ExpertHard4 marksExtended Response
AQA GCSE · Question 05.3 · Social Context and Behaviour
The researchers who carried out the described questionnaire would like you to do a follow-up study.
The participants who took part in the questionnaire have also agreed to be participants for your study.
You are also able to use the ratings they gave themselves for the different personality traits.
Describe how you would design a field experiment to find out more about how personality affects whether people would say something when witnessing anti-social behaviour.
In your answer include:
- a description of the procedure you would use
- what your dependent variable would be.
The researchers who carried out the described questionnaire would like you to do a follow-up study.
The participants who took part in the questionnaire have also agreed to be participants for your study.
You are also able to use the ratings they gave themselves for the different personality traits.
Describe how you would design a field experiment to find out more about how personality affects whether people would say something when witnessing anti-social behaviour.
In your answer include:
- a description of the procedure you would use
- what your dependent variable would be.
How to approach this question
1. **Procedure**: Think about what a 'field experiment' is (an experiment in a natural setting). Design a realistic scenario. Who will commit the anti-social act (a confederate)? Where will it happen? How will you observe the participant without them knowing they are being watched? How will you ensure it's standardised for all participants?
2. **Dependent Variable (DV)**: The DV is what you measure. What is the key behaviour you are looking for? How will you measure it precisely (operationalise it)? For example, will you just record if they say something, or what they say, or how long it takes?
Full Answer
Procedure: I would stage an incident of anti-social behaviour in a natural setting, like a public park or a quiet street. A confederate (an actor working for the experimenter) would drop litter on the ground in front of one of the participants. I would have another researcher hidden nearby to observe and record the participant's reaction. This would be repeated for each participant.
Dependent Variable (DV): The dependent variable would be whether the participant says something to the confederate about dropping the litter. This could be operationalised as a simple 'yes' or 'no' for each participant. We could also measure the time it takes for them to intervene.
A field experiment is conducted in a real-world environment, not a lab. Participants are often unaware they are in a study. In this design, the independent variable would be the participant's personality trait (e.g., high confidence vs. low confidence), which is already known from the questionnaire. The procedure involves staging an event (the anti-social behaviour) and observing the outcome. The dependent variable is the behaviour that is measured to see if the IV had an effect. By operationalising the DV (making it measurable, e.g., a yes/no checklist), the researcher can collect quantitative data and compare the behaviour of participants with different personality traits.
Common mistakes
Students might describe a lab experiment or an observation instead of a field experiment. A key feature of a field experiment is the manipulation of a variable (in this case, staging an event) in a natural setting.
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