Research methods for Unit 2

There are 12 marks of Research Methods questions Every mark counts There are 12 marks of Research Methods questions June 2012 A B C D E Unit 1 53/72 47 42 37 32 74% 58% 44% Unit 2 41 35 30 57% 42%

Question type 1 Ethical issues Not good at providing information of how to deal with issues. (a) Explain why it is sometimes necessary to deceive participants in social influence research. (2 marks) (b) Describe one way in which deception has been dealt with in social influence research. (2 marks)

Question type 2 Methodological issues Didn’t read carefully and failed to focus on methodology (a) Milgram’s work can be criticised for being unethical. Describe one way in which his work is unethical. (2 marks) (b) Give one strength and one limitation of Milgram’s methodology. (2 marks + 2 marks) 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) ‘Right to withdraw’ is not appropriate.

Question type 3 Questionnaires and interviews (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) (b) Apart from ethics, explain one other problem of using questionnaires to investigate stress. (2 marks) Did ethics anyway.

Question type 4 The importance of one Outline one advantage and one disadvantage of using questionnaires in stress research. (3 marks + 3 marks) Often just gained one mark because linked several together, answers lacked detail.

Might be asked for two … Both life changes and daily hassles are often measured using questionnaires. Give two limitations of using questionnaires. (2 marks + 2 marks) Psychologists sometimes use questionnaires to find out about stress. Explain two strengths of using questionnaires in research. (2 marks + 2 marks) Some think that lack of qualitative data is a limitation of questionnaires – wrong. Lots wrote ‘quick/easy’ no marks, or ‘they can generate quantitative data' no credit unless they state closed questions’. Find strengths difficult.

Spot the mistake Questionnaires and interviews are both self-report techniques. Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of using a questionnaire rather than an interview. (4 marks) Answer: One advantage is that people may feel better able to give private information in a questionnaire because they feel more anonymous. Answer: One disadvantage is that you may get a problem with social desirability bias, because people want to ‘look good’ in their answers.

A tricky one 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) Some students think that questionnaires could only use closed questions and interviews only use open questions.

Question type 5 Correlations Outline one strength and one weakness of using correlations in stress research. (4 marks) Rarely able to give a strength.

Question type 6 Experiments and lab studies (a) Outline one advantage of conducting obedience research outside a laboratory setting. (2 marks) (b) Outline one limitation of conducting obedience research outside a laboratory setting. (2 marks) Most research into conformity takes place in a laboratory. Outline one strength of conducting research into conformity in a laboratory. (2 marks) WATCH OUT Some answered a and b in wrong order.

Question type 7 Other methods Case studies are a commonly used method of investigating abnormality. (a) What is meant by a case study? (2 marks) (b) Outline one weakness of using a case study as a method of investigation. (2 marks) How have psychologists investigated the relationship between stress and the immune system? (4 marks) (a) Outline one method that psychologists have used to study conformity. (2 marks) (b) Explain one limitation of this method. (2 marks) (c) Suggest an appropriate way of overcoming this limitation. (2 marks) Ethics not a limitation.

Drawing conclusions from data seems to be a topic that candidates find hard. Distinguish findings from what the findings show (findings vs conclusions). Question type 8: Tables 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. Average and range of improvement scores Explain what these findings suggest about the different therapies? (4 marks) Average Range Therapy A 6.5 2 – 19 Therapy B 6 4 – 9

% Participants obeying Question type 8: Tables 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) Condition % Participants obeying Experimenter and two obedient confederates are in the same room as the participant. 92.5% Experimenter is in the same room as the participant. 65% Experimenter is in a different room from the participant. 20.5% Experimenter and two disobedient confederates are in the same room as the participant. 10% Question only asked about the confederates. Some students seemed to think that the confederates were a majority.

Question type 9: Graphs In an experiment into conformity, an experimenter varied both the number of confederates (stooges) and the ambiguity of the task. The bar chart on the right shows the findings. What does the bar chart show about conformity? (4 marks) Many went beyond graph and related it to Asch, not creditworthy.