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Section C box
Research Methods
Answer all questions in this section.
A psychologist investigated whether productivity levels are affected by the amount
of sleep a person gets. They asked 30 participants to sleep for 4 hours on the first
night and then stay awake all of the next day (Day 1). The same participants were
then asked to sleep for 8 hours on the second night and stay awake all of the next day
(Day 2).
Each participant was then asked to rate their productivity at the end of Day 2 as ‘more
than’, or ‘less than’, or ‘the same as’ Day 1.
0 9 Outline what is meant by an aim. Write a suitable aim for this study.
[2 marks]
The results of the study are given in Table 1 below:
Table 1 Number of participants giving each productivity rating
at the end of Day 2
More productivity Less productivity Same productivity
Number of
21 6 3
participants
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1 0 The psychologist analysed the results of the study using the sign test. box
Explain two reasons why it was appropriate to use the sign test in this situation.
Refer to the description of the study in your answer.
[4 marks]
1 1 Use the data in Table 1 to calculate the value of S using the sign test. Explain how
you calculated this figure.
[3 marks]
Turn over for the next question
Turn over ►
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As a result of the sign test calculation the psychologist concluded that participants box
assessed themselves as more productive after eight hours’ sleep than after four
hours’ sleep. Other previous research has also shown that having more sleep has a
positive effect on problem-solving skills.
In a follow-up study, the psychologist designed an experiment to investigate further
the effect of sleep duration on problem solving. They randomly selected 20 students
from a local university. There were two conditions:
Condition 1 – the students were invited to a university sleep laboratory and were
allowed to sleep for six hours. Fifteen minutes after waking, each student was timed
to see how long it took them to solve 10 simple mathematical problems, correctly.
Condition 2 – the same 20 students were invited back to the sleep laboratory a week
later. This time they were allowed to sleep for two hours. Fifteen minutes after
waking, each student was again timed to see how long it took them to solve a different
set of 10 simple mathematical problems, correctly.
1 2 Briefly explain how the psychologist would carry out a pilot study in this case.
[2 marks]
1 3 Should the hypothesis for the follow-up study be directional or non-directional?
Explain your answer.
[2 marks]
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1 4 Write a suitable experimental hypothesis for the follow-up study. box
[3 marks]
1 5 Identify one extraneous variable that could have affected the results of the follow-up
study.
Suggest why it would have been important to control this extraneous variable and
how the psychologist could have controlled it.
[3 marks]
Turn over for the next question
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1 6 Explain how the psychologist could have used random sampling to select the students box
in the follow-up study.
[3 marks]
1 7 Briefly explain one problem with using random sampling in the follow-up study.
[2 marks]
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