A-LevelPsychologyResearch methods9990/22 · May/June 2018 · Q78 Marks

Hanif is investigating helping behaviour in animals. As part of his experiment, two chimpanzees are put together but it is possible that they might hurt each other, for example, by fighting rather than helping.

(a)Explain how one ethical guideline, which relates to animals, is relevant to this study.[2]
(b)Hanif is the only observer and wants to find out whether his recording of fighting behaviour is reliable over time. Explain what Hanif should do to measure his reliability.[4]
(c)Explain why Hanif may be more objective if he collects quantitative data rather than qualitative data.[2]

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2018). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

[2] Pain and distress should be minimised, as if chimpanzees get hurt during fighting, it would be physically painful/stressful.
[2] The minimum necessary number of animals should be used because this is a potentially distressing study, as animals could get hurt.
[2] Analgesia should be used if the animals get hurt.
[4] Hanif should measure his test-retest reliability by using the same tests and scoring them twice, for example, by videoing the chimpanzees' behaviour, then correlating his scores for the first and second viewing; if the correlation is high, he is reliable.
[2] Quantitative data is more objective because it is numerical and therefore does not need to be interpreted, making it less likely to be influenced by Hanif's personal opinion.

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