What was the aim of Milgram's (1963) study?

To investigate how far ordinary people would obey an authority figure who instructed them to give increasingly severe electric shocks to another person.

What historical question prompted Milgram's research?

Whether the atrocities of the Holocaust could be explained by something distinctive about German obedience, or whether ordinary people anywhere would behave in the same way.

How did Milgram recruit his participants?

Through a newspaper advertisement and direct mail invitations asking for men to take part in a paid study of memory and learning.

Describe the sample Milgram used.

Forty men aged between 20 and 50 from New Haven and the surrounding area, in occupations ranging from unskilled work to the professions.

How much were the participants paid, and when did they receive it?

They were given $4.50 on arrival and told the money was theirs simply for coming, whatever happened afterwards.

WJEC A-Level Psychology 601-5719-7

Psychology Past to Present — The Five Approaches

Topic overview The Biological Approach: assumptions of the approach and applying the assumptions to the formation of relationships The Biological Approach: love chemicals, strengths and weaknesses Biological Therapy: Drug Therapy or Psychosurgery — how the approach is used in therapy Biological Therapy: Drug Therapy or Psychosurgery — effectiveness of the therapy Classic Evidence (Biological): Raine, Buchsbaum and LaCasse (1997) — methodology and findings Classic Evidence (Biological): Raine, Buchsbaum and LaCasse (1997) — conclusions The Psychodynamic Approach: assumptions of the approach The Psychodynamic Approach: personality, defence mechanisms and the formation of relationships The Psychodynamic Approach: strengths and weaknesses of the approach Psychodynamic Therapy: Dream Analysis or Group Analysis Psychotherapy — how the approach is used Psychodynamic Therapy: Dream Analysis or Group Analysis Psychotherapy — effectiveness of the therapy Classic Evidence (Psychodynamic): Bowlby (1944) — methodology, procedures and findings Classic Evidence (Psychodynamic): Bowlby (1944) — conclusions, ethical issues and social implications The Behaviourist Approach: assumptions of the approach The Behaviourist Approach: applying the assumptions to relationships, strengths and weaknesses Behaviourist Therapy: Aversion Therapy or Systematic Desensitisation — how the approach is used Behaviourist Therapy: Aversion Therapy or Systematic Desensitisation — effectiveness of the therapy Classic Evidence (Behaviourist): Watson and Rayner (1920) — methodology, procedures and findings Classic Evidence (Behaviourist): Watson and Rayner (1920) — conclusions The Cognitive Approach: assumptions of the approach and applying the assumptions to the formation of relationships The Cognitive Approach: strengths and weaknesses of the approach Cognitive Therapy: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy Cognitive Therapy: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (2)Classic Evidence (Cognitive): Loftus and Palmer (1974) — methodology, procedures and findings Classic Evidence (Cognitive): Loftus and Palmer (1974) — conclusions The Positive Approach: assumptions of the approach The Positive Approach: applying the assumptions to the formation of relationships The Positive Approach: strengths and weaknesses of the approach Positive Therapy: Mindfulness or Quality of Life Therapy — how the approach is used in therapy Positive Therapy: Mindfulness or Quality of Life Therapy — assumptions in practice, effectiveness and ethics Classic Evidence (Positive): Myers and Diener (1995) — methodology, procedures and findings Classic Evidence (Positive): Myers and Diener (1995) — conclusions Comparison of the Five Approaches: biological approach and psychodynamic approach Comparison of the Five Approaches: behaviourist approach, cognitive approach and positive approach

Contemporary Debates

Topic overview How to Explore a Contemporary Debate Debate: The Ethics of Neuroscience — what is at the core of the debate Debate: The Ethics of Neuroscience — arguments on each side of it Debate: The Mother as Primary Care-Giver of an Infant — what is at the core of the debate Debate: The Mother as Primary Care-Giver of an Infant — arguments on each side of it Debate: Using Conditioning Techniques to Control the Behaviour of Children Debate: Using Conditioning Techniques to Control the Behaviour of Children — arguments on each side Debate: Reliability of Eye-Witness Testimony (Including Children) — what is at the core of the debate Debate: Reliability of Eye-Witness Testimony (Including Children) — arguments on each side of it Debate: Relevance of Positive Psychology in Today's Society — what is at the core of the debate Debate: Relevance of Positive Psychology in Today's Society — arguments on each side of it

Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods

Topic overview Social Psychology Context Study: Milgram (1963) — methodology and procedures Social Psychology Context Study: Milgram (1963) — findings, ethical issues and social implications Developmental Psychology Context Study: Kohlberg (1968) — methodology, procedures and findings Developmental Psychology Context Study: Kohlberg (1968) — conclusions Deciding on a Research Question: aim of the research and null hypotheses Deciding on a Research Question: variables, operationalisation and extraneous variables Methodologies: experiments, quasi-experiments and participant observations Methodologies: non-participant observation, content analysis and interviews Methodologies: correlational studies, case studies and self-reports Location of Research: conducting research in a laboratory and in the field Location of Research: conducting research on-line Participants and Sampling: target populations, sampling frames and opportunity sampling Participants and Sampling: systematic sampling, stratified sampling and quota sampling Participants and Sampling: self-selected sampling and observational sampling techniques Experimental Design: independent groups and repeated measures Experimental Design: matched pairs Levels of Measurement: nominal data and ordinal data Levels of Measurement: interval data and ratio data Graphical Representation: bar charts and histograms Graphical Representation: scatter diagrams and choosing a display for the level of measurement Descriptive Statistics: the mean, the median and the mode Descriptive Statistics: the range, the standard deviation and choosing a measure Reliability Validity: internal validity and external validity Validity: specific validity issues and ways of dealing with issues of validity Ethics in Psychological Research: confidentiality, deception, protection from harm and risk to values Ethics in Psychological Research: valid consent, working with vulnerable individuals and ways of dealing with ethical issues Application of Research Methods to a Novel Scenario (AS): identifying the method and the variables Application of Research Methods to a Novel Scenario (AS): judging the reliability, validity and ethics

Mathematical Requirements for Psychology (Appendix A: AS Unit 2 and A2 Unit 4)

Topic overview Arithmetic and Numerical Computation: standard form and significant figures Arithmetic and Numerical Computation: estimating and checking a result Handling Data: means, medians, modes and ranges, percentages and percentage change Handling Data: reading a table of data and orders of magnitude Algebra Graphs: plotting and labelling a graph, gradients and intercepts Graphs: reading a value off a curve and choosing the right form of graph

Addictive BehavioursAddictive

Topic overview Addictive Behaviours: characteristics, biological explanations and the illusion of control Addictive Behaviours: individual differences explanations and social psychological explanations Addictive Behaviours: evaluating those explanations and evaluating those methods

Autistic Spectrum BehavioursAutistic spectrum

Topic overview Autistic Spectrum Behaviours: characteristics, biological and individual differences explanations Autistic Spectrum Behaviours: social psychological explanations and evaluating those explanations Autistic Spectrum Behaviours: methods of modifying the behaviour and evaluating those methods

Bullying BehavioursBullying

Topic overview Bullying Behaviours: characteristics, biological and individual differences explanations Bullying Behaviours: social psychological explanations, evaluation and CAPSLE Bullying Behaviours: methods of modifying the behaviour and evaluating those methods

Criminal BehavioursCriminal

Topic overview Criminal Behaviours: characteristics, biological explanations and Eysenck's theory Criminal Behaviours: intelligence, psychopathy and social psychological explanations Criminal Behaviours: methods of modifying the behaviour and evaluating those methods

SchizophreniaSchizophrenia

Topic overview Schizophrenia: characteristics of the behaviour and individual differences explanations Schizophrenia: social psychological explanations and evaluating those methods

StressStress

Topic overview Stress: characteristics of the behaviour and individual differences explanations Stress: social psychological explanations and evaluating those methods

Controversies in Psychology

Topic overview Controversy: Cultural Bias — issue, and why it is controversial Controversy: Cultural Bias — applying psychological knowledge to it Controversy: Cultural Bias — judgements and conclusions Controversy: Ethical Costs of Conducting Research — issue, and why it is controversial Controversy: Ethical Costs of Conducting Research — applying psychological knowledge to it Controversy: Ethical Costs of Conducting Research — judgements and conclusions Controversy: Non-Human Animals — issue, and why it is controversial Controversy: Non-Human Animals — applying psychological knowledge to it Controversy: Non-Human Animals — judgements and conclusions Controversy: Scientific Status — issue, and why it is controversial Controversy: Scientific Status — applying psychological knowledge to it Controversy: Scientific Status — judgements and conclusions Controversy: Sexism — issue, and why it is controversial Controversy: Sexism — applying psychological knowledge to it Controversy: Sexism — judgements and conclusions

Applied Research Methods

Topic overview Personal Investigations: Research Methods Skills — planning an investigation Personal Investigations: Research Methods Skills — carrying it out ethically and analysing the data Additional Methodologies (Unit 4): brain scans Additional Methodologies (Unit 4): longitudinal studies and cross-sectional studies Assessing Reliability: inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability Assessing Reliability: split-half reliability Assessing Validity: predictive validity, face validity and content validity Assessing Validity: concurrent validity and construct validity Graphical Representation: Distribution Curves — normal distribution and its properties Graphical Representation: Distribution Curves — what a distribution shows about a data set Inferential Statistics: choosing a statistical test, parametric and non-parametric tests Inferential Statistics: calculating test values and choosing a significance level Application of Research Methods to Novel Scenarios (A2): identifying the method and the variables Application of Research Methods to Novel Scenarios (A2): judging the reliability, validity and ethics

Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods

29 subtopics
84 things to know
AS Unit 2

What Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods covers

Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods is examined on AS Unit 2 of WJEC Psychology, Psychology: Using Psychological Concepts. 335 recall questions across 29 subtopics.

Where it is assessed

AS Unit 2

Psychology: Using Psychological Concepts.

Check the WJEC specification ↗

The 29 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Numbers

State the four standard prods the experimenter used when a participant hesitated.

Evaluation

Give the ethical criticisms of Milgram's study, and criticisms of its validity and generalisability.

Key term

What ethical considerations arise from Kohlberg's use of children?

Study

Define the independent and dependent variables, and identify them in a study of whether caffeine speeds up reaction time.

Study

Define operationalisation and an extraneous variable, and explain why poor operationalisation weakens a study.

Evaluation

Give one strength and one weakness of content analysis.

Evaluation

What is quantitative data, and what is its chief advantage?

Key term

Distinguish between a primary source and a secondary source, and give one drawback of the latter.

Key term

Define a target population and a sampling frame, and explain what goes wrong if the sampling frame is incomplete.

Evaluation

Define random sampling and opportunity sampling, and give a strength of random sampling.

Evaluation

What is meant by experimental design, how should participants be allocated in an independent groups design, and what is its main strength?

Key term

Why is it a mistake to calculate a mean from ordinal data?

Key term

When should a histogram be used rather than a bar chart, and why do its bars touch?

Numbers

When is the mode the only measure available, what is the mode of 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 7, 7 and 9, and what problem can the mode have?

Evaluation

What does reliability mean in psychological research?

Evaluation

Define validity and external validity.

Evaluation

Define demand characteristics and researcher bias, and explain how a double blind procedure counters both.

Study

Define social desirability, and explain how a single blind procedure and an independent groups design reduce demand characteristics.

Key term

When might deception be regarded as acceptable?

Key term

What is presumptive consent, and when is it used?

Key term

Why does the researcher's choice of setting change what a study can show?

Process

Why does the choice of Yale University as the setting matter to the interpretation of the results?

Study

Why was the teacher given a 45 V shock before the procedure began?

Evaluation

Why is the scoring of Kohlberg's interviews a methodological weakness?

Key term

When is a non-directional hypothesis the safer choice?

Key term

What is a structured interview or questionnaire?

Evaluation

Why does laboratory research usually have high internal validity?

Study

What verification problem does on-line research face?

Evaluation

Which location would suit a study of whether a brief delay affects reaction time, and why?

Study

Give two weaknesses of a matched pairs design.

Study

Which design would best compare a new therapy with a control condition while allowing for how ill participants already are?

Study

Define ordinal data.

Key term

Define ratio data.

Study

Why is a line graph a good choice for comparing two conditions across several trials?

Key term

What is the drawback of a pie chart when several categories are similar in size?

Key term

What does a measure of dispersion tell you?

Evaluation

Explain why an unreliable measure cannot be a valid one.

Key term

What extra care is needed when working with vulnerable individuals?

Key term

When you meet an unfamiliar piece of research, what should you establish first before judging it?

Study

Why should approval be obtained before any data are collected rather than afterwards?

Key term

What is the aim of a piece of research?

Key term

What makes a study an experiment?

Evaluation

Besides high internal validity, what is an advantage of working in a laboratory?

Key term

A researcher has a sampling frame of 400 names and wants a systematic sample of 20. What is the sampling interval?

Evaluation

What is the main weakness of systematic sampling?

Key term

What is self-selected sampling?

Key term

What is snowball sampling?

Key term

What is meant by experimental design?

Key term

Name the four levels of measurement in order of how much information they carry, from least to most.

Key term

Why are the bars of a bar chart drawn with gaps between them?

Key term

What is a measure of central tendency?

Key term

State the formula for the mean in words.

Key term

Define external validity.

Key term

What is meant by confidentiality?

Key term

Why does participants' awareness of being studied limit what research can establish?

Key term

Name the sampling technique Milgram's recruitment method produced.

Key term

State the headline obedience figures Milgram obtained.

Key term

What was Kohlberg (1968) investigating?

Key term

Which level do most adults reach?

Key term

How does a hypothesis differ from an aim?

Key term

What is the independent variable?

Key term

Why can a quasi-experiment not establish cause and effect with confidence?

Key term

What is content analysis?

Key term

What is a correlational study?

Key term

Why are demand characteristics especially likely in a laboratory?

Key term

What is meant by conducting research on-line?

Key term

What is a target population?

Key term

Why is stratified sampling usually the most representative technique?

Evaluation

Give one strength and one weakness of event sampling.

Key term

What is an independent groups design?

Key term

Which participants make the ideal matched pair, and why?

Key term

What kind of data is nominal data?

Key term

What property does interval data have that ordinal data lacks?

Key term

Which figure goes on the vertical axis of a bar chart comparing two conditions of an experiment?

Key term

What is a line graph used to show?

Numbers

Calculate the mean of the scores 4, 7, 9, 12 and 8.

Key term

Give one problem with using the mode.

Key term

A stress questionnaire contains three items about sleep quality and one asking about political views. Which kind of reliability is threatened?

Key term

Name three things findings must generalise to for a study to have external validity.

Key term

Define researcher bias.

Process

State two practical steps that protect confidentiality.

Key term

Why is the right to withdraw part of consent rather than a separate matter?

Key term

How does the choice of sample limit the conclusions that can be drawn?

Key term

State two reasons why psychological findings are harder to generalise than findings in the physical sciences.

Take Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

Stratified sampling vs Quota sampling
Stratified sampling: selecting randomly within each stratum. Quota sampling: filling each stratum by opportunity sampling.
Event sampling vs Time sampling
Event sampling: counting every instance of a behaviour. Time sampling: recording whatever is happening at set moments.
Anonymity vs Confidentiality
Anonymity: that identifying details are never collected. Confidentiality: they are collected but never disclosed.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What was the aim of Milgram's (1963) study?
Model answer
To investigate how far ordinary people would obey an authority figure who instructed them to give increasingly severe electric shocks to another person.
2
What historical question prompted Milgram's research?
Model answer
Whether the atrocities of the Holocaust could be explained by something distinctive about German obedience, or whether ordinary people anywhere would behave in the same way.
3
How did Milgram recruit his participants?
Model answer
Through a newspaper advertisement and direct mail invitations asking for men to take part in a paid study of memory and learning.
4
Name the sampling technique Milgram's recruitment method produced.
Model answer
A self-selected, or volunteer, sample.
5
Describe the sample Milgram used.
Model answer
Forty men aged between 20 and 50 from New Haven and the surrounding area, in occupations ranging from unskilled work to the professions.
6
How much were the participants paid, and when did they receive it?
Model answer
They were given $4.50 on arrival and told the money was theirs simply for coming, whatever happened afterwards.

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Psychology Past to Present — The Five Approaches

Contemporary Debates

Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods

Mathematical Requirements for Psychology (Appendix A: AS Unit 2 and A2 Unit 4)

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Memory is .

reconstructivereproductivepermanent

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AParticipants volunteer and are already motivated.

BSamples are self-selecting.

CNo convincing placebo version exists.

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An MRI scan images structure only.

TrueFalse

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Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

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Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods revision questions

What does Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods cover in WJEC A-Level Psychology?: 29 subtopics: social psychology context study: milgram (1963) — methodology and procedures, social psychology context study: milgram (1963) — findings, ethical issues and social implications, developmental psychology context study: kohlberg (1968) — methodology, procedures and findings, developmental psychology context study: kohlberg (1968) — conclusions, deciding on a research question: aim of the research and null hypotheses, deciding on a research question: variables, operationalisation and extraneous variables, methodologies: experiments, quasi-experiments and participant observations, methodologies: non-participant observation, content analysis and interviews, methodologies: correlational studies, case studies and self-reports, location of research: conducting research in a laboratory and in the field, location of research: conducting research on-line, participants and sampling: target populations, sampling frames and opportunity sampling, participants and sampling: systematic sampling, stratified sampling and quota sampling, participants and sampling: self-selected sampling and observational sampling techniques, experimental design: independent groups and repeated measures, experimental design: matched pairs, levels of measurement: nominal data and ordinal data, levels of measurement: interval data and ratio data, graphical representation: bar charts and histograms, graphical representation: scatter diagrams and choosing a display for the level of measurement, descriptive statistics: the mean, the median and the mode, descriptive statistics: the range, the standard deviation and choosing a measure, reliability, validity: internal validity and external validity, validity: specific validity issues and ways of dealing with issues of validity, ethics in psychological research: confidentiality, deception, protection from harm and risk to values, ethics in psychological research: valid consent, working with vulnerable individuals and ways of dealing with ethical issues, application of research methods to a novel scenario (as): identifying the method and the variables and application of research methods to a novel scenario (as): judging the reliability, validity and ethics. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods organised?: By the WJEC 601-5719-7 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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