Practise Edexcel Psychology questions on questionnaire and interview design, improving questions, coding responses and judging the quality of social research.
Freda investigated conformity to majority influence using a semi-structured interview. She went to a local shop on a Tuesday and asked 20 people to take part in her interview.
Freda had prepared two scenarios describing a majority group trying to encourage a person to conform. She asked all the participants to state whether they would conform in each scenario and then explain their answers in detail.
Explain two improvements Freda could make to her investigation. (4)
1
2
AO2 (2 marks), AO3 (2 marks)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of an improvement in relation
to the scenario (AO2)
Credit one mark for justification/exemplification of each improvement
(AO3)
For example;
- Freda could ask about more than the two scenarios in her
interview about conformity so there is a larger range of examples
for participants to consider (1), which could increase the validity
of her findings about majority influence as the participants may
show more or less conformity in different situations (1).
- Freda could conduct her interview each day for a full week to
gather participants that go shopping on different days to have a
more representative sample (1). This would improve the
generalisability of her findings about majority influence as Freda
would have a wider range of people from her target population
(1).
Generic answers score 0 marks.
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(4)