AS & A Level / Psychology / Experimental design and ethics Question practice
Experimental design and ethics About this practice Original, unofficial practice. Evaluative marking points are indicative: credit equivalent justified arguments, one point per distinct criterion, without double counting.
Accept equivalent valid methods and supported interpretations that address the task. Award each mark once; matching the model wording is not required.
Psychology Experimental design and ethics
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1 Fictional study: adults are randomly assigned to study words in silence or with instrumental music, then complete the same recall test, scored as the number of words correctly recalled. Identify the independent and dependent variables. Easy 2 marks No calculator + 2 Fictional study: volunteers choose whether to join the music or silence condition. Explain why this is not random allocation and one threat it creates. Easy 2 marks No calculator + 3 Fictional study: the same participants solve puzzles once rested and once after a long workday, always in that order. Analyse an order effect and propose a design improvement while addressing time-of-day confounding. Medium 4 marks No calculator + 4 Fictional study: researchers observe adults in a café and record identifiable conversations about personal relationships without consent. Analyse two ethical concerns and suggest a safer alternative. Medium 4 marks No calculator + 5 Fictional proposal: a researcher wants to study helping by staging an alarming collapse in a busy station without telling bystanders. Evaluate whether deception is justified and propose an ethical alternative. Hard 4 marks No calculator + 6 Fictional case: a laboratory experiment finds better puzzle scores with a visible countdown. Evaluate generalising this result to workplace deadlines. Hard 4 marks No calculator + Self-assessed Not marked yet
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Original questions, not official past papers. Marking guidance is indicative, not an official answer key. Check your exam-board specification.
