paper 2 2021 exam questions Flashcards
(13 cards)
explain one strength of collecting quantitative data
would enable the researcher to easily analyse the sleep data
would enable the researcher to perform a statistical test to enable conclusions about how beliefs about
sleep affect feelings of restedness.
explain one strenght and one weakness of using volunteer sampling
- one strength is that students will be happy and willing to participate so will be more likely to complete
the daily sleep questionnaire - one limitation is that it would provide a biased sample as it would only include psychology students at
one particular university which would not necessarily reflect the population as they are all of a similar
age/academic level
Explain one way in which the researcher might deal with the deception in this study
at the end of the study students should be given a full debrief where they are made aware that the
sleep data provided was manipulated
once students had been informed that the sleep data had been manipulated, they should be given the right to withdraw their data if they would like to.
Explain one reason why the researcher decided to include these additional questions on
the questionnaire
additional questions distract the students from realising that the focus of the study was on their
perceived quality of sleep (rating scale 1-10)
students would be less likely to alter their ratings about their sleep quality, reducing demand
characteristics (improving validity).
Explain one limitation of assessing sleep quality using a rating scale of 1–10.
sleep quality is subjective and so may be interpreted differently by each student
a rating of 3, for example, might mean something different for different students
*students are not able to explain their rating.
The researcher believed that the actual number of hours slept by the students could have
affected the results of the study.
Suggest one other extraneous variable that could have affected the results of this study.
Explain why it would have been important to control this extraneous variable and how it
could have been controlled in this study.
*delay between waking and responding to the questionnaire – phone battery ran out/they took a
shower/etc before completing the questionnaire, they may feel more awake so pay greater attention to
the sleep data (increasing the impact of the IV on the DV). Control – ask students to keep phones on
charge overnight/asked to complete questionnaire immediately upon waking/before getting up
* consumption of alcohol/caffeine prior to sleep – this may make students feel worse in the morning
making them give a lower rating regardless of the sleep tracker data (decreasing validity). Control –
tell students not to consume any stimulants/depressants in the evenings of the study
Outline one reason why it was appropriate to conduct a correlation rather than an
experiment in this case.
- it would be difficult to dictate the number of hours the students should sleep
- it may be more ethical to conduct a correlation rather than restrict how many hours each student slept.
Describe how the researcher could have used random sampling to obtain the students for
this study
- collect the names of all the 1st year students at the researcher’s university
- put all the students’ names into a hat/computer random name generator
- select a name in an unbiased manner to include as students in the experiment, repeat this until 18
names have been selected.
The researcher used Spearman’s rho statistical test to analyse the data from this study
Explain why Spearman’s rho was a suitable test for this study. Refer to the description of
the study in your answer.
correlational hypothesis (1 mark) as the researcher is investigating the relationship between the
number of hours slept and how well rested the students feel (1 mark)
* ordinal data (1 mark) as they are using an arbitrary scale of 1–5 to assess how well rested the
students feel/not a universal or standardised measure (subjective) of how well rested the students feel
but can be ranked (1 mark).
The calculated value of rho must be greater than or equal to the critical value to be
significant.
Identify the appropriate critical value from Table 1. Explain your choice.
the critical value is 0.401 (accept value identified in table)
* the hypothesis is directional/it is a one-tailed test
* there are 18 participants so N=18
* the level of significance is 0.05.
Explain whether the researcher’s hypothesis should be accepted. Refer to the critical
value identified in Question 21 in your answer.
- the researcher’s hypothesis should not be accepted (as the result is not significant)
- because the calculated value of rho (0.395) is less than the critical value (0.401).
Explain why the researcher decided to use the 5% level of significance rather than the
1% level in this study
- the 5% level of significance is the conventional level of probability employed by
psychologists/balances the risks of making a Type I and Type II error - the researcher is investigating the relationship between numbers of hours slept and how well rested
participants feel, this is not a sensitive topic nor one which may affect individual’s health (as in clinical
trials).
When the researcher compared the calculated and critical values of rho, he began to
wonder if he might have made a Type II error.
Explain what is meant by a Type II error in the context of this study.
- when the researcher accepts there is no correlation between the number of hours slept and how well
rested they felt (null hypothesis) even though the alternative hypothesis is correct - when the researcher believes the relationship between the number of hours slept and how well rested
they felt is not significant when it is (false negative).
