A-LevelPsychologyResearch methods9990/23 · Oct/Nov 2018 · Q52 Marks

Explain why low reliability would be a problem in experiments.

Mark scheme

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

[2] 1 mark for identification of the problem with low reliability (inconsistency).
1 mark for detail explaining a reason why this is problematic.
Examples can be useful as detail but are not required.
consistency is poor
so you cannot tell is differences are due to manipulations or are errors
this would also lower validity
e.g. (low consistency) between different researchers
e.g. (low consistency) for the same researcher over time
e.g. when the same behaviour is seen a different record might be made (if reliability is low)

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Topic: Research methods, A-Level Psychology (syllabus 9990). Structured question, 2 marks.
Source: A-Level Psychology, Oct/Nov 2018 Paper 2 Variant 3, question 5.

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