EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS

G544: Section A

1. January 2010

Questions (Total Mark 40) 1. State the null hypothesis for your practical project. (3)

2. Describe a method you would use to conduct your practical project. (19)

3. Give an advantage of using an alternative experimental design in this practical project. (3)

4. Assess the validity of your investigation in measuring the dependent variable. (6)

5. Outline how you could select a sample which would be representative. (3)

6. What ethical issues would you consider in designing your practical project? (3)

7. Suggest one idea for possible future research related to your practical project. (3)

2. June 2011

Questions (Total Mark 40) 1. State the alternative hypothesis for your practical project. (3)2. Describe a method you would use to conduct your practical

project. (19)3. Outline one advantage of using the repeated measure design in

your practical project. (3)4. a. Explain one strength of the sampling method you would wish

to use in your practical project. (3) b. Explain one weakness of the sampling method you would

wish to use in your practical project. (3)5. State an appropriate statistical test to analyse the data you would

collect. Give reasons for your choice. (3)6. Briefly discuss one ethical issue in relation to your practical

project. (3)7. Suggest an alternative way of measuring the DV in your practical

project. (3)

3. June 2012

Questions (Total Mark 40) 1. State the alternative hypothesis for your practical project. (3)2. Describe a method you would use to conduct your practical project.

(19)3. Outline one strength of using the matched pairs design in your

practical project. (3)4. a. What does p ≤ 0.05 level of significance mean? (2) b. If you obtained this level of significance in your practical project,

explain what this would mean in relation to your null hypothesis. (4)5. Describe an alternative experimental design to using matched pairs

in your practical project. (3)6. Explain how you would deal with one ethical issue in your practical

project. (3)7. Identify one extraneous variable in your practical project and

suggest how it could be controlled. (3)

4. June 2012

Questions (Total Mark 40) 1. State the aim of your practical project. (3) 2. Describe a method you would use to conduct your practical project. (19)3. Outline one disadvantage of using observation in your practical project. (3)4. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the type of data you would collect

in your practical project. (6)5. Describe how you could present the data that would be collected in your

practical project. (3)6. Explain how you would address one ethical issue in your practical project.

(3)7. Outline how time sampling could be used in your practical project. (3)

5. June 2014

Psychologists use a range of methods to collect their data including experiments and observations. Behaviourists believe that the subject matter of psychology should be observable behaviour and experiments can sometimes include the use of observational techniques. The presence of others can be studied experimentally by measuring what participants are doing rather than what they are thinking.

You must choose one of the options:• The effect of presence of others on musical performance.• The effect of presence of others on sport performance.• The effect of the presence of others on mathematical skill.• The effect of the presence of others on acts of kindness.• The effect of the presence of others on acts of aggressive

behaviour.• The effect of the presence of others on acts of food choices.• The effect of the presence of others on face recognition.• You must use an independent measure design and plan to collect

data which measures observable behaviour. It must be a practical project that could be conducted.

Questions (Total Mark 40) 1. State the null hypothesis for your practical project. (3)2. Describe the method you would use to conduct your practical project.

(19)3. Outline one advantage of using the experimental method in your

practical project. (3)4.

a. Explain one strength of using the independent measure design in your practical project. (3)

b. Explain one weakness of using the independent measures design in your practical project. (3)

5. State and appropriate inferential statistical test to analyse the data that would be collected in your practical project. Give reasons for your choice. (3)

6. Briefly discuss one practical issue in relation to your practical project. (3)7. Suggest an alternative way of manipulating the independent variable in

your practical project. (3)

Section B

Section B

a. Briefly outline the observational method in psychology. (4)

b. Describe two pieces of psychological research that uses the observational method. (8)

c. Discuss the strengths and limitations of conducting research using the observational method. (12)

d. Compare the observational method with the case study method. (8)

e. Discuss the extent to which the observational method is scientific. (8)

Test Yourself: Experiments

1. Outline one strength and one weakness of using the experimental method in this experiment (6 marks)

2. Outline one strength and one weakness of using a repeated measures design method in this experiment (6 marks)

3. Outline one strength and one weakness of using an independent groups design method in this experiment (6 marks)

4. Outline one strength and one weakness of using a matched participants design method in this experiment (6 marks)

Test Yourself: Observations

1. Outline one strength and one weakness of conducting observational research in this study (6 marks).

2. Explain the difference between time sampling and event sampling in observational research (4 marks)

3. Explain the difference between covert and overt observations (4 marks).

4. Outline one strength and one weakness of conducting a covert observation in this study (6 marks).

5. Outline one strength and one weakness of conducting a overt observation in this study (6 marks).

Test YourselfEthical Issues1. Outline two ethical issues that this study raises (4 marks). 2. Outline how one of the ethical issues you have identified could have been dealt with (2

marks).

Reliability & Validity 3. Evaluate the reliability and validity of the way the DV has been measured in this study

(10 marks) 4. Outline one issue relating to ecological validity in this investigation and discuss the

possible effects of this on the validity of the study (6 marks). 5. Evaluate the ecological validity of the proposed investigation (6 marks)

Hypothesis6. Suggest an appropriate alternative hypothesis for this experiment (4 marks). 7. Suggest an operationalised alternative hypothesis for this experiment (6 marks). 8. Suggest an appropriate null hypothesis for this study (4 marks).

Test Yourself: Variables

1. Identify the IV in this experiment (2 marks). 2. Explain how the IV was operationalised in this

experiment (4 marks). 3. Identify the DV in this experiment (2 marks). 4. Explain how the DV was operationalised in this

experiment (4 marks). 5. Explain how the IV was manipulated in this study (6

marks). 6. Explain how the DV was measured and how the

results were obtained in this study (6 marks).

Test Yourself

Sampling 1. Suggest an appropriate sampling method that could be used in

this study and explain your choice (4 marks).2. Identify one strength and one weakness of the sample selection

method outlined (4 marks). Procedures3. Describe and evaluate an appropriate procedure that could be

used in this study (10 marks). 4. Describe and evaluate one way in which ‘x’ could be measured

in this investigation (10 marks) 5. Describe and evaluate an appropriate sampling technique for

this study (10 marks).

Test Yourself: Data Analysis Data Analysis1. Explain what is meant by the descriptive statistics the ‘mean’ (2 marks).2. Explain how the mean would have been calculated for participants in each condition in

this study (4 marks). 3. When would the descriptive statistics called the ‘median’ be more appropriate and why?

(4 marks)4. Explain what is meant by the descriptive statistics the ‘mode’ (2 marks).5. Explain how the mode would have been calculated for participants in each condition in

this study (4 marks). 6. When would the descriptive statistics called the ‘mean’ be more appropriate and why? (4

marks)7. Explain what is meant by the descriptive statistics the ‘median’ (2 marks).8. Explain how the median would have been calculated for the participants in each condition

in study (4 marks). 9. When would the descriptive statistics called the ‘mode’ be more appropriate and why? (4

marks)10. Identify and explain the level of data being collected (3 marks).

Test Yourself: Data Analysis Data Analysis11. What does standard deviation tell us about the data (3 marks). 12. What does range tell us about the data (3 marks). 13. Draw a suitably labelled visual diagram to depict the findings of this research (4 marks) 14. Give one conclusion that can be drawn for your visual diagram (3 marks) 15. Explain what ‘significance at probability of

– P = <0.01 means– P = <0.05 means– P = <0.10 means

16. Explain whether the psychological should retain the null hypothesis or not (3 marks). 17. Which is an appropriate statistical test that should be used to analyse the findings? (3 marks) 18. Which level of significance do you think should be used to analyse the significance of the findings

and why? (3 marks) 19. If the psychologist sets the level of significance a p=<0.01, is she more likely to make a type-1 or

type-2 error? Explain your answer (3 marks) 20. Make two suggestions as to which variables, other than the IV, might affect the results (4 marks). 21. Explain how the researcher could control one of the variables you have identified (3 marks).

Test Yourself: Design Designing a practical project: Experiments• Construct a research question for your practical project (3 marks) • State a one-tailed alternative hypothesis for your practical project (3 marks) • State a two-tailed alternative hypothesis for your practical project (3 marks) • State a null hypothesis for your practical project (3 marks) • Describe the method you would use to conduct your practical project (13+6 marks). • Give an advantage of using an alternative design in this practical project (3 marks). • Assess the validity of your design in term of the measurement of the DV (3 marks). • Outline how you might have selected a sample that would have been more

representative (3 marks). • What ethical issues would you consider in designing your practical project (3 marks).• Suggest one idea for possible future research related to your practical project (3

marks).

Test Yourself: Design

Designing a practical project: Observations• Describe the method you would use to conduct your practical project

(13+6 marks). • Explain the difference between a covert and overt observation and outline

a strength of using an overt observation in your practical project (3 marks).

• Outline one strength and one weakness of time sampling in the context of your practical investigation (3 marks).

• What ethical issues would you consider in designing your practical project? (3 marks).

• Outline one improvement that you could make to your study (3 marks).

Are these significant?Don’t forget, if they are significant, you reject your null hypothesis and accept the alternative one; if they aren’t, you retain the null and reject the alternative.

Using Spearman’s rho • the observed value of rho is 0.33, N = 20, with a one tailed hypothesis• the observed value of rho is 0.13, N = 12, with a two tailed hypothesis• the observed value of rho is - 0.81, N = 30, with a one tailed hypothesis

Using Chi square • the observed value of chi is 1.65, df = 3, with a two tailed test• the observed value of chi is 6.35, df = 1, with a one tailed test• the observed value of chi is 9.49, df = 2, with a two tailed test

Are these significant?Don’t forget, if they are significant, you reject your null hypothesis and accept the alternative one; if they aren’t, you retain the null and reject the alternative.

Using Mann Whitney • the observed value of U is 18.3, N1 = 8 and N2 =10, with a one tailed test• the observed value of U is 38.73, N1 = 12 and N2 =12, with a two tailed test• the observed value of U is 3.43, N1 = 5 and N2 =8, with a one tailed test

Using Wilcoxon T • the observed value of T is 14.5, N = 20, with a two tailed test• the observed value of T is 23.5, N = 12, with a one tailed test• the observed value of T is 4.39, N = 10, with a two tailed test