)

Answer 17

Level of interest could affect their satisfaction scores so needs to be controlled; matching students’
levels of interest in business studies keeps this participant variable constant.

Question 18

Explain three benefits of random allocation?

Answer 18

Removal of researcher bias in determining which participant has the most to least number of online
hours

Increased validity as the researcher will not be biased in how students are allocated

Removal of participant bias as each participant has the same chance of having a particular number of
online hours as any other participant.

Question 19

The sample used in this pilot study was an opportunity sample. Briefly explain how using a stratified sample when the final study is conducted might be an improvement
to the design.

Answer 19

Stratified sampling ensures each identified sub group of the whole target population of possible
participants is represented in the sample so generalisation of the results to the target population is
more valid than if the participants were just available at the time of asking

Question 20

The researcher designed a questionnaire to collect data from the students about how
satisfied they felt when they had completed the course.
Give an example of an appropriate question that the researcher might use to collect
qualitative data on the questionnaire?

Answer 20

What did you like/dislike about the

online/classroom lessons?

Question 21

Briefly explain one problem the researcher might have in analysing the qualitative data
collected from the questionnaires.

Answer 21

Analysis of qualitative data relies on interpretation by the researcher which could be
inaccurate/biased/subjective

Qualitative data may not be easy to categorise/collate into a sensible number of answer types

The researcher could be left with lots of individual responses that cannot be summarised.

Question 22

Outline one ethical issue that should have been taken into account when carrying out the
questionnaire.

Answer 22

The students should be treated with respect by explaining that their answers will be kept confidential

The students must be assured that they can withdraw their answers if they want to

The students must be told exactly what the researcher was trying to find out about the relationship
between satisfaction and the way information was delivered

Question 23

Describe two variables in all labarotary experiments

Answer 23

• IV and DV
• Control (of variables)
• IV manipulated
• DV measured
• artificial environment
• comparison between groups
• looking for differences
• investigates causal relationships

Question 24

Describe what is meant by a repeated measures design?

Answer 24

An experimental design in which any one participant/group performs in each of the
conditions/levels of the independent variable (i.e. would have seen both male and female
model/ would have seen no model, aggressive model or non-aggressive model).

Question 25

(c) Explain two ways that subjectivity could have influenced the job interview study.

Answer 25

The interviewer gave an estimate about the time it took to make a decision which could have been subjective (1). This is because they might not have been accurate in their estimate of how long it took them to come to a decision (1).

The interviewers’ primary reasons for making their decision was self-report data which could have been subjective (1).
This is because they may have not been truthful in their reasons for hiring an employee or not (1)

Question 26

Explain one weakness of using quantitative data for a study about which films people choose to watch at the cinema?

Answer 26

Collecting quantitative data about film choice at the cinema may lack validity in terms of why someone went to see that film (1).

This is because
Malik will not know the underlying reasons why the participants chose to see a horror or comedy film so cannot be sure it was their personal choice
to pick the type of film (1).

Question 27

A cognitive psychologist was studying problem-solving activity. She randomly allocated 20 participants to two conditions in an experiment.
Condition A: the 10 participants were given 5 minutes to solve as many simple problems as possible.
Condition B: the 10 participants were given 5 minutes to solve as many complex problems as possible.
The psychologist found that participants in Condition A solved twice as many problems as the participants in Condition B.

Explain how the psychologist could have randomly allocated the participants to the two
conditions of this study?

Answer 27

The names of all 20 participants could be put in a container
• 10 names are drawn out and these participants are allocated to Condition A
• The remaining 10 participants are allocated to Condition B

Question 28

Briefly outline one advantage of conducting research in laboratory conditions.

Answer 28

Control of extraneous variables, ability to infer cause and effect, replicability.

DO NOT accept increases reliability/ validity

Question 29

Self-actualisation means what?

Answer 29

Realising one’s potential

Question 30

Briefly outline the process of synaptic transmission.

Answer 30

The release of neurotransmitter into the synapse.

Neurotransmitter binding with receptors on the dendrite or next neuron to binding another impulse.

Question 31

A young woman says: “When I was 5 years old, I was at a party and a balloon burst with a loud bang in my face. Even after all these years, I cannot bear to go into a room
where there are balloons. They terrify me!”

Use your knowledge of classical conditioning to explain why the young woman is terrified of balloons.

Answer 31

one mark for reference to balloon as a neutral stimulus when ‘unburst’
• one mark for the reflex: normally a loud noise/bang causes fear
• one mark for the association between the balloon and bang/bursting
• one mark for the ‘new learning’ that balloons alone now elicit a fear response.

Question 32

Describe a procedure that behaviourists have used to study operant conditioning.

Answer 32

How the researchers used a controlled environment/context/variables – such as
some detail of the Skinner box (do not credit naming Skinner’s rats and/or Skinner’s box)

Pairing of specified stimulus and response/consequence eg rat presses leverreceives food pellet

Reference to repetition– giving a food pellet each time.

Question 33

A cognitive psychologist was studying problem-solving activity. She randomly allocated 20 participants to two conditions in an experiment.
Condition A: the 10 participants were given 5 minutes to solve as many simple problems as possible.
Condition B: the 10 participants were given 5 minutes to solve as many complex problems as possible.
The psychologist found that participants in Condition A solved twice as many problems
as the participants in Condition B.

Identify the experimental design used in this study?

Answer 33

Independent groups/independent measures/unrelated design

Question 34

Explain how the psychologist could have randomly allocated the participants to the two conditions of this study? (3 marks)

Answer 34

The names of all 20 participants could be put in a container

10 names are drawn out and these participants are allocated to Condition A

The remaining 10 participants are allocated to Condition B

Question 35

Advantages of questionnaires?

Answer 35

Being anonymous

Large amounts of data can be collected because the researcher would not need to be present when the
questionnaires were completed

There might be a reduction in investigator effects/social desirability because the researcher’s reactions would not be visible

Question 36

Explain one advantage of the closed question?

Answer 36

Having 4 discrete options means the researcher can quickly add up the number of times each response has been selected and can convert the information quickly to percentages and display these clearly.

Question 37

Advantages of open questions?

Answer 37

Without the restricted option answers the participants can offer any information they
choose to and are likely to provide more detail in their responses explaining why they think as they
do. This should give the researcher information about the reasons for the answer given.

Question 38

3 (d) What is a pilot study

Answer 38

A small scale study/ practice run/ trial run conducted

before the full investigation takes place

Question 39

Why is it useful to conduct a pilot study?

Answer 39

The pilot allows the researcher to test material

Doing the check could highlight any problems in the materials or procedures

This will allow the researcher to modify the design.

Question 40

The researcher decided to conduct a structured interview. Explain one advantage of
conducting this type of interview rather than an unstructured interview.

Answer 40

With a structured interview the data collected will relate only to the designated questions and the
researcher will not need to accommodate any unique/unexpected information which could arise
from unstructured interviews where the questions change from person to person.

Question 41

The researcher did not require students to put their names on the questionnaires.
Outline two other ways in which the British Psychological Society (BPS) code of ethics
could be applied in this study

Answer 41

the students must be treated with respect so they should not be required to answer
embarrassing or upsetting questions

the full purpose of the study should be explained to each student at the end of participation
so that he/she is fully aware of the aims of the researcher/to give the student an opportunity
to withdraw his/her answers.

Question 42

Why are the standard deviation values found in the study above useful descriptive
statistics for the cognitive psychologist?

Answer 42

Useful to inform about the spread of scores

Indicates participant variables – as a group the people in Condition 1 are quite different/are more variable than those in Condition 2.

Question 43

Outline one problem of studying internal mental processes like memory ability by conducting experiments such as that described in Question 03 above

Answer 43

Direct observation of memory is not possible and must be inferred from the results/behaviour of the participants – this inference could be mistaken.

Question 44

Define investigator effects?

Answer 44

This is when the person collecting the data has
knowledge of what the research aim is/traits and that knowledge/those traits affect the data
obtained.

Question 45

Outline how the researchers could have avoided investigator effects having an impact
on the study?

Answer 45

Discussion of separate observation by the two researchers and comparison – inter-raterreliability

Having ‘blind’ rating of the discussion by someone who is unaware of the aim or research hypothesis

Filming the discussions so there is a permanent record that can be checked by peer review of the data to confirm the scores/ratings

Question 46

Benefits of closed questions?

Answer 46

Closed questions would present participants with options for their response so the
researchers would be able to collate and display the information collected easily.

Closed questions make it easy to compare specific response to questions the researchers
wanted answered – they can be sure there will be certain information because they have
restricted the options to include that information.

Question 47

List the advantages of questionnaires?

Answer 47

A great deal of information can be collected from a large sample in a relatively short period of time.

Large amounts of data can be generated relatively cheaply.

Questionnaires can be administered by people who do not require much training, as many such
questionnaires are self-explanatory.

Both qualitative and quantitative data may be generated

Question 48

List the disadvantages of questionnaires?

Answer 48

People might not answer the questions truthfully.

Social desirability can create a bias; i.e. people may give answers that show them in the best light, rather
then answering honestly.

Researcher effects can influence the respondent.

If the questions are not clear, respondents may interpret them differently

Question 49

(b) Explain one reason why a pilot study should have been carried out in the context of this survey (questionnaire about alcohol use) (3 marks)?

Answer 49

A pilot study allows the researcher to discover any potential problems in the design before the main study is
carried out. For example, in this case, it would enable the researchers to check the clarity of the questions,
the layout of the questionnaire etc.

Question 50

Define positive reinforcement?

Answer 50

A desired behaviour is rewarded with something pleasant

So the desired behaviour is likely to be repeated