AQA A2 Psychology PSYA3/PSYA4 Revision Thread 2016

Research methods is eaaaaaaaaaaasy

Feel free to ask me any questions.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 241

scrawlx101

20

Original post by Romanoff

Research methods is eaaaaaaaaaaasy

Feel free to ask me any questions.

how do you answer question involving making standardised instructions/debriefs/making your own experiement? I'm not getting the marks I want ....how do you do comment on SD if its bigger.

Reply 242

Mesosleepy

9

Original post by scrawlx101

how do you answer question involving making standardised instructions/debriefs/making your own experiement? I'm not getting the marks I want ....how do you do comment on SD if its bigger.

If SD is bigger, then it means there is a large variance between individuals
e.g. If you investigating the effectiveness of CBT as a therapy. You find the mean is 178 which is effective but the SD is 8. That means that CBT is only effective to some people and not everyone in the sample whereas a small sd means that the CBT is effective to most or even everyone in the sample.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 243

student420

Hey guys, is anyone doing Phobic disorders? If so would you be able to share any notes or model essays as I can hardly find any resources.
Cheers

Reply 244

Romanoff

Original post by scrawlx101

how do you answer question involving making standardised instructions/debriefs/making your own experiement? I'm not getting the marks I want ....how do you do comment on SD if its bigger.

Well, for the standardised instructions -
This is really easy because it's asking you to simply write a method for the scenario. The method has to obviously refer explicitly and be linked in with the stem, otherwise you'll limit your marks at a lower band (just like AS).

You also have to make sure you're formal, clear and even go beyond information given in the stem in order to achieve full marks, e.g. you will be given exactly 5 minutes to solve this puzzle (if length of time wasn't included in the stem) etcetc. Simple!

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Debriefing -
- You need to tell the participant the aims of the experiment, i.e. we did this (and not this, if deceived!).
- You should ask if the participants have any questions.
- You should thank them for taking part.
- You could assure any ethical considerations, e.g. telling that their information will be kept confidential, telling them their results can be destroyed if they wish, perhaps arranging a session with a psychologist if the experiment was particularly taxing - you get the idea.

The one thing you need to make sure here is that these are 100% able to be read to participants, if not, AQA will limit them marks for sure. Make it neat, make it readable, make it smart. Please don't vomit information out randomly and expect to get any marks. Spend a minute or so and plan it.

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Designing your own experiment -
Every question and every stem is different , some may ask you to include a particular piece of information but the general rule of thumb is to include these things:

- Aims/Hypotheses
- Method: - Design, - Procedure, - Variables (independent, dependent), - Control (variables, e.g. x must be kept constant)
- Results - The use of descriptive and inferential statistics - which ones would you use, etc.

You would be required to tweak your answer in response to the stem, for example if the stem is asking you to test a repeated measures design, then your procedure would need to be designed so that both groups are included in the different conditions twice, and you would need to make this very clear.

In different questions, you should also be prepared to be asked to include materials, extraneous variables, participants, sampling technique, debriefing, justification of choices and many more, I'm sure!

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Standard deviation -
A measure of dispersion - it is a way of showing the spread of data around the mean. If the SD is larger then it means that the numbers are spread out from their mean, if they're smaller, they're closer to their means.

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Most importantly, don't forget to have fun! :wink:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 245

theasian_csl

3

How to revise Media ???? :frown:

Reply 246

phoebecushion

7

Original post by Romanoff

Research methods is eaaaaaaaaaaasy

Feel free to ask me any questions.

hi! could you explain what the key things are to know for the first two points on spec:major features of science etc and validating new knowledge/peer review? because in the 'dog' book they evaluate these and im confused

Reply 247

Original post by Naveed Rahman

I pray that statistical tests don't come up, i cant deal with the numbers tbh! I'd rather do a 'sketch a graph' question

Nooo way! I hate those. The statistical tests are actually quite fun

Reply 248

Original post by Nikita Marie

Was just wondering if anyone has any solid revision techniques for psychology this year? Last year's content was so much different and I managed it really well. But this year I'm struggling to find a good revision technique. My PSYA3 topics are: relationships, aggressing and biological rhythms, and my PSYA4 are: Media, OCD and research methods.

Thanks in advance :h:

What techniques did you use for AS?

Reply 249

ellie0497

20

Original post by ok2

Nooo way! I hate those. The statistical tests are actually quite fun

Can't stand statistical test questions

Reply 250

How do you guys retain all the material? What techniques do you use?

Reply 251

Romanoff

Original post by phoebecushion

hi! could you explain what the key things are to know for the first two points on spec:major features of science etc and validating new knowledge/peer review? because in the 'dog' book they evaluate these and im confused

Hiya! In the exam, they can actually ask you whether something is a science or not and you'd need to explain why it might/might not be a science. In order to do this, you need to be aware of the scientific process.

For validating new knowledge, peer review is used and in the exam they can ask you to Discuss the purpose of peer review - discuss (obviously) being outline and evaluate.

I have the complete companion and in all honesty it's a pretty terrible book A2, the points are pretty **** and don't make sense half the time. It's particularly bad for Psychology In Action and Research Methods because you need to apply knowledge to different scenarios and the CC provides generic information. I'd use something else, at least in conjunction!

Best of luck

Reply 252

Original post by A-LJLB

Ahead of me! I'm still writing model answers, but I think I'll be okay! Any essays you're focusing on particularly/predictions?

How do you plan on remembering these models? I've written model essays but I'm not sure how I should go about remembering them

Reply 253

username1884577

19

Original post by ok2

How do you plan on remembering these models? I've written model essays but I'm not sure how I should go about remembering them

I actually have a pretty good memory so I'd probably do it the conventional way of writing them out numerous times and also using essay plans

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 254

Naveed Rahman

Original post by A-LJLB

I actually have a pretty good memory so I'lol probably do it the conventional way of writing them out numerous times and also using essay plans

Doesn't writing them take so long? I do three writing subjects so cant afford to spend that much time

Reply 255

username1884577

19

Original post by Naveed Rahman

Doesn't writing them take so long? I do three writing subjects so cant afford to spend that much time

As I know the structure on how to get into the higher bands I just apply it to every essay, it normally takes me half an hour to write up a 24 mark essay, and then I'll just go over them up until exams and use essay plans as prompt. I do biology and a maths a level so psychology is my only essay subject

Reply 256

reg123098