Question One

Question 1

What is a scientific experiment

Answer 1

A procedure is carried out to support or refute a hypothesis or determine the likelihood of something through testing
Quantitative data

Question 2

Scientific experiments strengths

Answer 2

• Randomised controlled trial, random assign participants to groups reduce selection bias, ensure groups are comparable, increase validity, one group won’t have more anxiety than other
• Controlled environment, control variables, reduce confounding factors, more likely results are due to COMPASS, not external influences, establish clear relationship

Question 3

Weaknesses of scientific experiments

Answer 3

• Short duration, 12 weeks, doesn’t reflect long term nature of anxiety, evolve over time, symptoms fluctuate
• Placebo effect, confound results, control groups believe they receive treatment, experience improvements, skew result,hard to assess effectiveness

Question 4

What is a questionnaire

Answer 4

Consists of a set of questions designed to gather information from individuals on a certain topic
Likert scale - closed questions that require a limited response that fits into pre-decided categories
Quantitative

Question 5

Questionnaire advantages

Answer 5

• Efficient, quick to complete, collect large amounts of data in a short amount of time, larger sample 194, representative of population
• Standardised, use fixed questions, participants response to same set of questions, response are consistent, easy to compare, reliable

Question 6

Questionnaire Disadvantages

Answer 6

• Misunderstanding questions, may interpret questions differently, inaccurate responses
• Low response bias, may not complete questionnaire, lead to biased results, non-representative sample

Question 7

What is quantitative data

Answer 7

Numerical information that can be measured and analysed statistically

Question 8

Quantitative data strengths

Answer 8

• Clear and comparable results, compare different groups and conditions, ability to identify patterns
• Efficient, cost effective, gather large volume of data quicker, larger sample size, more representative

Question 9

Quantitative data weaknesses

Answer 9

• Over-simplification of symptoms, relies on standardised questionnaires, fixed categories, lack of richness and complexity of anxiety and depression
• Culturally sensitive, may be experienced or expressed differently across cultures, single measurement tools may fail to account for difference

Question 10

Volunteer sampling

Answer 10

Participants self-select to be part of the study in response to the social media post which are apart of long term health condition charities

Question 11

Volunteer sampling strengths

Answer 11

• Increased willingness, more honest responses, especially on mental health, increased quality of data
• Ethical, ensures participants are aware of and choose to take part, important as its a sensitive topic

Question 12

Volunteer sampling weaknesses

Answer 12

• Sampling bias, doesn’t represent wider population,volunteers interested in mental health, overrepresent those more open about mental health
• Over or underreport symptoms to align with expectations or to receive support, underreport due to stigma, distort accuracy of data

Question 13

Funding

Answer 13

Funded by NIHR, official government group, likely to produce valid and reliable data, have genuine interest in healthcare research, no bias for either outcome

Question 14

Question 1 Structure

Answer 14

• Intro, research focus, funding, why it’s good
• Scientific experiments, pros and cons, related to research, quantitative pros and cons
• Questionnaires, pros and cons, relate to research, quantitative
• Volunteer sampling, pros and cons, relate to research