Paper 3 revision, exam technique and critical thinking

Exam technique for the psychology IB HL papers 1-3

What are the seven sampling strategies?

What are the seven sampling strategies?

-Opportunity/convenience

-Volunteer

-Random

-Snowball

-Purposive

-Stratified

-Systematic

Describe random sampling

-Participants are selected from the population completely at random

-Avoids bias (self-selection bias etc)

-May not accurately represent all members of the population

Describe opportunity (convenience) sampling

-Uses participants that are most readily available

-Quick and easy to achieve

-Strongly susceptible to bias

Describe volunteer sampling

-Researchers advertise for participants and volunteers respond to the request

-Convenient

-Unrepresentative sample (bias)

Describe purposive sampling

-Individuals are selected deliberately because they belong to a niche group

-Specific

-Relevant

Describe snowball sampling

-One participant recruits the next participant etc

-Cheap and convenient

-May result in lack of diversity and researchers cannot control who the next participant will be

Describe systematic sampling

-Taking a regular sample (every nth person)

-Avoids researcher bias

-May not accurately represent proportions in a population

Describe stratified sampling

-The sample is chosen deliberately to best represent the proportions of the whole population

-High population validity

-May be difficult/time-consuming

What are the two variations of question two?

Discuss the ethical considerations of conducting OR publishing the research

Which ethical considerations could you talk about in reference to conducting the research?

Privacy

Anonymity

Confidentiality

Right to withdraw

Informed consent

Deception

Debrief

Protection from harm

Which ethical considerations could you talk about in reference to reporting the results?

-Informed consent

-Debrief

-Right to withdraw data

-Participants should be informed about how results will be used

-Guaranteed anonymity

-Support provided to most vulnerable participants (those under the age of consent to participate without parental permission etc)

Which ethical considerations could you talk about in reference to applying the findings of the research?

-Results should not be overstated to support a specific agenda

-Awareness of researchers’ own biases

-Replication of findings by independent researcher to test their credibility

-Don’t assume the findings can be applied to all groups (representativeness of sample)

-Should not be used to allow businesses or political organisations to target the community studied. However they could be used to provide education/advice/outreach.

-Considering scope and extent of generalisability

What are the three variations of question three?

• Discuss how the researcher could avoid bias

• Discuss the possibility of transferring/generalising the findings

• Discuss how the researcher could ensure the results of the study are credible

What are ways of reducing bias in a method?

• Double-blind trials (use of a placebo)

• Counterbalancing to eliminate order effects

• Reflexivity

• Identify sources of biases in pilot study

• Sampling method

• Standardisation and operationalised variables

• Researcher triangulation

• Screen participants during recruitment stage

How can a researcher increase credibility?

• Reflexivity

• Independant scrutinizers/ peer review

• Method/ data triangulation

• Researcher triangulation

• Theoretical triangulation

What is theoretical triangulation?

The use of multiple theories or hypotheses when examining a situation or phenomenon

Define credibility

How well the research tests what it is intending to test (aka validity).

What type of research (quantitative or qualitative) does the word credibility refer to?

Qualitative research

What is the structure for responding to a paper 3 question 3?

• Make 4/5 points

• Explain what problem may be

• Explain how this may be avoided

• Refer back to the stimulus

What type of research (quantitative or qualitative) does the word transferability refer to?

Qualitative data

What are the three types of transferability?

Representational, inferential and theoretical

Representational transferability

• Whether findings can be generalised/transferred to groups other than the sample used in the study

• Qualitative data often uses small, statistically insignificant samples

• To be representational, the study must give a clear description of how its sample was selected and other studies must confirm the findings (triangulation)

Inferential transferability

Whether the findings can be transferred to places other than the place used in the study

Theoretical transferability

• Whether we can transfer the findings of a study to develop a theory

• Qualitative data may be influenced by researcher bias (subjectivity)

Which things would you use to respond to a “discuss the possibility of generalising/transferring the findings of the study” question with a QUALITATIVE method

Representational, inferential and theoretical transferability

Which things would you use to respond to a “discuss the possibility of generalising/transferring the findings of the study” question with a QUANTITATIVE method

Reliability, participant expectations, researcher bias, sample, validity and research method

What piece of additional research can be applied to critical thinking for gender and memory?

Loprinzi suggests that men’s and women’s memories work differently. Women outperform men on verbal-based episodic memory tasks (vice versa for spatial-based memory tasks). Women access their memories faster, date them more precisely and use more emotional terms when describing them.

What piece of additional research can be applied to critical thinking for gender and FBM?

Cahill scanned the brains of men and women viewing either highly aversive films or emotionally neutral ones. The aversive films were expected to trip strong negative emotions and imprint in the amygdala. In women this relationship was only observed in the left amygdala, in men only the right amygdala.

What piece of additional research can be applied to biological differences in the brains of men and women?

Cahill states that a man’s total brain size is bigger than a woman’s by 7-10%. Men have bigger amygdalae but women have bigger hippocampuses.

Richie found that women tend to have significantly thicker cortices than men which is associated with higher scores on some cognitive and general intelligence tests.

What piece of additional research can be applied to critical thinking for culture and memory?

Burrows-Brandeis found that when remembering an event like a birthday party, people from Western cultures tend to remember details like the colour of decorations and the icing on the cake. East Asians were more likely to remember interpersonal aspects such as who served the cake or who danced with whom.

What piece of additional research can be applied to critical thinking for culture and FBM?

Chiao found that there is greater amygdaloid activation in people who view faces of people from their own cultural/ethnic group.

What piece of research can be applied to critical thinking for culture and decision-making?

Glazer found that in individualist cultures, decision-makers may learn they have to make decisions independently (as they encourage independence and competition) whereas in collectivist cultures the decision-maker might learn that consulting with others is desired as they encourage cooperation.

What acronym can be used to represent how you should tackle critical thinking for theories?

PEAAR:

• P- Predict (does it predict behaviour?)

• Explain (what does it explain? Is it useful?)

• Applicability (how can it be applied IRL?)

• Assumptions/biases

• Research support

What acronym can be used to represent how you should tackle critical thinking for research?

I SCREAM:

• Internal validity (does the research test what it’s meant to?)

• Sample (including generalisability)

• Culture (including generalisability)

• Reliability (has it been replicated?)

• External validity (ecological, temporal, population)

• Alternative evidence

• Methodology (research design and triangulation)

Which subunits fall under the cognitive processing unit in the cognitive approach? (3)

• Models of memory

• Schema theory

• Thinking and decision making

Which subunits fall under the reliability of cognitive processes unit in the cognitive approach? (2)

• Reconstructive memory

• Biases in thinking and decision making

Which subunits fall under the emotion and cognition unit in the cognitive approach? (1)

The influence of emotion on cognitive processes

Which subunits fall under HL digitech extension unit in the cognitive approach? (3)

• Influence of digital technology

• Positives and negatives of digitech

• Methods used to study the interactions between digital technology and cognitive processes

Which subunits fall under the individual and the group unit in the sociocultural approach? (3)

• Social identity theory

• Social cognitive theory

• Stereotypes

Which subunits fall under the cultural origins of behaviour on cognition in the sociocultural approach? (2)

• Culture and its influence on behaviour and cognition

• Cultural dimensions

Which subunits fall under the ‘cultural influences on individual attitudes, identity and behaviour‘ unit in the sociocultural approach? (2)

• Enculturation

• Acculturation

Which subunits fall under the ‘brain and behaviour‘ subunits in the biological approach? (4)

• Techniques

• Localisation

• Neuroplasticity

• Neurotransmitters

Which subunits fall under the ‘hormones and behaviour‘ subunits in the biological approach? (2)

• Hormones

• Pheromones

Which subunits fall under the ‘genetics and behaviour‘ subunits in the biological approach? (3)

• Genes

• Genetic similarities

• Evolutionary explanations

Which subunits fall under the ‘treatment of disorders‘ unit (the only unit studied under abnormal psychology) (4)

• Biological treatments

• Cognitive treatments

• The role of culture in treatment

• Assessing the effectiveness of treatments

Which subunits fall under the ‘personal relationships‘ unit (the only unit studied under human relationships) (3)

• Formation of personal relationships (biological, cognitive and sociocultural explanations)

• Role of communication

• Explanations for why relationships change and end