FAITH LUTHERAN COLLEGE

Stage 2 Psychology
Introduction to Psychology Practice
Test
2018

NAME: Suggested Answers

The test consists of two sections:

1. SECTION A: - SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

2. SECTION B: - EXTENDED RESPONSE QUESTION

Answer ALL QUESTIONS

 Stage 2 Psychology 2018

Student First Name:_Suggested Solutions

NOTE: For some questions, there may be more possible answers than the ones in this
booklet – check with Mrs C if you need any clarification.

1. Refer to the following table, which shows average hours of sleep per week for a group of students and one parent.

Participant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Hours of Sleep Students 8.0 7.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 6.5 7.0 9.0 8.5 9.0

Hours of Sleep 6.5 7.5 6.0 8.5 8.5 8.0 5.5 6.0 6.0 7.0
Parents

a. Determine the median score in this distribution for the students

7.5
(2 marks)
b. Determine the mean score in this distribution for the parents
6.95
(2 marks)
c. The standard deviation of this distribution for students is 1.5
The standard deviation of this distribution for parents is 9.5
Analyse what the standard deviation for this set of scores tells us about the distribution.
The standard deviation for parents indicates that the parents data for hours of sleep is spread further from
the mean of 6.95 compared to the students. (parents have a wider variety of hours of sleep compared to
students
sleep closer to average per night.)
(2 marks)

2. A researcher is interested in investigating opinions about levels of stress in the workplace.

a) Describe one weakness of using a subjective quantitative measure for this type of research.
Subjective methods for collecting data rely on peoples own interpretation about stress levels, which may
not be accurate/be bias, and they may interpret stress differently compared to the next worker.
(2 marks)

b) Suggest one objective quantitative measure which could be used instead

Measuring heart rate/blood pressure would be one indication of increased levels of arousal in the body
(2 marks)

3. Denise, an educational psychologist, was interested in studying the effects of different types of distractors on
concentration. Denise works at Beachside Secondary College, a coeducational secondary school with students
from year 8 - 12.

There are 200 SACE students at the college, 100 students in Year 11 and 100 students in Year 12. Both year
levels comprise 60% males and 40% females, aged between 15 and 17.5 years old. Denise selected 20 SACE
students from her Psychology class at her school.

Denise used three research assistants to help conduct the experiment. In the first trial, the first research assistant
gave participants a logic puzzle to complete with no background distraction.
In the second trial, the second research assistant gave participants a different logic puzzle of similar difficulty and
asked them to complete it while loud instrumental music was played.
In the third trial, the third research assistant gave participants a third logic puzzle of similar difficulty to the first two.
They were asked to complete this puzzle while a tape of a loud verbal conversation was played.

Each student recorded the time taken to complete the puzzle in the trials, but they were unaware of the other
conditions and the hypothesis and were immediately sent back to class after completing the puzzle.
The following results were obtained.

Table 1. Mean times taken to complete the puzzle (n = 20)

Trial 1 No background noise 13.40 min

Trial 2 Loud instrumental music 16.01 min

Trial 3 Loud verbal conversation 18.36 min

a) Name the independent variable and the dependent variable in this study.
Independent variable type of background noise
Dependent variable time taken to complete puzzle
(2 marks)
b) Display the findings of this investigation using a column graph using appropriate conventions and
formats.

(4 marks)
4 marks – 1 for x axis label, 1 for y axis label, 1 for title, 1 for graphs approximately accurate (close to 13, 16, 18
minutes)

Evaluate the procedures used by the researcher.

c) Describe one limitation of drawing conclusions from this sample.
Sample size is too small (only 20 students selected from a large co-ed school) therefore sample is not
broad enough to adequately represent the population
Sample is unrepresentative in terms of gender / age / background.Sample did not represent the 60/40 split
in gender in the school, or did not represent all students from years 8-12, or did not represent all students
as not all students study psychology. Therefore results cannot be generalised to the population
(2 marks)

d) Describe one relevant ethcial issue that should be considered in the investigation above.
Informed consent must be obtained; parental consent must also be obtained for students under 16. As
part of this consent participants must be informed of all procedures, withdrawal rights before agreeing to
take part
Withdrawal rights – participants must be informed prior to the start of the research that they have the right
to withdraw without any negative consequences at any time before, during or after the study.
General wellbeing - if they are traumatised as a result of taking longer than other students to complete
the puzzle, researchers should debrief participants about the findings and true purpose of the research to
ensure harm is minimised.
Voluntary participation – participants must not be coerced into participating in research, students may
have felt as though they had to participate as this way being asked of them in the normal course of their
 education, and refusing to participate may not have been acceptable behaviour at school.
(2 marks)

e) If the study was to be repeated, suggest two improvements which would help overcome the issues
highlighted in c) and d) above.
A random sample should be selected from across the entire school population, perhaps using students ID
numbers, but ensuring that the sample represents the population, ie maintaining the 60/40 gender split, and
a representative sample from each year group across random subject areas.
Adhering to all appropriate ethical guidelines such as informed consent etc prior to the research
commencing.
(4 marks)
4. To reach consensus of opinion on an issue, a researcher sends a series of questionnaires to the same group of
experts. Successive questionnaires use and refine information gathered from the previous questionnaire.
State the name of the qualitative investigation design that is used.
Delphi Technique
(2 marks)
5. A psychologist conducts an investigation into the relationship between shift work and fatigue.
She selects participants from each of the following groups of people:
o Group 1 Night shift workers
o Group 2 Day shift workers
(a) Explain why this investigation design is quantitative observational.
A Pre-exisiting independent variable is being observed – the participants naturally occurring shift work
patterns. This does not require manipulation of the IV.
(2 marks)
(b) Describe one advantage of using a quantitative observational research design for this investigation.
Participants are already working these shift work hours, it would unethical and impractical to deliberately manipulate
peoples work hours for the sake of researching fatigue, this could lead to harm.

Conducting field investigations provides more externally valid data, and can be generalised more easily to the
population in comparison to experimental investigations, which do not occur in natural settings.
(2 marks)
6. Jennifer, an Honours student at the University of Mensa is conducting research on primary school children’s
daytime sleepiness. She collects her data by asking children to rate out of 10 how tired they are feeling after lunch
play time.
a) Explain what is meant by the term validity.
Validity means, does the test (in this case her rating scale) measure what it claims to measure (in this case
tiredness levels)
(2 marks)
b) Discuss the validity of using this research method to discover children’s daytime sleepiness levels after lunch.
After lunch there is a natural post lunch dip, so children will be naturally more tired during this time. This
may affect the accuracy (validity) of her research as she will be unsure if it is related to normal daytime
sleepiness or the post lunch dip.
Validity of using a rating scale with children may not provide accurate (valid) data as how a child interprets
their sleepiness levels may vary in subjective interpretation – ie (what one child rates as a 5 may be
different to another child’s interpretation of 5)
(2 marks)
7. Tim has a job interview. He feels very nervous and anxious as he enters the interview room as there are many
other people also waiting in the room. He has his phone with him and is considering ringing his mum to come
and get him because he believes that with so many people waiting he has no chance of winning the job. He
has a very high level of arousal.

Using the biological level of explanation, state two symptoms of a heightened state of arousal which Tim
might be experiencing
Increased heartrate, dilated pupils, increased breathing rate,
Release of adrenaline, digestion slows, lack of sleep/lots of stress present – causes Tim to feel
overwhelmed by job interview.
(2 marks)
Using the basic processes level of explanation, describe the psychological response Tim is
experiencing as a result of his stress.
Tim would experience a heightened sense of awareness due to his arousal levels and stress. He may be
more sensitive, more emotional, more on edge as he waits for his interview.
He may catasrophise events and experience negative thoughts patterns such as I can’t do this, I can’t win
 this job, which he would not do if he wasn’t stressed.
(2 marks)

Using the person level of explanation, explain why Tim might be getting so nervous before the job interview.
Tim’s personality is shy and quiet, which could explain why he feels uncomfortable in a social/high pressure
setting of a job interview.
Tim is young (17 years old) which could explain why he feels unprepared to perform in a job interview.
(2 marks)

Using the socio-cultural level of explanation, describe one strategy for coping with stress which
Tim could use to calm down.
Tim should use his social support network to talk to other people to help share his concerns and look at his
situation from a different perspective. Either talking to the other people in the room or ringing his mum
would help distract him from his thoughts and restore his stress to a more manageable level.
(2 marks)
EXTENDED RESPONSE SECTION (20 marks)
• Discuss two factors that would make this an experimental investigation design
• Evaluate the procedures used in this investigation by describing one advantage and one disadvantage of
using an experimental investigation design
• Form a conclusion about the results of this investigation by providing one possible interpretation of the results
shown in the graph and/or the table above
• Discuss two ethical issues that would be relevant to this investigation

Experimental Investigation design

Any two of the following (2 marks each) relevant to the example
 Random allocation of participants to one of two equally sized groups (reduces bias in two groups)
 Presence of a control group (group that did not do the jigsaw puzzle)
 Manipulation of an independent variable (doing jigsaw puzzle or not)
 Control of some extraneous variables (sitting in silence, in separate are to reduce interactions / noise)

Advantage of experimental design

 Experimental design can identify cause / effect links between the variables
 Experiments can be replicated because of standardised procedures
 Can generalise the results from the sample to the population with a large enough sample size
 More control over extraneous variables (especially under lab conditions)
 Random assignment of participants to groups leads to more equivalent groups

Disadvantage of expereimental investigation design

 Might not apply to the real world
 Sample may not represent the population
 May have ethical concerns of giving / not giving the treatments, or the IV being manipulated may cause
frustration or anxiety
 Many variables can’t be controlled

Interpretation of results
 Graph
o Students who did not assemble jigsaw puzzle had higher heart rate after 10 minutes and therefore
assembling a jigsaw is a relaxing activity
o Students who did assemble jigsaw puzzles had lower heart rate after 10 minutes and therefore
assembling a jigsaw is a relaxing activity
 Table
o Students who did not assemble jigsaw puzzle had higher mean AQ score after 10 minutes and
therefore assembling a jigsaw is an anxiety reducing activity
o Students who did assemble jigsaw puzzle had lower mean AQ score after 10 minutes and therefore
assembling a jigsaw is an anxiety reducing activity
o Students who did assemble jigsaw puzzle had a higher standard deviation for AQ score which means
their scores showed greater dispersion form the mean score
  Comparison of graph and table
o Students who did not assemble jigsaw puzzle had higher score for both measurements after 10
mintes and therefore assembling a jigsaw is a way of reducing arousal. Both give the same result
o Students who did assemble jigsaw puzzle had lower scores for both measurements after 10 minutes
and therefore assembling a jigsaw is a way of reducing arousal. Both give the same result.

Ethical issues
 High school students therefore need informed consent from both parents and students in under 16 years old
 Accurate reporting since looking at anxiety scores
 Voluntary participation – no use of authority or incentives to participate
 Right to withdraw – must be informed at the start that they can withdraw without any negative consequences
at any time during the process
 Anonymity and confidentiality – ID numbers should be used to keep anonymity and participants should be
made aware of where results will be published and how results will be destroyed / kept to ensure they agree
to confidentiality issues.