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Wjec psychology unit 2 Questions and Verified
Answers
Experimental design
Ans: Refers to how participants are allocated to the different conditions in
an experiment
Repeated measure design
Ans: The same set of participants take part in both conditions of the
experiment
Strengths of repeated measures design
Ans: Fewer people needed, saves time
Weakness of repeated measure design
Ans: There may be order effects e.g practice effect or fatigue effect
How to deal with weaknesses of repeated measure design
Ans: •To reduce practice effect you may use two tests
•To reduce order effects you may use the counterbalancing technique (AB or
BA/ABBA)
Independent measures design
Ans: Two separate groups of participants; one in each condition
Strengths of independent measure design
Ans: •avoids order effect
•reduced chances of demand characteristics
•can use the same set of materials in both conditions
Weakness of independent measure design
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Ans: •more people needed
•more time consuming
•differences between participants- participants variables
How to deal with participants variables
Ans: Randomly allocate p's to conditions which distributes participant
variables evenly
Matched participant design
Ans: There are two separate groups, but the members in each group are
matched on relevant characteristics
Strengths of matched participants design
Ans: •reduces participants variables
•avoids order effects- counterbalance is not necessary
Weakness of matched participants design
Ans: •very time consuming
•impossible to match people exactly
How to deal with weakness of matched participants design
Ans: As it is impossible to match people exactly, researchers may conduct a
pilot study to see what variables are important and should be matched on
Opportunity sample
Ans: People who are most convenient or most available
Strengths of opportunity sample
Ans: It is the easiest method and takes less time to locate sample
Weaknesses of opportunity sample
Ans: •sample may be too small, unlikely to be representative or
generalisable
•researcher bias
Random sample
Wjec psychology unit 2 Questions and Verified
Answers
Experimental design
Ans: Refers to how participants are allocated to the different conditions in
an experiment
Repeated measure design
Ans: The same set of participants take part in both conditions of the
experiment
Strengths of repeated measures design
Ans: Fewer people needed, saves time
Weakness of repeated measure design
Ans: There may be order effects e.g practice effect or fatigue effect
How to deal with weaknesses of repeated measure design
Ans: •To reduce practice effect you may use two tests
•To reduce order effects you may use the counterbalancing technique (AB or
BA/ABBA)
Independent measures design
Ans: Two separate groups of participants; one in each condition
Strengths of independent measure design
Ans: •avoids order effect
•reduced chances of demand characteristics
•can use the same set of materials in both conditions
Weakness of independent measure design
, Page | 2
Ans: •more people needed
•more time consuming
•differences between participants- participants variables
How to deal with participants variables
Ans: Randomly allocate p's to conditions which distributes participant
variables evenly
Matched participant design
Ans: There are two separate groups, but the members in each group are
matched on relevant characteristics
Strengths of matched participants design
Ans: •reduces participants variables
•avoids order effects- counterbalance is not necessary
Weakness of matched participants design
Ans: •very time consuming
•impossible to match people exactly
How to deal with weakness of matched participants design
Ans: As it is impossible to match people exactly, researchers may conduct a
pilot study to see what variables are important and should be matched on
Opportunity sample
Ans: People who are most convenient or most available
Strengths of opportunity sample
Ans: It is the easiest method and takes less time to locate sample
Weaknesses of opportunity sample
Ans: •sample may be too small, unlikely to be representative or
generalisable
•researcher bias
Random sample
