Fazli wants to study the relationship between kindness and obedience. He is not sure whether people who are more obedient will be more or less kind to others.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2019). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [10] (a) A full description of a correlational study should include detailed operationalisation of both variables (kindness and obedience), the specific data collection technique (e.g., questionnaires, observations, tests), location and type of participants, sampling technique, sample size, how data will be scored/analysed (e.g., scattergram, correlation coefficient), and relevant ethical considerations.
2. [4] (b) **Problem**: Operationalisation of kindness and obedience through self-report questionnaires may lack validity because participants might provide socially desirable answers rather than their true behaviours or attitudes.
3. [4] (b) **Solution**: To overcome this, Fazli could use behavioural measures instead. For kindness, he could conduct an observation of participants in a naturalistic setting, noting instances of helping behaviour (e.g., dropping a pen and seeing if they pick it up for someone). For obedience, he could use a mock task where participants are given mild instructions by an authority figure and their compliance is observed (e.g., asked to sort papers in a specific, slightly tedious way for a set time).