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Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods

  • 18 subtopics
  • 53 things to know
  • Component 01

What Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods covers

Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods is examined on component 01 of OCR Psychology, Research methods. 186 recall questions across 18 subtopics.

Where it is assessed

Component 01

Research methods, the whole of the first paper.

Check the OCR specification ↗

The 18 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

Give 12,486 to three significant figures.

Numbers

How is the arithmetic mean calculated?

Numbers

For the scores 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 43, explain which measure better represents the data set.

Key term

Why do the bars of a histogram touch?

Numbers

Why is a scatter diagram not the right display for an experiment comparing two conditions?

Key term

Why is even a properly random sample sometimes unrepresentative?

Key term

Name the three questions that determine which inferential test to use.

Key term

Why are non-parametric tests used so widely in psychology?

Key term

Why is it harder to obtain a significant result with a two-tailed test?

Study

A chi-square test gives a calculated value of 4.10 against a critical value of 5.99 at p ≤ 0.05. What is concluded?

Key term

State the one thing ordinal data tells you that nominal data does not.

Key term

Why can a mean be calculated from interval data but not properly from ordinal data?

Numbers

In an observation, 45 of the 120 recorded behaviours were aggressive. What percentage is this?

Numbers

How do you convert a percentage of a sample into an angle for a pie chart?

Numbers

A set of scores has a range of 24 and the lowest score is 7. What is the highest score?

Key term

A data set contains one extremely high outlier. Why may neither the range nor the standard deviation describe its spread well?

Key term

When is a bar chart the appropriate display?

Key term

When is a pie chart a suitable display?

Evaluation

Explain the difference between the 0.05 and the 0.01 levels of significance.

Key term

Why is a sample used rather than the whole population?

Key term

Why does it matter whether a set of scores is normally distributed?

Key term

How should the outcome of a significant test be stated in a report?

Key term

How can an interview transcript be converted into quantitative data?

Key term

What is lost when qualitative data is converted into frequency counts?

Study

One study uses a sample of 20 and another uses 2000. By how many orders of magnitude do the samples differ?

Numbers

What does p > 0.05 tell you about a result?

Numbers

Which is the larger value, 3.0 × 10⁻³ or 5.0 × 10⁻⁴, and how many times larger is it?

Key term

What is the main danger of reporting a percentage from a very small sample?

Key term

Find the range of the scores 14, 18, 22, 29 and 35.

Key term

A Mann-Whitney U test yields U = 23 with a critical value of 27. State the outcome.

Key term

What is lost when interval data is converted into ordinal data for a test?

Key term

A content analysis of 20 transcripts finds the word stressed used 64 times in total. What is the mean number of uses per transcript?

Key term

What is an order of magnitude calculation?

Key term

Write out the conventional way of reporting a significant Wilcoxon result in symbols and words.

Numbers

In a Spearman's rho calculation N is 10 and Σd² is 33. Calculate rₛ.

Key term

Why should a calculated value of rₛ never be greater than 1?

Key term

Convert 3.2 × 10⁻² into decimal form.

Key term

A set of scores runs from a lowest value of 12 to a highest value of 47. Estimate the range.

Key term

What is meant by a significant figure?

Key term

Define the median.

Key term

What does the standard deviation measure?

Key term

What is a frequency table?

Key term

What does the closeness of the points to a straight line indicate?

Key term

What does probability express in psychological research?

Key term

What effect does an unrepresentative sample have on the conclusions of a study?

Key term

Which test is used for a difference between two conditions with an independent measures design and ordinal data?

Key term

Which three pieces of information are needed to find a critical value in a table?

Key term

How is the expected frequency for a cell in a chi-square calculation worked out?

Key term

Name the three levels of measurement.

Key term

Give two examples of secondary data used in psychology.

Key term

A total of 12,000 points was scored by 240 participants. What is the mean score?

Key term

What do N and x̄ stand for in statistical formulae?

Key term

How are the degrees of freedom for a chi-square test calculated?

Take Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • Significant figure vs Order of magnitude

    Significant figure: a digit that carries meaning about the precision of a number. Order of magnitude: the size of a number to the nearest power of ten.

  • Critical value vs Level of significance

    Critical value: the number from a statistical table that the calculated value must be compared against. Level of significance: the probability of a result arising by chance that a researcher is willing to accept.

  • Positively skewed distribution vs Negatively skewed distribution

    Positively skewed distribution: a distribution whose long tail stretches towards the high scores. Negatively skewed distribution: a distribution whose long tail stretches towards the low scores.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Which is the larger value, 3.0 × 10⁻³ or 5.0 × 10⁻⁴, and how many times larger is it?

    Model answer

    3.0 × 10⁻³ is the larger value and it is six times the size of 5.0 × 10⁻⁴.

  2. 2

    Write 0.0045 in standard form.

    Model answer

    It is written as 4.5 × 10⁻³.

  3. 3

    Convert 3.2 × 10⁻² into decimal form.

    Model answer

    In decimal form it is 0.032.

  4. 4

    A results table records a value as 1.25 × 10⁴. State this in decimal form.

    Model answer

    It is 12,500.

  5. 5

    Why might a researcher convert values from standard form into decimal form before drawing a pie chart?

    Model answer

    Because the sector sizes have to be worked out from ordinary decimal amounts, which are easier to compare and to convert into degrees.

  6. 6

    What tells you the direction of the decimal point shift in standard form?

    Model answer

    A positive power of ten means the number is larger than 10 and the point moves right, while a negative power means it is smaller than 1 and the point moves left.

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Research Methods and Techniques
Planning and Conducting Research
Data Recording, Analysis and Presentation
Report Writing and Scientific Communication

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Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods revision questions

What does Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods cover in OCR A-Level Psychology?
18 subtopics: decimal and standard form, percentages and ratios, fractions, percentages and estimating results, significant figures and calculating the mean, median, mode and choosing a measure of central tendency, the range and standard deviation, frequency tables, bar charts, histograms and scatter diagrams, correlation coefficients, pie charts and translating between data forms, probability, significance levels and principles of sampling, normal and skewed distributions, selecting an inferential test, critical values and deciding whether a result is significant, calculating chi-square, sign test, wilcoxon and mann-whitney values and reporting results, distinguishing levels of measurement, identifying levels of measurement in quantitative and qualitative data, converting qualitative data and primary and secondary data, order of magnitude estimates and statistical symbols, reporting significance in symbols and substituting into formulae and solving equations for spearman's rho and chi-square. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods organised?
By the OCR H567 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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