A researcher placed posters in a local corporate co-working space asking for freelance web developers to participate in a study investigating the effects of standing desks on focus and productivity.
Each web developer was provided with a standing desk and a wearable tracker to use for a three-week period. Every evening, they opened a tracking app on their smartphones to view a 'focus score' allegedly calculated from their movement and physiological data. The participants were unaware that these focus scores had been systematically manipulated by the researcher. Over the 21 days, participants saw scores indicating excellent daily focus on some random days and poor focus on others.
Every evening, after viewing the score, each participant completed an online questionnaire rating how productive they felt they had been that day, on a scale of 1–10. Apart from using the standing desk, participants were asked to go about their usual design and programming tasks.
Explain one strength and one limitation of using this sampling method in this study.
689 exam-style questions on AQA A Level Psychology Scientific processes. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.