G544 Approaches and Research Methods in Psychology

• This section provides stimulus material, which outlines background information to a practical project, with a set of research questions and the instruction "You are required to conduct an experiment / correlational study..." using a specified design / level of measurement.
• You select one of the research questions as the focus for the rest of your responses in this section.
• The first question will probably ask you to state your alternate or null hypothesis - make sure this is a fully operational hypothesis.
• The second question requires you to produce a detailed, replicable methodology for your practical project, as specified in the stimulus material (see above). This is worth 19 marks (13 for replicability / appropriateness; 6 for the quality of the design / feasibility): as the whole paper is worth 80 marks (40 for each section), you will need to spend about 20 minutes on this question.
• The rest of the questions relate to various aspects of your study, either asking you to outline / describe the participants, ethical considerations, statistical analysis or to evaluate aspects of your study.
• There are 7 questions in this section and other than qu 2, these are short answer questions, usually worth 3 or 6 marks.

• Section B provides a choice of 2 five part questions, each focused on an approach, a method, an issue or a debate.
• The question parts follow a similar structure:
  1. Outline the approach / method / issue / debate [4]
  2. Describe two pieces of research [8]
  3. Discuss strengths and limitations [12]
  4. Compare / contrast [8]
  5. Discuss something! [8]
• All responses need to include evidence to support the points made.
• Make sure points are developed fully, using PEC or similar to ensure what you are saying is obvious.