G541 Psychology OCR EXAM TOMORROW

Hi, on the section B one about the mean and whatnot, it was about the mean wasn't it.
I remember saying how I'd get the mean (sum of values then divide by number of values then in context) and the next q was on about which average? I'm confused because I swear they were both mean and people are saying it was median.

Shoot, well I put that extremely low/high values distort the final value, so I hope they think I just put the wrong average on accident.

Btw, the first question was identify the experimental design, so only saying repeated measures was adequate (look at past mark schemes).

What else would you need to put other than its repeated measures and why?

Okay, so: Unofficial Mark Scheme, OCR Psychological Investigations 2015
Quote and reply with more answers or questions from the paper and feel free to debate these or add more, there's more than one right answer obviously.


1a) The experimental design was repeated measures since all participants took part in both the light and dark conditions while listening to music.

1b) Strengths of repeated measures are: More reliable/no demand characteristics, smaller sample needed
Weaknesses of repeated measures are: Order effects

For the question on the sampling method) Opportunity sampling, which was used because they could observe whoever happened to be on the bus at the time.

For the question on how to calculate the mean) Sum the answers from each condition and divide by 10 (the number of participants)

For the question on when the median would be more appropriate) When there are anomalous/outlying values as the median only takes into account the position of the data, not the actual data points themselves

For the long question on your procedure) Its hard to have a mark scheme for this because you can have anything that makes sense. But it has to be detailed. Your procedure had to be for a self-report study. You need to discuss: What your self-report would be, how you would select your participants, how you would distribute it, how you would collect your results in and what you would ask. When evaluating, you need a balanced answer that can cover pretty much anything as long as its correct. Pros and cons of your questions (closed/open are usually good ones), ethics, practicality, etc.

for the mean question i said add up all the rating scores and then divide 10,i didn't use the word condition,how many mark will i get,because the question said for each condition

I don't think it matters that much. For a 4 mark question, with a tight invigilator, you might get 3

For the question asking about sampling, people are divided on whether it was event or opportunity!

I did put opportunity sample but now I think of it for an observational study event sampling would be more appropriate. I would be really happy if it was opportunity sample though! They may even accept both

For the question asking about sampling, people are divided on whether it was event or opportunity!

Why would it be event and not time sampling?

Because behavior in the study was coded throughout the duration of the study without time intervals (time intervals were not mentioned) then again neither was event sampling.

Why would it be event and not time sampling?

That's my point, I think if they wanted you to differentiate between time and event they would have had to give some indication of whether intervals were in play or not. Coding systems can be used with either time or event. Therefore, I think it was opportunity.

I put something like this-

A strength of opportunity sampling is that no researcher bias occurs as the researcher doesn't select pps. Consequently a range of pps with different age, background and socioeconomic status can be obtained enabling the researcher to have a wide variety of social groups which allows sample to be representative(I also added something about space invaders in here)

A weakness of opportunity sampling is that the sample could have issues such as gender imbalance effecting the reliability of the behavior of pps and there behavior therefore data cannot be generalized to the target population of bus goers and there behavior regarding personal space.

I put something like this-

A strength of opportunity sampling is that no researcher bias occurs as the researcher doesn't select pps. Consequently a range of pps with different age, background and socioeconomic status can be obtained enabling the researcher to have a wide variety of social groups which allows sample to be representative(I also added something about space invaders in here)

A weakness of opportunity sampling is that the sample could have issues such as gender imbalance effecting the reliability of the behavior of pps and there behavior therefore data cannot be generalized to the target population of bus goers and there behavior regarding personal space.