Question 1. Use the details below of a hypothetical experiment to answer parts a to f.

 

This study is about the effects of reminders on people’s intentions. People often declare an intention to change their behaviour, such as eating healthier or going to the gym more often. However, these intentions often fall through. A group of researchers investigated whether people simply forget about their intentions, and whether providing cues to remind them to do something would make it more likely to happen.

 

Participants were randomly assigned into two groups. The first group (control group) did not receive any reminders. The second group (reminder through association group) were told that a picture of an elephant would appear on a survey, and when they saw the picture, they would need to select choice E on the last question despite it being the wrong answer. The control group were told to select choice E at the start of the experiment but were not provided a reminder. The results are presented in Table 1 below.

 

Hypothesis: People who were reminded through association would be more likely to select choice E on the last question than the control group who were not provided a reminder.

             

1. What type of data has been collected? 

 

2. Which inferential test would you apply to the data and why?

 

3. Draw a suitable plot (using SPSS or Excel)

 

4. Does the data suggest that the hypothesis is supported? Could it suggest anything else?

 

5. Conduct an inferential test and report the results in APA styl

 

6. Suggest ways in which the experiment could be redesigned to take advantage of the assumptions of a parametric test.

 

(33% of the marks) (LOs 1, 2, 3, 5) Table 1. 

Number of participants who selected or did not select choice E when they were placed in a control or reminder group.

 

	Did not select choice E	Selected choice E
Control	63	90
Reminder through association	20	132

             

 

Question 2. Use the details below of a hypothetical experiment to answer parts a to f.   

A popular technique used in false memory research is the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Participants are presented with a list of words they must remember. They are then asked to recognise the words they remembered from a list. Within this list are non-presented but related words from the original list, known as critical lures. Participants often report some of these lures were present in the original list. 

 

A group of researchers wanted to investigate whether warning participants about the presence of these lures would decrease the number of lures they recalled. Twenty-five participants completed two conditions where they were not warned about the lures and then when they were warned. The data are shown in Table 2 below.  

 

Hypothesis: People will recall fewer lures when they are warned than when they are not warned. 

 

1. Calculate the means and standard deviations of both conditions.

 

2. What type of inferential test would you apply to this data set and why?      

 

3. What would you call the independent variable and is it between- or withinsubjects? 

 

4. Do the means suggest that the hypothesis is supported? 

 

5. Conduct an appropriate test to assess the hypothesis and report the results in APA styl

 

6. The researchers then wanted the participants to complete a new list after the experiment to test the long-term effects. How could you redesign the experiment to include a third measurement? What test could be applied to the data from your new design?

 

(33% of the marks)

(LOs 1, 2, 3, 5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2. 

Number of critical lures recalled under the warning and no warning conditions

 

Participant	Warning	No Warning
1	1	2
2	1	1
3	1	2
4	1	2
5	1	2
6	1	3
7	0	2
8	1	3
9	1	2
10	1	1
11	1	2
12	1	2
13	1	2
14	1	2
15	1	3
16	2	2
17	3	3
18	1	3
19	2	3
20	3	2
21	1	2
22	1	2
23	1	3
24	1	3
25	2	2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question 3. Use the details below of a hypothetical study to answer parts a to f.

 

Participants were given a ‘traditional’ gender bias questionnaire which is a subjective measure of whether a person holds gender stereotypical views. They were also given an implicit association test, which is a reaction time test that, it is claimed, can measure gender bias objectively and hence is more difficult to fake. The experimenters wanted to know how these two measures are related. Both measures were converted to provide a score on a scale of 0 (least gender biased) to 100 (most gender biased). The data are shown in Table 3 below. 

 

Hypothesis: Subjective measures of gender bias will be positively associated with objective measures of gender bias. 

 

1. What type of data has been collected? 

 

2. Which inferential test would you apply to the data and why?

 

3. Draw a suitable plot (using SPSS or Excel)

 

4. Looking at the plot, do the data suggest that the hypothesis is supported? Could it suggest anything else?

 

5. Conduct an inferential test and report the results in APA styl

 

6. As a follow up to this study, briefly suggest how you could create an experiment to measure an intervention that reduces gender biases. What would be an appropriate choice of statistical test for the design you suggested?  

 

(34% of the marks)

(LOs 1, 2, 3, 5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3. 

Measure of each participant’s subjective and objective measure of gender bias.

 

Participant	Subjective	Objective
1	46	47
2	49	59
3	40	68
4	52	77
5	56	58
6	51	44
7	57	44
8	49	41
9	67	82
10	44	58
11	43	52
12	51	57
13	66	71
14	50	65
15	51	59
16	55	52
17	58	52
18	55	55
19	59	63
20	53	52
21	58	68
22	55	68
23	46	40
24	56	66
25	40	35
26	58	68
27	54	59
28	59	65

 

             

 

Guidelines

 

 

You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide ranging academic research and ensure this is referenced using the APA system(s).

 

The My Study Skills Area on iLearn contains useful resources relating to referencing.

 

Additional notes:  

  

Students are required to indicate the exact word count on the title page of the assessment.  

  

The word count excludes the title page, tables, figures, diagrams, footnotes, reference list and appendices. Where assessment questions have been reprinted from the assessment brief these will also be excluded from the word count. ALL other printed words ARE included in the word count See ‘Word Count Policy’ on the homepage of this module for more information.

 

Submission Guidance

 

 

Assignments submitted late will not be accepted and will be marked as a 0% fail. 

 

Your assessment should be submitted as a single Word (MS Word) or PDF file. For more information please see the “Guide to Submitting an Assignment” document available on the module page on iLearn. 

 

You must ensure that the submitted assignment is all your own work and that all sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assignments which show evidence of academic unfair practice. (See the Student Handbook which is on the homepage of your module and also in the Induction Area).