Describe what is meant by 'participant variables' and 'situational variables' in research, using any examples.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2020). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [max 2] Participant variable – confounding variable due to individual differences; [max 5 for detail/examples] (can be temporary) e.g. hunger in a study on motivation to eat; (or permanent) e.g. culture in a study on attitudes to different animals; e.g. personality in a study on risk taking; e.g. participant variable in Andrade could have been how much the individual normally doodled; these matter because different participants in different levels of the IV / used independent measures design; also matter in repeated measures designs, overcome by counterbalancing; e.g. participant variable in Milgram was experience with electricity (made them disobey earlier);
2. [max 2] Situational variables – confounding variable due to the influence to the environment; [max 5 for detail/examples] e.g. whether you had been helped recently in a study on helping; e.g. situational variable in Piliavin et al. was the behaviour / comments of passengers; Situational variables are reduced through controls on the environment where possible;