as 2011 exams the specification changed from jan 2012 – i have tried to indicate questions that...

AS 2011 exams

The specification changed from Jan 2012 – I have tried to indicate questions that are no longer ‘legitimate’.

Research methods questions+ feedback from the Report on the Examination

The AS examination January 2011 Unit 1The AS examination January 2011 Unit 1


3 Psychologists carried out a laboratory experiment to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive interviews. All participants watched the same film of a robbery. They were randomly allocated to Group One or Group Two. Participants were then asked to recall the robbery. The investigators used a cognitive interview to access recall of participants in Group One and a standard interview to access recall of participants in Group Two. The results of this experiment are summarised in Figure 1 below.

3 (a) What experimental design was used in this experiment? (1 mark)

Some said lab experiment.

3 (b) Explain one limitation of the design that was used in this experiment. (2 marks)

Some lacked elaboration

3 (e) What is meant by the term investigator effects? Explain possible investigator effects in this study. (4 marks)

Some inappropriately looked at leading questions and Loftus.


9 A psychologist assessed the aggressive behaviour of 100 five-year-old children who were starting school. The children had attended day care for at least 20 hours a week. Fifty of the children had attended day nurseries. The other fifty children had been looked after by childminders. The children who attended the day nurseries were more aggressive than the children who had been looked after by childminders.9 (a) Explain why this is an example of a natural experiment. (2 marks)

Quite a few confused with natural environment.

9 (b) Suggest one way in which the psychologist could have measured the children’s aggressive behaviour. (2 marks)

Lacked elaboration

9 (c) Explain two ethical issues which the psychologist should have considered when carrying out this research. (4 marks)

Consent from children OK, considering age.

9 (d) The researcher then decided to investigate how day care affects peer relationships. Explain what is meant by peer relations. (2 marks)

No marks for relationships with peers.

6 (b) Some people say that Ainsworth’s studies lacked validity. Explain this criticism of Ainsworth. (4 marks)

Good discriminator


2 (a) Questionnaires have been used by psychologists to investigate stress. Explain one possible ethical issue that might arise when using questionnaires in this area of psychology. (2 marks)

OK

2 (b) Apart from ethics, explain one other problem of using questionnaires to investigate stress. (2 marks)

Some still wrote about ethics.

6 Some research into obedience has been carried out in laboratories. Other studies into obedience have been carried out in the real world, including field experiments and observations.6 (a) Outline one advantage of conducting obedience research outside a laboratory setting. (2 marks)

Some gave their answers in the wrong order i.e. limitation first – read the question.

6 (b) Outline one limitation of conducting obedience research outside a laboratory setting. (2 marks)


Drawing conclusions from data seems to be a topic that candidates find hard.

Perhaps teachers might emphasise the difference between a conclusion and a finding (although findings can be used to support a conclusion).

The AS examination June 2011 Unit 1The AS examination June 2011 Unit 1

2 A psychologist carried out an experiment using an independent groups design. The psychologist wished to investigate the effectiveness of a strategy for memory improvement. In one condition, participants were taught a memory improvement strategy. In the other condition, participants were not taught this memory improvement strategy. All participants were asked to memorise 10 pictures of familiar objects. For example, the first was a doll, the second was an apple. All participants were then given 50 pictures each, and asked to select the original 10.The psychologist did a pilot study before carrying out the experiment. The results of the experiment are shown in Table 1 on page 5.

2 (a) Write a directional hypothesis for this experiment. (2 marks) Must be operationalised for full marks – generally OK

2 (b) Explain what is meant by an independent groups design. (1 mark)

Lacked clarity


2 (c) Explain one strength and one limitation of using an independent groups design. (2 marks + 2 marks)

Mixed them up, and lacking clarity.

2 (d) Explain why the psychologist did a pilot study. (3 marks) Didn’t know this.Said it was to do with reliability, or checking results.Examples helped to improve clarity.

2 (e) What do the standard deviations in Table 1 tell us about the performance of the two groups? (2 marks)

Common wrong answer was that memory improvement strategy group did better.


6 Psychologists sometimes use case studies to study children. One example was of a boy who was discovered at the age of six. He had been kept in a darkened room and had had almost no social contact with people.

6 (a) How could a psychologist maintain confidentiality when reporting a case study? (2 marks)

OK, though some candidates didn’t seem to know the term ‘confidentiality’ and wrote about other issues.

6 (b) Psychologists use a range of techniques to gather information in case studies. Outline one technique which the psychologist could use in this case study. (2 marks)

Must say how they would do it.Longitudinal or meta-analysis didn’t get any marks.


6 (c) Apart from ethical issues, explain one or more limitations of using case studies. (4 marks)

Time-consuming got no marks.Lack of replication OK.Most got 2 marks.

7 Some research has suggested that there is a relationship between the time children spend in day care and their aggressive behaviour. Researchers selected a group of school children who had been in day care. They asked the childrens mothers to estimate how �many hours a week their children had spent in day care. They measured the same children �’s aggression.

7 (a) How many children are represented in this scattergram? (1 mark)

7 (b) Suggest one way in which the children’s aggression could be measured. (2 marks)

OKUnethical answers got 0


7 (c) In the media, it was claimed that the results showed spending time in day care caused the children to become aggressive. Explain why this claim may be untrue. (3 marks)

Talked about media lying but didn’t pick up correlation – the ‘media’ threw them.(Forget to look back to the stem).


2 Psychologists sometimes use questionnaires to find out about stress. Explain two strengths of using questionnaires in research. (2 marks + 2 marks)

Lots wrote ‘quick/easy’ no marks, or ‘they can generate quantitative data' no credit unless they state closed questions.

7 (a) Explain why it is sometimes necessary to deceive participants in social influence research. (2 marks)7 (b) Describe one way in which deception has been dealt with in social influence research. (2 marks)

Answered well – students seem to know a lot about deception and how to deal with it. NB asks for an explanation, so just saying ‘it avoids social desirability bias’ is not enough.


10 Two different drug therapies were tested on a group of patients. All the patients suffered with the same anxiety disorder. Half the patients were given Therapy A and the other half were given Therapy B. Improvement was assessed on a scale from 0 – �25, where 0 = no improvement. The table below shows the improvement made between the start and the end of the treatment.

Explain what these findings suggest about the different therapies? (4 marks)

Lots of describing the data but not suggesting what the findings showed e.g. both therapies have some benefit because no zero scores.Some candidates didn’t understand what the range shows.

AS 2012 exams


Section A Cognitive Psychology and Research Methods 1 A researcher carried out an experiment to investigate misleading information. Participants were shown a photograph in which a man and a woman were talking. The photograph was then taken away and the participants were asked questions about it. Participants were randomly allocated to condition one or condition two. Participants in condition one were asked:Question A “How old was the youth in the photograph?” Participants in condition two were asked:Question B “How old was the man in the photograph?”

1 (a) Why is Question A an example of misleading information? (2 marks)

OK

1 (b) Name an appropriate experimental design which could be used in this experiment. Explain why a repeated measures design would be unsuitable to use in this experiment. (1 mark + 3 marks)

They can’t remember what experimental design is.Mistakenly explained why independent groups was a good idea.


1 (c) Explain why it would be appropriate to use a pilot study as part of this experiment. (4 marks)

Explanations not in context of this experiment.

1 (d) In this experiment, participants were asked to look at a photograph rather than watch a live conversation. Explain one strength and one limitation of carrying out the experiment in this way. (2 marks + 2 marks)

Needed to reread the stem.


Section B Developmental Psychology and Research Methods 4 A researcher investigated the effect of age of starting day care on levels of aggression. Four-year-old children attending a day nursery were used. Each child was assessed by the researcher and given an aggression score. A high score indicated a high level of aggression. A low score indicated a low level of aggression. The maximum score was 50.

4 (a) Identify the operationalised independent variable and the operationalised dependent variable in this study. (2 marks + 2 marks)

Some students struggled with operationalisation.


4 (b) What do the mean scores in Table 1 suggest about the effect of age at which children started day care on children’s aggression? (2 marks)

Few mentioned that the difference was small.

4 (c) Name one measure of dispersion that the researcher could have used to describe the data. (1 mark)

Some didn’t recognise ‘dispersion’.

4 (d) Draw an appropriate bar chart to display the data presented in Table 1. Correctly label your bar chart. (3 marks)

Labelling axes overlooked or erroneous.

4 (e) State an appropriate directional hypothesis for this study. (2 marks)

Operationalisation again an issue.


3 Both life changes and daily hassles are often measured using questionnaires. Give two limitations of using questionnaires. (2 marks + 2 marks)

Some think that lack of qualitative data is a limitation of questionnaires – wrong.

8 Describe two ethical issues that can be illustrated by Milgram’s research into obedience to authority. (4 marks)

OK


Section C Individual Differences 10 The following scattergram shows the relationship between the number of weeks of treatment with ECT and the score on the Self-Rating Depression Scale (on this scale, a high score indicates depression).

Outline what the scattergram seems to show. (4 marks)

Struggle with interpretation of graphs – can’t distinguish findings from what the findings show.


3 Dave, a middle-aged male researcher, approached an adult in a busy street. He asked the adult for directions to the train station. He repeated this with 29 other adults. Each of the 30 adults was then approached by a second researcher, called Sam, who showed each of them 10 photographs of different middle-aged men, including a photograph of Dave. Sam asked the 30 adults to choose the photograph of the person who had asked them for directions to the train station. Sam estimated the age of each of the 30 adults and recorded whether each one had correctly chosen the photograph of Dave. 3 (a) Identify one aim of this experiment. (2 marks)

Requires careful reading.

Aim is to investigate effect of age on EWT

3 (b) Suggest one reason why the researchers decided to use a field experiment rather than a laboratory experiment. (2 marks)

Benefits in terms of validity or demand characteristics.Not always elaborated.

3 (c) Name the sampling technique used in this experiment. Evaluate the choice of this sampling technique in this experiment. (1 mark + 3 marks)

Poorly answered, often said random.


3 (d) Identify one possible extraneous variable in this experiment. Explain how this extraneous variable could have affected the results of this experiment. (1 mark + 3 marks)

Answered well with either situational or participant variables.

7 A psychologist carried out a research study to investigate the effects of institutional care. To do this, she constructed a questionnaire to use with 100 adults who had spent some time in an institution when they were children. She also carried out interviews with ten of the adults.7 (a) For this study, explain one advantage of collecting information using a questionnaire. (3 marks)

Better answers compared questionnaires to interviews, or referred to the relatively large number of adults in this study. Some wrongly referred to the advantages of analysing data from questionnaires which was not the focus of the question.

7 (b) In this study, the psychologist collected some qualitative data. Explain what is meant by qualitative data. (2 marks)

OK, though some did quantitative.

7 (c) Write one suitable question that could be used in the interviews to produce qualitative data. (2 marks)

Some give yes/no questions, which are quantitative.

7 (d) Identify two ethical issues that the psychologist would need to consider in this research. Explain how the psychologist could deal with one of these issues. (1 mark + 1 mark + 3 marks)

Less good with dealing with issue. Some dealt with both issues.


4 A researcher used a questionnaire and an in-depth interview to assess Georgia’s personality. After completing the questionnaire Georgia was found to be Type A. However, after the in-depth interview she was found to be Type B. Explain why these methods might produce such different results. (4 marks)

Although there were some excellent, detailed answers that demonstrated very good understanding of these two methods, few were able to produce a coherent comparison of the methods.

me confusion among weaker students who seemed to think that questionnaires could only use closed questions and interviews only use open questions. There was also some misperception as to the meaning of social desirability: this could occur in either method.


Section B Social Psychology 5 The following results are percentages of participants who gave the maximum shock, in variations of Milgram’s experiment into obedience to authority.

What do these results suggest about the power of the confederates in variations of Milgram’s study? (4 marks)

Question only asked about the confederates, reference to the third condition (experimenter in different room) was not creditworthy.

Some students forgot that this data referred to Milgram’s experiment into obedience and seemed to think that the confederates were a majority.

10 Case studies are a commonly used method of investigating abnormality. 10 (a) What is meant by a case study? (2 marks)

Did better with 10 b than 10 a

10 (b) Outline one weakness of using a case study as a method of investigation. (2 marks)

AS 2013 exams


3 A psychologist used an independent groups design to investigate whether or not a cognitive interview was more effective than a standard interview, in recalling information. For this experiment, participants were recruited from an advertisement placed in a local paper. The advertisement informed the participants that they would be watching a film of a violent crime and that they would be interviewed about the content by a male police officer. The psychologist compared the mean number of items recalled in the cognitive interview with the mean number recalled in the standard interview. (a) Name the sampling technique used in this experiment. (1 mark)

‘Voluntary sample’ was not creditworthy.A few responses incorrectly referred to opportunity or random sampling.

(b) Suggest one limitation of using this sampling technique. (2 marks)

(c) Identify the independent variable and the dependent variable in this experiment. (2 marks)

Two marks given even if the DV was not operationalised.


(d) Explain one advantage of using an independent groups design for this experiment. (2 marks)

Less likelihood of demand characteristics was OK but not ‘no demand characteristics’. Lack of order effects OK.

3 (e) Discuss whether or not the psychologist showed an awareness of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Code of Ethics when recruiting participants for this experiment. (3 marks)

Some students ignored requirement to focus response on the stage of recruiting participants, so answers referring to debriefing were not relevant. The word debriefing was inappropriately used when some students were referring to briefing.

3 (g) The psychologist also recorded the number of correct items recalled and the number of incorrect items recalled in each type of interview. The following results were obtained:

From these results, what might the psychologist conclude about the effectiveness of cognitive interviews? (2 marks)

Where students did not score full marks for this question, they had usually failed to refer to all of the figures in the table, or to draw any conclusion from the figures.


Section B Developmental Psychology and Research Methods 5 (a) A researcher used content analysis to investigate how the behaviour of young children changed when they started day care. He identified a group of nine-month-old children who were about to start day care. He asked the mother of each child to keep a diary recording her child’s behaviour every day for two weeks before and for two weeks after the child started day care. Explain how the researcher could have used content analysis to analyse what the mothers had written in their diaries. (4 marks)

Some showed confusion between studying the children and studying the diaries. A substantial number of students did not attempt this question at all or scored no marks.

(b) Explain one or more possible limitations of this investigation. (4 marks)

Some students did not read the stem carefully because they suggested that the mother would not be at nursery to record the child's behaviour or the recording would be retrospective and thus unreliable - not limitations of this study.


2 Research has shown that there is a relationship between stress and illness. Figure 1 below shows the number of days off work through illness in a year and scores on a stress questionnaire, where a high score indicates more stress.

(a) What does Figure 1 tell you about the relationship between stress and illness? . (2 marks)

The following can all receive a mark: direction (positive), strength (moderate or strong) and a description of their relationship. Credit can also be given for mentioning the flattening of the graph at higher stress levels.


2 (b) Outline one strength and one weakness of using correlations in stress research. (4 marks)

Few could correctly outline a strength e.g. to measure things that cannot be manipulated experimentally.

Section B Social Psychology 6 Some psychologists criticise Milgram’s research into obedience to authority, in terms of both methodological issues and ethical issues.Explain two criticisms of Milgram’s research. (3 marks + 3 marks)

Some felt compelled to explain how Milgram overcame the criticism, or to justify why he had to deceive his participants. Often students could identify the criticism, but could not explain why it was a criticism.


Section A Cognitive Psychology and Research Methods

3 A researcher investigated whether memory for words presented with pictures was better than memory for words presented without pictures. The researcher used an independent groups design. In Condition 1, participants were given a limited time to learn a list of 20 words. They were then asked to recall the 20 words in any order. In Condition 2, participants were given the same time to learn the same 20 words, but this time each word was presented with a picture. For example, the word ‘apple’ was presented alongside a picture of an apple. They were then asked to recall the 20 words in any order.

3 (a) A pilot study is a small-scale investigation carried out before the main study. Explain why it would be appropriate for this researcher to use a pilot study. In your answer you must refer to details of the experiment given above. (4 marks)

There appeared to be three main areas of misunderstanding; that a pilot study should be used to see if the hypothesis was supported, to see whether a different experimental design should be used or to check participants. In relation to the final point there seemed to be an incorrect assumption by some students that the same participants would be used in the pilot study as the experiment.



3 (b) State a non-directional hypothesis for this experiment. (2 marks)

Students were required to operationalise the IV and the DV in order to score full marks. “There will be a difference in the number of words correctly recalled when words are presented with pictures and without pictures” is operationalised.

3 (c) Explain two reasons why it was more appropriate to use an independent groups design than a repeated measures design. (2 marks + 2 marks)

The comparison of experimental designs proved difficult for some students.

Table 1: The range and median number of words correctly recalled for participants shown words without pictures and for participants shown words with pictures

3 (d) What do the scores in Table 1 show? (2 marks)

Simply repeating the contents of the table showed no understanding.



After he had carried out the experiment, the researcher noticed that one participant in Condition 1 had recalled all 20 words. The researcher thought that this participant might have used a strategy for memory improvement, even though he had not been told to do so.

3 (e) Identify a memory improvement strategy that this participant might have used. Explain how this strategy could have been used to learn the list of 20 words. (1 marks + 3 marks)

Narrative chaining and peg word systems were applied and explained successfully. Method of loci answers tended to leave out the vital stage of retrieving the information. Chunking, rehearsal and to some extent organisation, were methods which did not apply well to this example.


Section B Developmental Psychology and Research Methods

9 A psychologist wanted to investigate the effects of age of adoption on aggressive behaviour. He compared children who had been adopted before the age of two with children who had been adopted after the age of two. The children were observed in their school playground when they were six years old.

9 (a) Suggest two operationalised behavioural categories the psychologist could use in his observation of aggressive behaviour. Explain how the psychologist could have carried out this observation. (2 marks + 2 marks)

Some students clearly understood what behavioural categories are while others had no idea.Kicking and swearing would be suitable, physical and verbal aggression would be unsuitable.

9 (b) Explain one ethical issue the psychologist would have needed to consider when carrying out this research. How could the psychologist have dealt with this issue? (4 marks)

Some chose issues that were difficult to apply to this scenario.


9 (c) The psychologist wanted to investigate how aggressive the children were when they were at home. He interviewed a sample of their parents to investigate this.

Explain why using interviews might be better than using questionnaires in this situation. (4 marks)

Students needed to explain why parents might be more likely to lie in a questionnaire or in an interview, since a case could be made for either. Some students who did not read the question carefully wrote about the advantages of questionnaires. A few students thought the children, rather than the parents were being interviewed.


3 Type A personality can be measured by using a questionnaire. Explain two strengths of using questionnaires.(2 marks + 2 marks)

To state that questionnaires are “quick” gains no credit because there is no explanation as to why they are quick. Better answers compared questionnaires to other methods such as interviews. Some students gave generic answers that could apply to either questionnaires or interviews, and these received minimal credit.

5 A researcher investigated obedience. The table shows the percentages of people who obeyed a simple request from a confederate who was either smartly dressed or casually dressed.

What do these results suggest about obedience? (4 marks)

The focus here must be on these results and not on prior knowledge. Answers that went beyond the data and discussed the findings of Bickman’s study, or Milgram’s findings did not gain credit. Some students appeared to think that the terms obedience and conformity are interchangeable.


11 Two groups of patients took part in a trial to compare the effectiveness of two different drug therapies. One of the groups was given Drug A and the other group was given Drug B. All patients completed a rating scale at the start of a ten-week course of treatment and again at the end of the course. This scale measured the severity of symptoms. The Drug A group had an average score of 9 before the therapy and an average score of 4 at the end of the course. The Drug B group had an average score of 7 before the therapy and an average score of 5 at the end of the course. Sketch and label a bar chart to illustrate the data. (4 marks)

The main weakness was in correctly labelling the y-axis.

as 2011 exams the specification changed from jan 2012 – i have tried to indicate questions that...

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fifty children