The Complete Companion for AQA, Psychology A Level
35 practice questions on the research methods topic for AQA A level Psychology. Example answers/mark scheme included. Includes design a study questions. (Pack 1)
Discuss explanations of a nicotine addiction (16 marks)
AQA A-level psychology HUMANISTIC APPROACH NOTES
AQA Psychology Paper 1 Summary Grid
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Psychology
Research Methods
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Q1.
Design an observational study to investigate how people spend their time at the gym.
In your answer you will be awarded credit for providing appropriate details of:
• type of observation with justification
• operationalised behavioural categories
• use of time and/or event sampling with justification
• how reliability of data collection could be assessed.
(Total 12 marks)
Q2.
A researcher wanted to compare the effectiveness of two therapies for young offenders
who had been identified as having anger management issues. Offenders, who were all
sentenced to two years in a Young Offenders’ Institution, were asked to volunteer to take
part in an anger management programme. Fifty volunteers were randomly allocated to
Group 1 (Therapy A) or Group 2 (Therapy B).
Each participant’s anger was assessed before and after therapy. For the pre-therapy
anger score they completed an Anger Scale questionnaire and their responses were
scored. A high score indicated extreme anger and a low score indicated mild anger.
For the next eight weeks, participants attended weekly sessions for either Therapy A or
Therapy B.
For the post-therapy anger score, at the end of the treatment period, participants
completed the same Anger Scale questionnaire.
The data obtained are shown in the figure below.
Median anger scores before and after therapy for Group 1 (Therapy A) and Group 2
(Therapy B)
Page 1 of 61
, (a) The researcher used volunteers for this study. Outline one disadvantage of using
volunteers to take part in this study.
(2)
(b) Explain how the researcher could allocate the volunteers randomly to the conditions
of the experiment.
(3)
(c) Write a suitable hypothesis for this study.
(3)
(d) What do the data in the figure above seem to suggest?
(3)
(e) Explain how the study might be improved by using a matched pairs design.
(4)
(f) Outline one ethical issue that might have occurred in this study and explain how the
researcher could have dealt with this issue.
(4)
(g) Give one disadvantage of using median values as seen in the figure above to
represent the anger scores of participants.
(1)
(h) Explain how demand characteristics might have occurred in this study.
(2)
(i) The researcher used a questionnaire to assess the anger scores of the offenders.
Briefly discuss one strength of using questionnaires in research.
(Total 24 marks)
Q3.
Outline what is involved in self-report.
(Total 3 marks)
Q4.
Ten A-level students took part in a study of attitudes to Milgram’s research on obedience.
They were asked about the value of Milgram's research and about ethical concerns with
Milgram's research.
For each student, the researcher recorded two scores out of 10, a 'value of research'
score and an 'ethical concern' score.
A high 'value of research' score means the student thinks Milgram’s research was very
valuable and a high 'ethical concern' score means that the student thinks that Milgram’s
research caused many ethical concerns.
The findings are shown in the table below.
Value of research
Student Ethical concern score
score
1 6 10
Page 2 of 61
, 2 8 9
3 9 7
4 5 7
5 2 3
6 6 8
7 7 7
8 9 8
9 6 10
10 6 7
(a) How many students have a ‘value of research’ score of <6?
A 2 students
B 3 students
C 4 students
D 5 students
(1)
(b) Give the mode for both sets of scores in the table above.
(2)
(c) The mode is one type of descriptive statistic.
Identify two other descriptive statistics that could be used to further analyse the
data in the table above. In each case, explain how the descriptive statistics you
have identified could be calculated.
(4)
(Total 7 marks)
Q5.
A psychologist is investigating causes of addiction to gambling. She interviews people
attending debt counselling for problem gamblers. She asks them to describe their family
and early childhood, recording everything that they say. She also looks at information in
the gamblers’ debt counsellor reports.
(a) Referring to this investigation, explain the difference between primary and
secondary data.
(4)
(b) Explain how the psychologist could continue her investigation by carrying out
thematic analysis of the interview recordings.
(2)
(Total 6 marks)
Page 3 of 61
, Q6.
A psychologist is investigating causes of offending. She interviews offenders who are in
prison for violent crime. She asks them to describe their family and early childhood,
recording everything that they say. She also looks at information in the offenders’ court
and prison reports.
(a) Referring to this investigation, explain the difference between primary and
secondary data.
(4)
(b) Explain how the psychologist could continue her investigation by carrying out
thematic analysis of the interview recordings.
(2)
(Total 6 marks)
Q7.
A psychologist is investigating causes of offending. She interviews offenders who are in
prison for violent crime. She asks them to describe their family and early childhood,
recording everything that they say. She also looks at information in the offenders’ court
and prison reports.
(a) Referring to this investigation, explain the difference between primary and
secondary data.
(4)
(b) Explain how the psychologist could continue her investigation by carrying out
thematic analysis of the interview recordings.
(2)
(Total 6 marks)
Q8.
In 1993, a book about gender was published in New Haven. The book was written by
Sandra L Bem from Cornell University. The title was ‘The lenses of gender: transforming
the debate on sexual inequality’. The book was published by Yale University Press.
A researcher needs to modify the above information to include Bem’s book in the
references section of a scientific report.
Write the full reference for this book as it should appear in the reference section of the
researcher’s report.
(Total 2 marks)
Q9.
In 1980, a book about social cognition was published in New York. The book was written
by Robert L. Selman from Harvard University. The title was ‘The growth of interpersonal
understanding: developmental and clinical analyses’. The book was published by
Academic Press.
A researcher needs to modify the above information to include Selman’s book in the
references section of a scientific report.
Write the full reference for this book as it should appear in the reference section of the
Page 4 of 61
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