Name:

Worksheet on chap 1

Mark :54

1. State what is meant by ‘reliability’.[1]

2. Explain the difference between ‘qualitative data’ and ‘quantitative data’.[2]
3. (a) State the difference between an ‘aim’ and a ‘hypothesis’. [1]
(b) A non-directional hypothesis for a study states that ‘Boys and girls differ in how
aggressive they are’ but the researcher has used a directional hypothesis instead.
Suggest a directional hypothesis for this study. [1]
4. 4 (a) Explain what is meant by the ethical guideline of ‘species and strain’ in relation to
animals in psychological research.[2]
(b) Describe how the ethical guideline of ‘housing’ affects what psychologists should and
should not do when studying animals [3]
5. Describe the use of ‘open questions’ and ‘closed questions’ in research, using any
examples. [6]
6. A study has the experimental hypothesis ‘There will be a gender difference in
aggression’. This is a non-directional hypothesis rather than a directional hypothesis.
(a) Explain what makes this a ‘non-directional hypothesis’.[2]
(b) Write a null hypothesis for this study.[1]
7. A researcher is planning to investigate forgetting in very old people. However,
measuring forgetting in very old people can be more ethically and practically difficult than
measuring forgetting in younger people.
(a) Suggest one ethical reason why measuring forgetting in very old people can be
difficult. [2]
(b) Suggest one practical reason why measuring forgetting in very old people can be
difficult. [2]
8. A teacher records each student’s test results once a week. At the end of the year, he
calculates the mean of the test results for each student.
Describe how the mean would be calculated in this study.[2]
9. Describe the ethical guidelines of ‘deception’ and ‘confidentiality’, using any examples.
[5]

SECTION B

1. 7 Shula is investigating whether there are differences in the way that younger and older
people behave when they see each other. She is using observations to record the
following behaviors:
• smiling
• waving
• shouting.
 (a) Explain whether Shula is conducting a structured observation or an unstructured
observation.[2]
(b) (i) Explain why it would be better for Shula to conduct a covert observation than an
overt observation. [2]
(ii) Suggest one problem with Shula conducting a covert observation.[2]
2. Candy is investigating sleepiness in a student population. She is recording the number
of hours’ sleep the students have at the beginning and at the end of the year. She has
identified two extraneous variables. One is a participant variable and one is a situational
variable:
• Highly motivated students often work harder at the beginning of the year
• Late-night parties are more common at the end of the year.
(a) Explain which one of these is a participant variable.[1]
(b) Explain which one of these is a situational variable.[1]
(c) (i) Suggest how Candy could limit the effect of either the participant variable or the
situational variable. [2]
(ii) Attempting to limit the effects of one extraneous variable in a study can create other
problem effects.
Suggest one problem that your answer to (c)(i) could create in Candy’s study.
Do not refer to demand characteristics in your answer.[2]
(d) Candy is also concerned about the effect of demand characteristics on her results.
(i) Suggest one way that demand characteristics could affect Candy’s results. [2]
(ii)Candy does not want to deceive her participants by giving them a false aim.
Suggest one way that Candy might reduce the effect of demand characteristics on her
results, other than by giving her participants a false aim. [2]

3. Clark is a psychologist investigating whether the behaviours people dream about can be
done in everyday life or not. He is monitoring participants’ sleep in his laboratory and
then interviewing them.
(a) (i) Suggest one behaviour in dreams that Clark could ask about which can be done in
everyday life. Your suggestion must be ethical. [1]
(ii) Suggest one behaviour in dreams that Clark could ask about which cannot be
done in everyday life. Your suggestion must be ethical. [1]
(b) Clark believes that some participants may lie. For example, they may falsely report
dream behaviours to impress Clark. Suggest one way that Clark could minimize this type
of lying in his study. [2]
(c) Clark is concerned that some participants may also lie about their dreams because
the events in them are too personal to report to Clark. Explain which ethical guideline
Clark is concerned about. [2]
(d) Clark thinks that participants’ eye movements during dream sleep are related to the
content of their dreams. Suggest how Clark could use participants’ eye movements
during dream sleep to investigate whether they are lying about their dream content. [2]