A researcher investigated corporate employees' self-reported eco-friendly practices in the office. The corporation has 5 regional departments, with 150 employees per department.
The researcher conducted structured, face-to-face interviews individually with 8 employees. One of the questions asked during the interview was: 'How many single-use plastic cups did you use at the office drinks station this week?'
The self-reported responses from this question are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Self-reported number of single-use plastic cups used this week
| Employee | Number of cups used |
|---|---|
| 1 | 12 |
| 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 15 |
| 4 | 0 |
| 5 | 11 |
| 6 | 2 |
| 7 | 0 |
| 8 | 14 |
Investigator effects can significantly bias interview-based research.
Explain two modifications to the design of this study that would help to minimise investigator effects.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Research methods with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 100 questions covering Experimental method, Observational techniques, Self-report techniques, Correlations, Content analysis (A-level only), Case studies (A-level only), Scientific processes, Data handling and analysis, and Inferential testing (A-level only), matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.