An environmental psychologist investigated the effect of auditory environments on cognitive focus. The researcher chose to use a repeated measures design.
In one condition (the 'white noise' condition), participants completed a 5-minute spatial reasoning test while listening to flat white noise.
In a second condition (the 'nature sound' condition), the same participants completed a spatial reasoning test of equivalent difficulty while listening to green noise (rustling leaves and gentle rain).
In both conditions, the accuracy score (percentage of correct answers) achieved by each participant was recorded.
Explain why the researcher decided to use a repeated measures design, rather than an independent groups design, in this study.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Scientific processes with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 689 questions, 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.
