Research methods
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A cognitive psychologist investigated the impact of ambient scents on problem-solving speed using a repeated measures design, where the same group of participants completed tasks under two different environmental conditions.

  • In the first condition, participants were placed in a room infused with a lavender scent and asked to solve a set of 10 complex logic puzzles.
  • In the second condition, participants were placed in a room infused with a peppermint scent and asked to solve a different set of 10 logic puzzles of matched difficulty.

The psychologist recorded the time taken (in seconds) by each participant to successfully complete the puzzles.

Table 1: Mean completion times (seconds) and standard deviations

Lavender scentPeppermint scent
Mean145.8122.4
Standard deviation22.515.3

Explain how using counterbalancing might improve the design of this study.

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Research methods Questions

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.

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Research methods Questions

  1. A Level
  2. /Psychology
  3. /Research methods