Evaluation Sheet – NOT TO BE TAKEN INTO THE EXAMINATION

ACTIVITY A:  Questions, Self Reports and Questionnaires

Outline TWO strengths of the questionnaire /self report method of collecting data

	
Outline TWO weaknesses of the questionnaire /self report method of collecting data

	
Outline one ethical issue that should be considered when using the questionnaire/self report method in psychological research.

	
What is meant by RELIABILITY?

How could you ensure that your questionnaire/self report was reliable?

	
What is meant by VALIDITY?

How could you ensure that your questionnaire/self report was valid?

	
Outline TWO improvements that could be made to your questionnaire/self report  (Hint – think about different ways of asking the questions, or alternative ways of asking people to answer, such as open ended questions, fixed choice questions or Likert scales.

	
Suggest how each of the improvements outlined above would effect the results of your questionnaire/self report?

	
Can you think of any other improvements that could be made to this activity? (for example, the instructions you gave to participants, the environment in which people completed the questionnaire/ self report etc)

	
Which sampling method did you use to select your participants?

Evaluate the sampling method that you have described above.

	
Any other comments on this activity

	

Evaluation Sheet – NOT TO BE TAKEN INTO THE EXAMINATION

ACTIVITY B:  An Observation

Outline two strengths of the observation method of collecting data.

	
Outline two weaknesses of the observation method of collecting data.

	
Outline ONE ethical issue that should be considered when using observational methods in psychological research

	
What is meant by RELIABILITY?

How could you ensure that your observation was reliable? (Hint – how would you ensure that you had inter-rater reliability).

	
What is meant by VALIDITY?

How could you ensure that your observation was valid?

 	
Outline TWO improvements that could have been made to your observation.  (Hint – if you were going to repeat the observation would you keep the same categories?  Can you think of any changes to the categories or any additional categories?

	
Suggest how each of these improvements outlined above would also effect the results of your observation (think about reliability and validity).

	
Can you think of another improvement that could be made to this activity?  (for example where you chose to observe, the length of time or the time of day, the number of participants observed etc)

	
Which sampling method did you use to select your participants?

Evaluate the sampling method that you have described above

	
Any other comments on this activity.

	

Evaluation Sheet – NOT TO BE TAKEN INTO THE EXAMINATION

ACTIVITY C:  Comparison of data to investigate the difference between two conditions.

There are a number of ways of investigating the difference between two conditions.  Manipulating one variable and measuring another is EXPERIMENTAL research and this could either be conducted in the laboratory (controlled conditions) or in the ‘field’ (in a real life setting).  Comparisons can also be made between already existing groups such as different age groups or between the sexes and this is termed a natural or quasi experiment.

Which of the above methods did you use?

Outline one strength and one weakness of the method that you used.

Strength

Weakness

	
You will also have had to select an experimental DESIGN.  You may have used REPEATED measures where you tested the same participants in each condition or you may have used INDEPENDENT measures where you tested different people in each condition.

Which DESIGN did you use for this activity?

Outline ONE STRENGTH and ONE WEAKNESSES with the design that you used.

Strength

Weakness

	
Outline ONE ethical issue that should be considered when using the experimental method in psychological research.

	
Suggest ONE alternative way of measuring your dependent variable (For example, if you tested memory by asking people to ‘free recall’ you could suggest using a recognition test instead)

	
What effect do you think this alternative would have on the results of your activity?

	
Outline TWO improvements that could be made to your activity (Hint – think about the procedure that you used and the conditions in which participants were tested)
One improvement would be to ask participants to complete the questionnaire in isolation.  I could have asked the participant to join me in a quiet room and read out the questions to them.

	
Suggest how each of the improvements outlined above would effect the results of your activity.

	
Which sampling method did you use to select your participants?

Evaluate the sampling method that you described above.

	
Any other comments on this activity

	

Evaluation Sheet – NOT TO BE TAKEN INTO THE EXAMINATION

ACTIVITY D: A Correlation

Correlation is a method of data analysis rather than a measure of data collection.  Outline ONE STRENGTH and ONE WEAKNESS of the correlational method.

Strength

Weakness

	
In a correlational design, you measure both variables.  For EACH variable, think of an alternative way that this could have been measured.

Variable 1
Alternative

Variable 2
Alternative

	
For each of the alternatives you have described above, suggest how they might affect the results of your correlation.

Alternative 1

Alternative 2

	
Outline TWO further improvements that could be made to your correlation.  (Hint – think about the conditions in which participants were tested, or the instructions that they were given.

	

Suggest how each of the improvements outlined above would effect the results of your correlation.

	
Which sampling method did you use to select your participants?

Evaluate the sampling method that you described above.

	
Any other comments on this activity