Past paper questions

Question 1

Explain one strength of using a repeated measures design

Answer 1

It overcomes problems with individual differences (explanation);
So if people differ in important ways they will all be their own baseline, so it
won’t matter (detail);

E.g. if some participants in Canli et al. were just more emotional, it would
even out (detail);

Question 2

Reliability refers to the consistency of tests, tasks or measures in
research
Explain why reliability is important in experiments

Answer 2

If tests are inconsistent, differences between conditions might be due to
poor measurement, not the IV (explanation);
If the DV is not being measured reliably then the data cannot test a causal
effect (explanation)

Question 4

Describe the sampling techniques of ‘opportunity sampling’ and ‘volunteer sampling’, using any examples. 6mks

Answer 4

Opportunity sampling:
Using participants who are available at the time / finding participants by convenience;
Passers-by/students in the researcher’s class;
Baron-Cohen et al. found participants in adult community education class (in Exeter) / (public) library (in Cambridge);
Saavedra and Silverman child (and mother) in treatment (at Florida International University);
Piliavin et al. subway passengers;

Volunteer sampling:
Using a request asking people to join in;
By advert/email/post/online;
Baron-Cohen et al. took volunteers from Autistic Society magazine / support group;