Planning and Conducting Research | OCR A-Level Psychology (H567)

Planning and Conducting Research

124 questions
10 subtopics
Component 01: Research methods
Component 01

Planning and Conducting Research is examined on component 01 of OCR Psychology, Research methods.

124 recall questions across 10 subtopics.

Sample questions from Planning and Conducting Research

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Aims, research questions and hypotheses

What is a one-tailed hypothesis?

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A directional prediction that states which way the difference or relationship is expected to go.
Target populations, random and opportunity sampling

What is meant by a representative sample?

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One whose characteristics closely mirror those of the target population, so that findings can be generalised back to it.
Self-selected, snowball and stratified sampling

When is snowball sampling particularly useful?

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When the target population is small, hidden or hard to reach, so that no list of its members exists.
Repeated measures design

Give one strength of a repeated measures design relating to participant variables.

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Individual differences are held constant because the same people appear in each condition, so any difference found is more likely to be due to the independent variable.
Independent measures and matched participants designs

Which design needs the most participants to gather the same amount of data, and why?

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Independent measures, because each participant supplies data for only one condition.
Variables, operationalisation and control of extraneous variables

What are the conditions of the independent variable?

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The different situations created by manipulating the independent variable, which are then compared with one another.
Behavioural categories, coding frames and time sampling

What makes a set of behavioural categories poor?

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Categories that are vague, that overlap one another, or that leave out behaviours which actually occur.
Event sampling and inter-rater reliability in observations

When is event sampling the better choice than time sampling?

Show the answer
When the target behaviour happens only occasionally, so that sampled intervals would probably miss it altogether.

The 10 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Aims, research questions and hypotheses	Recall questions on research aims and questions, null and alternative hypotheses, operationalising a hypothesis, one-tailed and two-tailed hypotheses, writing hypotheses for example studies, falsifiability, and what happens to the hypotheses when results are or are not significant.	21
Target populations, random and opportunity sampling	Recall questions on target populations, samples, representativeness and sampling bias, and how random and opportunity samples are drawn, with the strengths and weaknesses of each technique.	10
Self-selected, snowball and stratified sampling	Recall questions on self-selected, snowball and stratified sampling with their strengths and weaknesses, volunteer bias, calculating a stratified sample, why a large sample can still be unrepresentative, and identifying the technique in a study.	13
Repeated measures design	Recall questions on what an experimental design is, the repeated measures design and its strengths, order effects, counterbalancing and its limits, and why repeated measures can increase demand characteristics.	8
Independent measures and matched participants designs	Recall questions on independent measures and matched participants designs, their strengths and weaknesses, reducing participant variables, choosing a design for a study, randomisation, and how design affects the choice of statistical test.	12
Variables, operationalisation and control of extraneous variables	Recall questions on independent and dependent variables, operationalisation, control conditions, extraneous and confounding variables, investigator effects, standardised instructions and procedures, single-blind and double-blind procedures, and spotting uncontrolled variables in example studies.	20
Behavioural categories, coding frames and time sampling	Recall questions on behavioural categories and why they must be operationalised and mutually exclusive, coding frames and piloting them, and time sampling with an example, a strength and a weakness.	11
Event sampling and inter-rater reliability in observations	Recall questions on event sampling, its strengths and weaknesses, when it beats time sampling, inter-rater reliability and how to improve it, video recording, and adapting an observation design to a busy setting.	9
Closed and open questions, Likert and semantic differential scales	Recall questions on closed and open questions with their strengths and weaknesses, Likert rating scales and the level of data they produce, and semantic differential rating scales and how they differ from Likert scales.	12
Writing questionnaire items: wording, fillers and piloting	Recall questions on designing questionnaire items, including leading and double-barrelled questions, jargon and ambiguous wording, filler questions, reverse-worded items, piloting, and combining question types for statistics and depth.	8

Planning and Conducting Research is 124 of the 3,537 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.