AQA A Level Psychology 3.2.3.1 Scientific Processes Exam Questions

About AQA A Level Psychology 3.2.3.1 Scientific Processes

Scientific Processes is part of Research Methods on AQA A Level Paper 2, and its ideas appear in evaluation across the whole course. It covers how investigations are planned: writing aims and directional or non-directional hypotheses, choosing a sampling technique and experimental design, operationalising variables and controlling extraneous variables. You also learn about demand characteristics and investigator effects, BPS ethical issues, peer review, the implications of research for the economy, reliability, validity, the features of science and how investigations are reported. Examiners test these with short scenario questions, such as writing a hypothesis or explaining how to assess inter-observer reliability.

What you need to know

• Aims and hypotheses An aim states what the study intends to investigate. A directional hypothesis states the direction of the difference or relationship; a non-directional hypothesis states there will be a difference without saying which way. Both must operationalise the IV and DV.
• Sampling and pilot studies Random, systematic, stratified, opportunity and volunteer sampling, each with implications for bias and generalisation. Pilot studies are small trial runs to test procedures and materials.
• Experimental designs and control Independent groups, repeated measures and matched pairs. Order effects in repeated measures are reduced by counterbalancing; randomisation and standardisation control extraneous variables, which can become confounding variables.
• Demand characteristics and investigator effects Demand characteristics are cues that help participants guess the aim and change their behaviour; investigator effects are unwanted influences of the researcher. Single-blind and double-blind procedures reduce these.
• Ethics BPS Code of Ethics issues are informed consent, deception, protection from harm and privacy and confidentiality. Ways of dealing with them include presumptive, prior general and retrospective consent, debriefing and the right to withdraw.
• Reliability and validity Reliability is consistency, assessed by test-retest and inter-observer reliability (a correlation of +0.80 or above is usually acceptable). Validity includes internal, external, ecological, temporal, face and concurrent validity.
• Features of science and reporting Objectivity, the empirical method, replicability, falsifiability (Popper), theory construction and hypothesis testing, paradigms and paradigm shifts (Kuhn). Reports have an abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion and references.

Common mistakes in 3.2.3.1 Scientific Processes

• Writing hypotheses that are not operationalised, such as 'sleep affects memory', instead of stating exactly how each variable is measured.
• Describing opportunity sampling as random; it uses whoever is available and is prone to researcher bias.
• Saying counterbalancing removes order effects; it balances them out across conditions rather than removing them.
• Confusing reliability and validity: a measure can be consistent but still not measure what it claims to.
• Stating debriefing makes deception acceptable on its own; it reduces harm but does not replace informed consent.

Try three 3.2.3.1 Scientific Processes exam-style questions