1. One of the questions below is a leading question. Identify which is a leading question – A or B and explain why. (3 marks)
A] Did you see a man crossing the road?
B] Did you see the man crossing the road?
Answer:
Did you see the man crossing the road?
Explanation:
Rather than the question asking if there was a man at the crossing which would be the question ‘did you see a man crossing the road?’ the question is suggesting that there was a man at the crossing by using the word the; ‘Did you see the man crossing the road?’. This is leading the person being asked the question to believe that there was a man crossing the road.
Question received 3/3
2. A psychologist wished to investigate early child development. She decided to interview some mothers and ask them questions about their infants’ social behaviour.
A] Explain one disadvantage of using an interview to collect these date. (2 marks)
Answer:
The mother might not be very open about their child’s social behaviour as the researcher would like, it could be for a number of reasons such as; they may feel that the researcher is questioning their upbringing of the child or that there is a ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ answer. This technique would not be as effective as observation of the child.
Question received 2/2
B] Write one question that the psychologist could ask mothers about their child’s social behaviour that would generate qualitative data. (2 marks)
Answer:
How does your child react towards other children he does not know?
Question received 1/2.
Commentary:
The use of ‘how’ as the first word implies an action – you could use the word describe in front of this which removes this implication
C] Explain one strength of qualitative data (2 marks)
Qualitative data allows the researcher to obtain factual information on human behaviour through participants. Gathering the information from participants themselves, allows the researcher to gain an understanding of individual experiences.
Question received 2/2
D] The researcher then decided to undertake an observational study of aggression in toddlers. Explain how variations in aggressive behaviour of toddlers could be categorised for this observation.
Several different behaviours of child aggression that could be categorised include:
• Becoming demanding
• Shouting
• Screaming
• Fighting
• Hitting or slapping
• Whining
• Kicking
• Teasing
• Threatening
• Niggling
• Showing off
Further explanation:
These could then be each categorised for example; hitting, kicking and fighting could be categorised as physical whilst shouting, screaming and threatening would be categorised as verbal. Becoming demanding, niggling and showing off could be categorised as ways of trying to get attention.
Question received 4/4
Ei] Explain one ethical issue relevant to observational studies of young children. (2 marks)
Consent - The participants must be able to give their consent before participating in an observational study and children are unable to give their informed consent.
Question received 1/2, did not fully clarify the statement; make sure you do this!
Eii) Explain how the researcher could deal with the ethical issues (2 marks)
This can be done by obtaining consent from the child’s parent or legal guardian. It is also good practice to explain to the child themselves about what the researcher is intending to study in a manner in which the child, according to their age will understand. The child must also be aware that they can refuse to take part and that they can drop out of the study at any time with no consequences.
Questions received 2/2
