1a2 marks
Explain what is meant by the psychological term ‘sample’.
1b1 mark
Name one sampling method that psychologists might use in their research.
Did this page help you?
Sampling, Ethics, Reliability & Validity (AQA GCSE Psychology): Exam Questions
Exam code: 8182
26 mins9 questions
23 marks
Read the following information.
You have been asked to design an experiment to investigate whether having a fixed mindset or a growth mindset will affect students’ performance in their end of year exams. |
The target population for your experiment is Year 8 students at a local school.
There are 100 Year 8 students at this school.
Describe how you could select 20 participants for your experiment using random sampling.
Did this page help you?
32 marks
Read the following information.
In a sixth form centre, students have independent study lessons as well as subject lessons.
Students use the sixth form learning area during their independent study lessons. They are expected to use their study lessons to finish work related to their subjects. Teachers are concerned that some students spend more time chatting to friends than finishing work during study lessons. A researcher is asked to investigate how students are using study lessons. The researcher asked 30 students to fill in a questionnaire about how they spend their study lessons. They selected participants using stratified sampling. |
Explain one weakness of using a stratified sample when conducting research.
Did this page help you?
4a2 marks
Read the following information.
In a sixth form centre, students have independent study lessons as well as subject lessons. Students use the sixth form learning area during their independent study lessons. They are expected to use their study lessons to finish work related to their subjects. Teachers are concerned that some students spend more time chatting to friends than finishing work during study lessons. A researcher is asked to investigate how students are using study lessons. The researcher asked 30 students to fill in a questionnaire about how they spend their study lessons. They selected participants using stratified sampling. |
Read the following information.
The researcher wanted to find out more about the types of learning activity happening during study lessons. They decided to observe the actual behaviour of the same participants during study lessons. They worked with an assistant using CCTV camera recordings of the sixth form learning area during study lessons. They used recordings taken over the past two days. |
Identify two ethical issues that researchers should consider in observation studies.
Ethical issue 1 ___________________________________________________
Ethical issue 2___________________________________________________
4b5 marks
From the results of the observation, the researcher realised that students spent more time chatting to friends during study lessons than they had estimated on the questionnaire.
Briefly evaluate the use of questionnaires in psychological research.
In your answer, refer to the questionnaires about the use of study lessons that the sixth form students had filled in.
Did this page help you?
53 marks
The ‘One day at a time’ research study asked people with a diagnosed mental health problem to regularly answer the question ‘What did you find difficult to deal with today?’
On 6 days, spread throughout the year, people were asked to write about their day.
An analysis of the answers was carried out and the difficulties most commonly mentioned by the participants were identified.
Many participants mentioned more than one of these common difficulties.
The results are shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Difficulties most commonly mentioned by females and males.
Difficulties | Number of females who mentioned difficulty | Number of males who mentioned difficulty |
|---|---|---|
Physical health issues | 143 | 70 |
Relationship issues | 95 | 43 |
Experiences of mental health services | 105 | 60 |
Sleep issues | 126 | 71 |
Experiencing stigma about their mental health problem | 128 | 67 |
Work issues | 97 | — |
The researchers wanted to use the real-life stories they had collected to encourage other people. The participants’ answers were made available on the internet for anyone to read.
Identify one ethical issue that the researchers carrying out the questionnaire needed to consider.
Describe how the ‘One day at a time’ researchers could have dealt with the ethical issue you have identified.
Did this page help you?
63 marks
Describe how the psychologist could have used systematic sampling to select 10 participants.
Did this page help you?
73 marks
Imagine that you have been asked to conduct a study to investigate social loafing. Use your knowledge of psychology to describe how you would do this.
In your answer explain:
how you would select participants to take part in your study
one feature of the task that participants would be required to do.
Did this page help you?
81 mark
Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.
Researchers observed the behaviour of 20 babies who were 3 months old. Ten of the babies were blind and the other 10 were not blind. The researchers counted the number of times each baby smiled over a one hour period. The results are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Total number of smiles for each group of babies over a one hour period.
|
Which of the following statements most accurately describes the target population for this study?
Babies
Babies who were 3 months old
Blind babies
Smiling babies
Did this page help you?
91 mark
Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.
Researchers wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to treat unipolar depression. They put up posters in a Doctors’ surgery asking for volunteers who had been diagnosed with depression to complete a questionnaire. The researchers chose 10 people who had only received medication for depression, and 10 people who had received both CBT and medication. The participants were asked to rate the effectiveness of their treatment on a scale of 0-10 where 0 is not at all effective and 10 is very effective. The results are shown in Table 4. Table 4: Ratings of effectiveness for types of treatment for depression.
|
Give one strength of the sampling method used in this study.
Did this page help you?