3.5 bio practical Flashcards
what is the aim of our biological practical?
to see whether there is a relationship between height and aggression
what are the co-variables in our biological practical?
- height - will be measured in cm.
- aggression - measured by asking participants to self-rate their aggression on a scale of 1-10, where 1 = not at all aggressive and 10=highly aggressive.
what is the alternate hypothesis for our biological practical?
There will be a significant POSITIVE relationship between height (cm) and
aggression (1= not agg, 10 = highly agg), as height increases so does aggression.
what is the null hypothesis for our biological practical?
There will be NO significant relationship between height (cm) and aggression (1= not agg, 10 = highly agg), changes in height have no relationship to aggression.
state the sampling method you used in your biological practical
opportunity sampling
describe the sample you used in your biological practical
17 psychology students from copc aged 16-17,
describe the method used in our biological practical and evaluation of this
Correlational analysis used to measure the relationship between height and aggression
- strength - identifies strength and type of relationship between co-variables. This is a strength because it is a good starting point for future research (eg. experiments)
- weakness: No IV or DV, uses co-variables. therefore can’t establish cause and effect conclusion and this is a weakness because there is low internal validity
describe the procedure of our biological practical
- A questionnaire containing two questions was handed out to the participants
- Each participant was asked to record their height in cm and one question asked participants to self-rate their own aggression levels using a scale of 1 – 10, where 1 = not at all aggressive and 10 = highly aggressive.
- Participants were read a briefing telling them the questionnaire is for research purposes, they are told that all information given is anonymous and solely for the purpose of the research, they are told that they have the right to withdraw at any time.
- Participants who consented completed the questionnaire and handed it in to the researcher.
- The participants are given a debriefing explaining the purpose of the experiment and thanked for their participation
interpreting the Spearman’s rho in our bio practical
The Calculated Value of the Spearman’s rho test was r = 0.01
This was less than the Critical Value of 0.414 of a one tailed test at p< 0.05 with N= 17
Therefore the result is not significant and the null hypothesis is accepted, which states that:
describe the conclusions from our biological practical
explain the strengths of our biological practical
P - A strength is that we used quantitative data
E - Height measured in cm (ratio data), aggression measured on a scale of 1-10, so can be plotted on a scatter graph and stats test can be carried out (spearman’s rank)
T - Therefore this data can be easily analysed, no need for interpretation, no researcher bias
P - A strength of our biological practical is that it is reliable
E - Two standardised questions on questionnaire (height cm, agg scale 1-10, 1 = not agg, 10 = highly agg)
T - this is a strength because it can be easily replicated to check for consistency
explain the weaknesses of our biological practical
P - limited generalisability
E - we used year 1 psych students, 16-17, 10 male, 10 female, same college
T - This is a weakness because it means the data about relationship between agg and height is not representative of all student from the UK
P - Limited validity
E - There could have been social desirability bias (dishonesty or genuine accuracy because aggression is a sensitive topic) or different interpretations of the scale 1-10 measuring aggression
T - this is a weakness because it lowers the accuracy of the data
explain the improvements we could make to our biological practical
P - More generalisable
E - Increase sample to 100 (50 males and 50 females), increase age range 16-19, all A-level subjects
T - This is a strength because it would improve the representativeness of the whole of p college
P - Collect qualitative data
E - Use open ques (ques/interview) to understand expanations/feelings/thoughts behind aggressive behaviour
T - This is a strength because qualitative data could back up quantitative data, thus improving validity
P - Measure aggression in a more valid way
E - We could conduct an experiment to measure and compare brain activity in areas related to aggression between short and tall pps
T - therefore this will be a more accurate measurement than asking pps to self-report
