Psychological skills Research methods

Worked examples (9)

• 1Classify the data type in described studies (4 marks)
• 2Identify all four combinations (4 marks)
• 3Give a strength and weakness of each form (4 marks)
• 4Choose a data type and justify it (5 marks)
• 5Explain why conversion runs one way (4 marks)
• 6Explain a strength of secondary data (3 marks)
• 7Explain why a study collects both (4 marks)
• 8Assess the credibility of a secondary source (4 marks)
• 9Explain how categories become quantitative (3 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Identify the sampling technique (4 marks)
• 2Calculate a stratified sample (4 marks)
• 3Distinguish sampling from allocation (4 marks)
• 4Name the direction of the bias (5 marks)
• 5Explain why random sampling does not guarantee representativeness (4 marks)
• 6Explain the limit of stratification (4 marks)
• 7Choose and justify a technique (5 marks)
• 8Apply sampling to material rather than people (4 marks)
• 9Compare the sampling of two studies (5 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Identify the design (4 marks)
• 2Explain what counterbalancing achieves (4 marks)
• 3Recognise when a design is impossible (4 marks)
• 4Evaluate matched pairs (5 marks)
• 5Explain the power advantage of repeated measures (4 marks)
• 6Order effects in two directions (4 marks)
• 7Choose and justify a design (5 marks)
• 8Defend independent groups (4 marks)
• 9Design decisions across the specification (5 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Operationalise a hypothesis (4 marks)
• 2Write all three forms (5 marks)
• 3Justify directionality (4 marks)
• 4Correct a faulty null hypothesis (4 marks)
• 5Interpret a non-significant result (5 marks)
• 6Match the wording to the method (4 marks)
• 7Distinguish aim from hypothesis (3 marks)
• 8Write a hypothesis for a study on the course (4 marks)
• 9Why directionality cannot be chosen afterwards (5 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Select a method for each question (5 marks)
• 2Compare longitudinal and cross-sectional (5 marks)
• 3Evaluate a meta-analysis claim (5 marks)
• 4Identify an imposed etic (4 marks)
• 5The equal environments assumption (4 marks)
• 6Extrapolating from animals (4 marks)
• 7Brain scanning and reverse inference (4 marks)
• 8What a single case can establish (5 marks)
• 9Interpret a heritability estimate (4 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Classify the experiment and name the variables (5 marks)
• 2State the IV and DV as operationalised (4 marks)
• 3Extraneous or confounding? (4 marks)
• 4Demand characteristics and their control (4 marks)
• 5Why a double blind is needed (4 marks)
• 6Recommend a setting and defend it (5 marks)
• 7Correct an overstated causal claim (4 marks)
• 8Why more control is not always better (5 marks)
• 9Identify and repair three flaws (6 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Open and closed questions on the same topic (4 marks)
• 2Diagnose and repair a faulty item (4 marks)
• 3Social desirability in a specific study (5 marks)
• 4Choose an interview format (5 marks)
• 5Likert scales and the data they produce (4 marks)
• 6Say what a pilot study would change (4 marks)
• 7Why structure makes reliability measurable (4 marks)
• 8Write questions to a specification (5 marks)
• 9The limits of asking (5 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Classify an observation on all four dimensions (4 marks)
• 2Write behavioural categories (5 marks)
• 3Criticise a given set of categories (4 marks)
• 4Choose a sampling procedure (4 marks)
• 5Establish inter-observer reliability (4 marks)
• 6Match the remedy to the threat (5 marks)
• 7Justify a covert observation (5 marks)
• 8Calculate and interpret percentage agreement (4 marks)
• 9The inference an observer cannot make (4 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Situational or participant? (4 marks)
• 2Match each control to its threat (5 marks)
• 3Where demand characteristics come from (4 marks)
• 4The two channels of experimenter effects (4 marks)
• 5Apply the four-step routine (6 marks)
• 6When a control cannot be implemented (5 marks)
• 7What a control costs (4 marks)
• 8Why random allocation beats matching (4 marks)
• 9Why a control group is a control (4 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Identify the level of measurement (4 marks)
• 2Calculate central tendency and dispersion (6 marks)
• 3Justify the choice of average (4 marks)
• 4Why dispersion must be reported (4 marks)
• 5Select and describe the correct display (4 marks)
• 6Interpret a results table (5 marks)
• 7Percentages and their base (4 marks)
• 8Diagnose skew without a graph (4 marks)
• 9Identify a misleading display (4 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Select the appropriate test (5 marks)
• 2Calculate chi-squared (6 marks)
• 3Compare in the correct direction (4 marks)
• 4What p ≤ 0.05 actually means (4 marks)
• 5Identify Type I and Type II errors (5 marks)
• 6Degrees of freedom and the critical value (4 marks)
• 7Significant but unimportant (5 marks)
• 8Running many tests (4 marks)
• 9Interpret a non-significant result (4 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Reliable but invalid (4 marks)
• 2Name the type of validity (5 marks)
• 3Establish the reliability of a measure (5 marks)
• 4Establish the validity of a measure (5 marks)
• 5Say which generalisation is limited (4 marks)
• 6Objectivity and its limits (4 marks)
• 7Why replication matters (4 marks)
• 8The tension between reliability and validity (5 marks)
• 9Apply the seven checks (6 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Interpret four coefficients (4 marks)
• 2Name the three rival explanations (5 marks)
• 3Describe the expected scatter diagram (4 marks)
• 4A coefficient near zero with a strong relationship (4 marks)
• 5Justify a correlational design (4 marks)
• 6Strengthen a causal reading (5 marks)
• 7Write correlational hypotheses (4 marks)
• 8Why a coefficient can be misleadingly low (4 marks)
• 9Correlation used to check a measure (4 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Select an analytic approach (4 marks)
• 2Carry out a thematic analysis (6 marks)
• 3Why quotations are evidence (4 marks)
• 4Explain reflexivity (4 marks)
• 5Content analysis produces quantitative data (4 marks)
• 6Inductive against deductive analysis (4 marks)
• 7Answer the three standard criticisms (6 marks)
• 8Improve the credibility of an analysis (5 marks)
• 9Why qualitative work often comes first (4 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Identify ethical issues in a described study (5 marks)
• 2What debriefing does and does not repair (4 marks)
• 3Alternatives where full consent is impossible (4 marks)
• 4Confidentiality and anonymity (4 marks)
• 5Name the trade in both directions (5 marks)
• 6The role of an ethics committee (4 marks)
• 7Consent with vulnerable participants (5 marks)
• 8Ethics beyond the participants (4 marks)
• 9Design a study ethically (5 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style

Worked examples (9)

• 1Apply the 3Rs to a study (5 marks)
• 2Apply Bateson's dimensions (5 marks)
• 3State the legislation precisely (4 marks)
• 4Why the human framework does not transfer (4 marks)
• 5Set out both ethical positions (5 marks)
• 6When extrapolation weakens the justification (4 marks)
• 7Apply the BPS animal guidelines (4 marks)
• 8What regulation does not settle (4 marks)
• 9Evaluate the justification for a study (6 marks)

Model answers (9)

• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section C style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section E style
• ✓Model answer — Edexcel WPS04 Section B style