AQA A-level Psychology (7182): Paper 2 – Research Methods – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers from your board or school.

This practice set covers Research methods in AQA A-level Psychology (7182), from the AQA AS and A-level Psychology (7181, 7182) specification, Version 1.4 (1 September 2025), for teaching from September 2025. Research methods is section 4.2.3, topic 7, listed under Paper 2: Psychology in Context, and the specification states research methods and maths skills are assessed in all papers. The questions are built around one fictional study, as research methods sections often are, followed by stand-alone items. All people and data are fictional.

Learn the content first with the Research methods study guide and Research methods revision notes. For other topics, see the AQA A-level Psychology hub and AQA A-level Psychology checklist.

Questions

Read the item and answer questions 1 to 9.

A psychologist investigated whether listening to music while revising affects recall. She placed a notice in a sixth-form common room asking for volunteers. Twenty students took part. Each student learned a list of 30 words in silence and, on another day, a different list of 30 words while music played. The order of the conditions was counterbalanced. After 10 minutes, each student wrote down as many words as they could recall.

	Silence	Music
Mean words recalled	18.2	14.6
Median	18	15
Standard deviation	2.1	4.8

1. Write a directional hypothesis for this study. [3]

2. Identify the sampling technique used and explain one limitation of it in this study. [3]

3. Identify the experimental design and explain why counterbalancing was needed. [3]

4. Why did the psychologist use a different word list in each condition? Explain one problem this might cause. [3]

5. What do the standard deviations suggest about the two conditions? [2]

6. Identify an appropriate statistical test for this study and justify your choice. [3]

7. The psychologist found her result was significant at p ≤ 0.05. Explain what this means. [2]

8. Explain why the psychologist might have made a Type I error. [2]

9. Explain one issue of ecological validity in this study, and suggest how the study could be modified to address it. [4]

Stand-alone questions.

10. Which one of the following is a quasi-experiment? [1]

A. Comparing recall in a quiet and a noisy room, with participants randomly allocated B. Comparing anxiety in left-handed and right-handed people C. Comparing children’s behaviour before and after a new school policy D. Comparing helping behaviour in a staged street event at two locations

11. A researcher records a nursery playground for one hour and notes what each child is doing every 30 seconds. Name this sampling method and give one limitation of it. [2]

12. Explain the difference between test–retest reliability and inter-observer reliability. [4]

13. Ten participants rated their stress before and after a breathing exercise. Seven rated lower stress afterwards, two rated higher and one was unchanged. Using the sign test, calculate S and state whether the result is significant for a directional hypothesis at p ≤ 0.05. The critical value for N = 9 is 1. [3]

14. Explain the role of peer review in the scientific process. [4]

15. Discuss two features of science, with reference to psychology as a science. [8]

Answers

1. Up to 3 marks: direction (1), operationalised IV (1), operationalised DV (1). For example: “Students will recall more words from a 30-word list after learning in silence than after learning while music plays.”

2. Volunteer sampling (1). Limitation (up to 2): students who respond to a notice may be more motivated or more interested in psychology than other students (1), so the sample may be unrepresentative and results may not generalise to all sixth-formers (1).

3. Repeated measures (1), because each student took part in both conditions (1). Counterbalancing was needed because practice or fatigue from doing the task twice could affect recall in the second condition (order effects); half did silence first and half music first, so order effects are balanced across conditions (1).

4. Up to 3 marks. Using the same list twice would let students remember words from the first condition, a practice effect (1). However, the two lists may not be equally difficult, so differences in recall could be caused by the list, not the music (1); the lists should be matched for word length and frequency, for example in a pilot study (1).

5. Up to 2 marks. Scores in the music condition were much more spread out around the mean (4.8 vs 2.1) (1), suggesting music affected some students’ recall much more than others, while performance in silence was more consistent (1).

6. Related t-test (1). It tests for a difference (1), the design is repeated measures (related), and the number of words recalled is interval data (1). Credit Wilcoxon if justified by treating the data as ordinal.

7. Up to 2 marks. There is a 5% or lower probability that a difference this large would occur by chance if the null hypothesis were true (1), so the psychologist can reject the null hypothesis and accept her hypothesis (1).

8. Up to 2 marks. A Type I error is rejecting the null hypothesis when it is actually true (a false positive) (1). Because p ≤ 0.05 still allows a 5% chance that the result was a fluke, she may have found a “significant” difference that does not really exist (1).

9. Up to 4 marks. Issue: learning a list of unrelated words for 10 minutes is not like real revision of meaningful material over longer periods (1), so findings may not generalise to how students actually revise (1). Modification: ask students to revise a real passage of course material with or without music, then test understanding a day later (1+1).

10. B. Handedness is a characteristic of the participants, not manipulated by the researcher.

11. Time sampling (1). Limitation: behaviour that happens between the 30-second intervals is missed, so the record may be unrepresentative (1).

12. Up to 4 marks. Test–retest reliability: the same test is given to the same participants on two occasions (1), and the two sets of scores are correlated; a strong positive correlation shows consistency over time (1). Inter-observer reliability: two or more observers record the same behaviour independently using the same categories (1), and their records are correlated; a correlation of about +0.80 or above shows they agree (1).

13. Ignore the unchanged participant, so N = 9 (1). S is the less frequent sign: two participants rated higher, so S = 2 (1). S (2) is greater than the critical value (1), so the result is not significant; accept the null hypothesis (1). Maximum 3 marks.

14. Up to 4 marks. Before publication, a study is scrutinised by other experts in the field (1). They check that the methods are valid and the conclusions are supported by the data (1), which prevents poor-quality or fraudulent research entering the scientific record and helps funding bodies allocate money (1). Limitation: reviewers may be biased towards findings that support current theories, or there may be publication bias towards significant results (1).

15. Level-based, 8 marks (AO1 and AO3). 7–8: two features accurately explained, applied clearly to psychology, with effective discussion.

Indicative content:

• Falsifiability (Popper): scientific theories must be capable of being proved wrong. Some psychological theories, such as Freud’s psychodynamic theory, are hard to falsify, which challenges their scientific status, while theories tested by experiments (e.g. memory models) can be falsified.
• Replicability: findings should be repeatable using the same method. Standardised lab procedures allow replication, but some areas, such as social psychology, have had findings that failed to replicate, which raises questions.
• Objectivity and the empirical method: knowledge from direct, measurable observation without researcher bias; lab experiments aim for this, but human participants can show demand characteristics.
• Paradigms (Kuhn): psychology may be “pre-paradigmatic” because it has several competing approaches rather than one agreed paradigm.
• Discussion of whether psychology is a science overall, with balance.

Frequently asked questions

Where is research methods assessed? Mainly on Paper 2, Psychology in Context, where it has a 48-mark section, but research methods questions can appear on any A-level paper.

Do I need to calculate inferential statistics? Only the sign test is calculated; for other tests you need to choose the right one, use critical value tables and interpret the result.

Is a calculator allowed? Yes. At least 10% of the marks across the A-level assess mathematical skills, so show working for every calculation.

Where marks are usually lost

• Hypotheses that are not operationalised, or that state the aim instead of a prediction.
• Naming a test without justifying all three factors (difference/correlation, design, level of data).
• In the sign test, counting the more frequent sign as S or including zero differences in N.
• Explaining a limitation in general terms instead of applying it to the item.

Next steps

Review any weak area in the Research methods study guide, then apply your skills to biological studies with the Biopsychology practice questions.

Official syllabus

AQA AS and A-level Psychology (7181, 7182) specification, Version 1.4 (1 September 2025), section 4.2.3 Research methods and the Paper 2 assessment summary — aqa.org.uk.