03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods
A Level Psychology [48 Marks]
Third Set
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Name_____________________________________________________ Result_______/48
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.
A psychologist decided to test the difference in accuracy of recall for neutral
events for anxious compared to non-anxious people. She found no previous
research on this topic.
She put posters up at a local university requesting participants. The posters
said the investigation was about emotional responses to animals rather than
revealing the true purpose of the study. 200 people were recruited in this
way.
All 200 participants were assessed for anxiety using a personality
questionnaire. This gave a score for anxiety from 1-20 where 1 was not
anxious at all and 20 was extremely anxious. Anyone who scored 1-5 was
assigned to the ‘non-anxious’ group and anyone who scored 15-20 was
assigned to the ‘anxious’ group. (Anyone who scored 6-14 was withdrawn
from the study).
After this, 14 participants were assigned to the anxious group and 16 to the
non-anxious group.
These participants were then shown the same documentary style film about
animals in the wild. The film contained only neutral events. Participants were
given a fake smart watch and told this device would record their emotional
responses to different animals in the film.
After the film participants completed a questionnaire about the film they
watched. This included filler questions about how they felt about the animals
as well as 20 critical questions that measured their accuracy of recall.
The psychologist recorded their scores from the critical questions to give
each person an accuracy score out of 20.
1. Should the hypothesis be directional or non-directional? Explain your answer [2 marks]
2. Write a suitable hypothesis for this study. [3 marks]
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
3. Identify one ethical issue and explain how the psychologist would have addressed this issue [3
marks]
4. Explain why the psychologist told the participants the study was about emotional responses to
animals rather than the true aim of how anxiety affects accuracy of recall [2 marks]
5. Explain how the psychologist could have assessed the validity of the personality questionnaire
to assess anxiety. [3 marks]
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
The psychologist recorded the results in Table 1.
Table 1:
Anxious Participants Non-Anxious Participants
Mean accuracy score (for
details of the neutral film) 12.8 7.2
Standard Deviation 3.2 1.1
6. Calculate the % decrease of mean accuracy scores of anxious compared to non-anxious
participants. Give your answer to 2 significant figures [4 marks]
7. What conclusions might the psychologist draw from the data in Table 1? Refer to the means
and standard deviations in your answer. [4 marks]
EXTRA SPACE
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
8. The psychologist wanted to see if there was a significant difference between the scores. What
test would she choose to test for significance? Justify your choice [4 marks]
9. The psychologist performed the statistical test and found the observed value of U=58.
Using table 2, explain whether her results were significant [3 marks]
Table 2
Critical values of U for a two-tailed test at P<0.05
n1 14 15 16
n2
14 55 59 64
15 59 64 70
16 64 70 75
For n1 and n2 the observed value of U is significant if it is equal to or less than the critical values shown.
Table 3
Critical values of U for a two-tailed test at P<0.01
n1 14 15 16
n2
14 42 46 50
15 46 51 55
16 50 55 60
For n1 and n2 the observed value of U is significant if it is equal to or less than the critical values shown.
10. Using Table 3, explain why the psychologist was worried she might have made a Type 1 error
[2 marks]
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
11. Write a suitable debrief for this study [6 marks]
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
12. The psychologist noticed that participants in the anxious condition showed many pro-social
behaviours (being kind and helpful) while taking part in the experiment.
Design an observation study to investigate pro-social behaviours of a group of anxious people
when completing a difficult task in a laboratory setting. Participants should not be made aware
of the true purpose of the study until the end of the investigation.
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. [12 marks]
Plan your answer here:
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
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03 Unofficial Specimen Paper for Research Methods, Third Set, AQA A Level Psychology (part of Paper 2)
End of Questions
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