4.2.3.1.4 Control, demand characteristics and investigator effects Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. Standardisation in a study means:

   • The researcher changes the procedure for each participant to suit their individual needs
   • Participants are chosen at random from the population so that the sample is representative
   • All participants receive the same instructions, procedures and conditions
   • Participants are told the aim of the study in advance, so they can prepare for it

2. Random allocation means that:

   • Participants are chosen randomly from a population list before they are assigned to groups
   • Participants are matched on key characteristics before testing, so the pairs are balanced
   • Participants choose which condition they want to be in, so they feel more comfortable
   • Each participant has an equal chance of being placed in each condition

3. Counterbalancing is a technique in which:

   • Half the participants complete the conditions in one order and half in the reverse order
   • All participants complete the conditions in the same order, so the order is fixed for everyone
   • The researcher removes one condition from the study so that only one order remains to test
   • Participants are paired on key characteristics, and then one from each pair is tested first

4. Demand characteristics are:

   • Errors in the way the researcher records the data after each session of testing ends
   • The characteristics a researcher must have in order to be able to conduct the study properly
   • Differences between participants that affect the results in ways the researcher cannot control
   • Cues in the study that lead participants to guess the aim and change their behaviour

5. Investigator effects are:

   • Errors in the statistical analysis of the data, such as using the wrong test for the design
   • Influences of the researcher's expectations or characteristics on the results
   • Effects of participants' ages on their performance in the tasks set during the study
   • Changes in the environment that are not related to the researcher or the participants

6. In a single-blind study:

   • Participants know the condition and the researcher does not, so the design is reversed
   • The study uses no control group, so there is no baseline comparison to make at all
   • Participants do not know which condition they are in, but the researcher does
   • Neither participants nor researchers know the condition, so both are kept unaware of it

7. In a double-blind study:

   • Both the researcher and the analyst know the condition, so the scoring can still be biased
   • Only the participants know the condition, while the researcher remains completely unaware
   • Only the researcher knows the condition, so participants are kept unaware of their group
   • Neither the participants nor the researchers who interact with them know which condition is which

8. A participant guesses that a study is about memory and tries harder than usual. What is this an example of?

   • Order effect
   • Random allocation error
   • Demand characteristics
   • Investigator effect

9. An experimenter smiles more often at participants in the experimental group. What is this an example of?

   • Investigator effect
   • Counterbalancing failure
   • Operational definition error
   • Demand characteristic

10. Why is a control group included in an experiment?

    • It increases the number of dependent variables that the researcher can measure in total
    • It removes the need for random allocation, since the baseline already balances groups
    • It ensures the study has a larger sample size, so the statistical power is increased
    • It provides a baseline against which the effect of the IV can be compared

11. A placebo is used in a drug trial to:

    • Remove participants who respond to the drug, so the sample is more uniform in effect
    • Replace the dependent variable with a physical measure, so the outcome is more objective
    • Control for the effect of expecting a treatment, so that the drug's real effect can be isolated
    • Increase the dose of the active drug in the experimental group, so the effect is larger

12. A researcher uses a script to give instructions to every participant. What is the main purpose?

    • To disguise the aim of the study from participants, so they cannot guess the hypothesis
    • To ensure standardisation, so every participant receives the same information
    • To give participants a choice of condition, so that they are more motivated to take part
    • To introduce an extra independent variable, so the design can test a second effect

13. A researcher's expectations shape how they score participants' answers. Which design feature would best reduce this?

    • Increasing the number of participants, so that the effect of one scorer is diluted
    • Using open questions instead of closed ones, so the answers cannot be scored in advance
    • Double-blind procedure, so the scorer does not know the condition
    • Single-blind procedure with participants unaware of which group they have been placed in

14. Order effects can be reduced by:

    • Counterbalancing the order in which conditions are presented
    • Removing the control group from the design, so the conditions are compared directly
    • Using a single condition for all participants so that no order effect can happen at all
    • Asking participants to guess the aim, so the researcher knows what they expect

15. A study uses a double-blind design to test a new drug. Which problem does this primarily solve?

    • Random sampling error and the bias it introduces into the sample selection
    • Naturalistic observation limits on the data that can be recorded in the setting
    • Operational definition problems with the measures used in the study design
    • Both demand characteristics and investigator effects

16. Evaluate the difficulty of eliminating demand characteristics. Which point is most accurate?

    • Demand characteristics are not relevant to experiments, because participants always act naturally in them
    • Demand characteristics can always be removed by using a larger sample of participants in the study
    • Demand characteristics only occur in field experiments, where the setting is natural and open
    • Participants often interpret cues in a study, and it is hard to remove all of them completely

17. A researcher expects a particular result and conducts testing in the same way for everyone, while the scorer is unaware of conditions. Which problems are reduced?

    • Temporal validity problems in the study
    • Demand characteristics caused by an obvious aim
    • Investigator effects and bias in scoring
    • Random sampling error and sampling bias

18. Explain how random allocation reduces the risk of confounding.

    • It guarantees that the results will be statistically significant, because the groups are equal at the start of the study in every respect
    • It removes the IV from the study, so the researcher can then compare the outcomes of groups without any manipulation of the variable
    • It ensures all participants have identical characteristics, so every person is the same in every respect that could matter to the study
    • It spreads participant differences evenly across conditions, so no single condition systematically has more of a given characteristic

19. Why does standardisation improve the reliability of a study?

    • Because each participant is tested under the same conditions, so differences in the results are more likely to reflect real differences
    • Because standardisation makes results generalisable to all populations, so the findings can be applied to any group or setting
    • Because standardised studies always have larger samples, which makes results more stable and less affected by chance variation
    • Because standardised procedures remove the need for a dependent variable, since every measure is fixed in advance by the design

20. Which feature of a product-rating study would be a demand characteristic?

    • Participants guess that the researcher expects a positive rating and rate the product highly
    • The product is measured in grams rather than millilitres, which changes the unit of the data
    • The researcher is a different age from the participants, which can change how they respond
    • The rating scale has seven points rather than five, which gives more detail in each answer

Related quizzes

• Learning approaches: behaviourism and classical conditioning Quiz · 4.2.1.1 · 20 questions
• Operant conditioning and social learning theory Quiz · 4.2.1.2 · 20 questions
• The cognitive approach Quiz · 4.2.1.3 · 20 questions
• The biological approach Quiz · 4.2.1.4 · 20 questions
• The psychodynamic approach Quiz · 4.2.1.5 · 20 questions
• Humanistic psychology Quiz · 4.2.1.6 · 20 questions
• Comparison of approaches Quiz · 4.2.1.7 · 20 questions
• Divisions of the nervous system and neurons Quiz · 4.2.2.1 · 20 questions
• Synaptic transmission Quiz · 4.2.2.2 · 20 questions
• Endocrine system and fight or flight Quiz · 4.2.2.3 · 20 questions