AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY
RESEARCH METHODS EXAM
QUESTIONS & DETAILED CORRECT
ANSWERS
Methods are what psychologists use to conduct their research. There are two areas of methods,
what are these? - correct answer ✔✔Experimental Methods and Non-Experimental Methods
Outline what experimental methods consist of - correct answer ✔✔Lab, natural, field and quasi
experiments
Outline what non-experimental methods consist of - correct answer ✔✔Correlational analysis,
observations, case studies and self report (interviews and questionnaires)
Outline a field experiment and evaluate it - correct answer ✔✔Takes place in a real
environment such as a school, and there is then an IV that is manipulated to effect the DV.
:) - Less prone to demand characteristics as people may not know they are taking part is an
experiment and thus will display natural behaviour
:) - High ecological validity as the setting is real life meaning the findings can then be generalised
to other settings beyond the study
:( - It lacks reliability in the findings as it is done in a setting where there is little control over
confounding variables meaning it is difficult to replicate it and get consistency in results
:( - Ethical issues can arise when conducting a field experiment as people are not aware they are
taking part and thus there is no informed consent that they are giving to be able to study them,
therefore there is risk that the participants will not want their results used and thus must be
removed
, Outline a lab experiment and evaluate it - correct answer ✔✔Conducted within a lab which has
high control over the environment.
:) - High level of control over variables meaning that extraneous variables are likely to be
controlled and thus a cause and effect relationship can be established between IV and DV
:) - High reliability of results due to the tight control over variables meaning that it can be
repeated and findings can be checked for consistency
:( - It lacks ecological validity as it takes place in a very fake setting, with possibly a fake task,
therefore making it hard to generalise the results to other environments or settings
:( - It can encourage demand characteristics as participants know they are being
watched/recorded and thus they change their behaviour based on clues on what the aim is, to
suit what the researcher wants to see, this affects the accuracy of the results
Outline a natural experiment and evaluate it - correct answer ✔✔In a real setting with a
naturally occurring IV, for example looking at the effect of stress after an earthquake hits a city.
:) - Participants show no demand characteristics at all as at the time of the IV occurring they did
not know about the study as this will show natural behaviour
:) - Very high ecological validity as it is set in a real environment and nothing is controlled, so
therefore you are able to generalise the findings beyond the setting of the study
:( - It lacks reliability as there is zero control over variables meaning that it is difficult to replicate
the experiment and get consistent results
:( - Due to the lack of control over extraneous variables it is very difficult to establish a cause
and effect relationship and thus this reduces the internal validity
Outline a quasi experiment and evaluate it - correct answer ✔✔Quasi experiments have an IV
that is based on an existing difference between people such as age, no one has manipulated this
variable and it exists on its own, for example comparing achievement level of first-born children
with that of later-born children.
:) - They are often carried out in controlled conditions and therefore they share similar strengths
to that of a lab experiment
:( - Like natural experiments participants cant be randomly allocated to experimental conditions
so there may be confounding variables such as individual differences
RESEARCH METHODS EXAM
QUESTIONS & DETAILED CORRECT
ANSWERS
Methods are what psychologists use to conduct their research. There are two areas of methods,
what are these? - correct answer ✔✔Experimental Methods and Non-Experimental Methods
Outline what experimental methods consist of - correct answer ✔✔Lab, natural, field and quasi
experiments
Outline what non-experimental methods consist of - correct answer ✔✔Correlational analysis,
observations, case studies and self report (interviews and questionnaires)
Outline a field experiment and evaluate it - correct answer ✔✔Takes place in a real
environment such as a school, and there is then an IV that is manipulated to effect the DV.
:) - Less prone to demand characteristics as people may not know they are taking part is an
experiment and thus will display natural behaviour
:) - High ecological validity as the setting is real life meaning the findings can then be generalised
to other settings beyond the study
:( - It lacks reliability in the findings as it is done in a setting where there is little control over
confounding variables meaning it is difficult to replicate it and get consistency in results
:( - Ethical issues can arise when conducting a field experiment as people are not aware they are
taking part and thus there is no informed consent that they are giving to be able to study them,
therefore there is risk that the participants will not want their results used and thus must be
removed
, Outline a lab experiment and evaluate it - correct answer ✔✔Conducted within a lab which has
high control over the environment.
:) - High level of control over variables meaning that extraneous variables are likely to be
controlled and thus a cause and effect relationship can be established between IV and DV
:) - High reliability of results due to the tight control over variables meaning that it can be
repeated and findings can be checked for consistency
:( - It lacks ecological validity as it takes place in a very fake setting, with possibly a fake task,
therefore making it hard to generalise the results to other environments or settings
:( - It can encourage demand characteristics as participants know they are being
watched/recorded and thus they change their behaviour based on clues on what the aim is, to
suit what the researcher wants to see, this affects the accuracy of the results
Outline a natural experiment and evaluate it - correct answer ✔✔In a real setting with a
naturally occurring IV, for example looking at the effect of stress after an earthquake hits a city.
:) - Participants show no demand characteristics at all as at the time of the IV occurring they did
not know about the study as this will show natural behaviour
:) - Very high ecological validity as it is set in a real environment and nothing is controlled, so
therefore you are able to generalise the findings beyond the setting of the study
:( - It lacks reliability as there is zero control over variables meaning that it is difficult to replicate
the experiment and get consistent results
:( - Due to the lack of control over extraneous variables it is very difficult to establish a cause
and effect relationship and thus this reduces the internal validity
Outline a quasi experiment and evaluate it - correct answer ✔✔Quasi experiments have an IV
that is based on an existing difference between people such as age, no one has manipulated this
variable and it exists on its own, for example comparing achievement level of first-born children
with that of later-born children.
:) - They are often carried out in controlled conditions and therefore they share similar strengths
to that of a lab experiment
:( - Like natural experiments participants cant be randomly allocated to experimental conditions
so there may be confounding variables such as individual differences
