Cambridge A-Level Psychology: Research Methods — Practice Questions

These are original practice questions written in the style of Cambridge AS & A Level Psychology (9990) assessment objectives. They are not taken from any past paper and are not endorsed by Cambridge International.

Use these questions alongside the Paper 2 – Research Methods study guide and revision notes.

Section A

1. Name the three experimental designs, and state which design counterbalancing is used to address. [3]

2. State the difference between validity and reliability. [2]

3. Name the three sampling techniques on this syllabus. [3]

4. State two things a Paper 2 planning answer is NOT required to include, unlike a Paper 4 plan. [2]

5. Name the four descriptive pairs used to classify observations. [4]

Section B

6. A researcher conducts a memory experiment in a quiet laboratory using a standardised word list, and finds very consistent results across repeated trials.

(a) Explain why this study can be described as having high reliability. [2] (b) Explain why this same study might still lack ecological validity. [2]

7. A researcher wants to observe children’s behaviour in a playground without the children knowing they are being watched, in order to reduce demand characteristics.

(a) Name two ethical issues specifically relevant to using human participants in this scenario. [2] (b) Explain why the checklist of ethical issues would be different if the study instead involved animals. [2]

8. A candidate is asked to plan a field experiment as part of the Section B planning question.

(a) Name three general features that must be included in any Paper 2 plan, regardless of method. [3] (b) Name two features specific to a field experiment that should also be included. [2]

9. A candidate includes aims, hypotheses and an evaluation of the plan’s ethics in their Paper 2 planning answer, believing this will gain extra credit.

(a) Explain why this is a mistake. [2] (b) Suggest what the candidate should have focused on instead. [1]

10. Explain why the “describe, evaluate, apply” pattern is described as useful for revising all six research methods, using longitudinal studies as your example. [3]

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Answers

1. Independent measures, matched pairs and repeated measures [2]. Counterbalancing is used to address order effects, which occur specifically in repeated measures designs [1].

2. Validity concerns whether a study measures what it claims to measure; reliability concerns the consistency of results if the study were repeated [2].

3. Opportunity sampling, random sampling, and volunteer (self-selecting) sampling [3].

4. Any two of: aims or hypotheses in the plan; evaluation of issues relating to sample or generalisability of the plan; evaluation of ethics of the plan [2].

5. Overt/covert; participant/non-participant; structured/unstructured; naturalistic/controlled [4].

6. (a) The study has high reliability because repeating the procedure under the same standardised conditions produces similar results each time, showing the findings are consistent [2]. (b) The study might lack ecological validity because real-world memory rarely involves memorising isolated word lists in a quiet laboratory, so the findings may not accurately reflect how memory actually functions in everyday situations, even though the results are highly consistent [2].

7. (a) Any two of: informed consent (children cannot meaningfully consent themselves, so parental or guardian consent becomes relevant); privacy (covert observation in a semi-public space raises different considerations than in a clearly private space); deception (the children are not told they are being observed); debriefing [2]. (b) Because the ethical framework for animals covers different concerns — such as replacement (whether a non-animal method could answer the same question), the specific species used, and procedural issues like pain, suffering or distress — rather than consent-based issues, which do not apply to animal participants [2].

8. (a) Any three of: the procedure of the study; how the plan makes the study valid; how the plan makes the study reliable; the types of data to be collected [3]. (b) Any two of: the independent variable; the dependent variable; the controls used; the choice of experimental design; the location of the study [2].

9. (a) This is a mistake because Paper 2 explicitly does not require aims, hypotheses, or an evaluation of the plan’s ethics; time spent including these earns no credit and takes time away from the features that are actually assessed [2]. (b) The candidate should have focused on the general features the syllabus does require (procedure, validity, reliability, types of data) plus the method-specific features relevant to the study being planned [1].

10. The pattern works for longitudinal studies the same way it works for every other method: first describe the method’s main features (studying the same participants over an extended period of time), then evaluate it (for example, in terms of validity gained through tracking real change over time, weighed against practical issues such as participant attrition), then apply it to a novel research scenario given in the question [3]. Because the underlying structure of what is being asked never changes across methods, a candidate confident with this pattern can approach an unfamiliar scenario question about longitudinal studies with the same confidence as a well-rehearsed question about experiments.

A note on exam technique for this topic

Keep the six research methods and the block of methodological concepts as two connected but distinct layers when revising: the methods describe what a study is, while concepts like validity, reliability and ethics describe what any study can be judged by, regardless of method. When revising Paper 1’s core studies alongside this paper, always note which research method each one used, since Section A’s scenario questions frequently link a familiar study to the method that produced it. For the planning question specifically, work through the syllabus’s own checklist of general features before adding method-specific detail, and resist the temptation to add Paper 4-level content such as aims, hypotheses or ethical evaluation, since these earn no credit at Paper 2 and cost valuable time.