Alistair carried out an observational study to investigate the effects of early nursery attendance on toddler reactions to an unfamiliar adult.
He selected his participants from parents and their two-year-old children who were attending a local community playgroup on a Thursday morning.
He compared two groups of two-year-olds:
He set up a play area in the community centre. The parent was instructed to sit quietly in a chair while the toddler played with some building blocks. After three minutes, an unfamiliar research assistant entered, sat near the child, and tried to initiate play. Alistair rated the toddler’s level of stranger-directed avoidance. A score of 8 indicated 'extreme avoidance or distress' and a score of 0 indicated 'immediate positive interaction/no avoidance'.
Identify the sampling technique used by Alistair in this study.
Outline one limitation of using this sampling technique in this study.
Identify the operationalised independent variable (IV) and operationalised dependent variable (DV) in this study.
Outline one strength of using a rating scale (0–8) to measure stranger-directed avoidance in this study.
84 exam-style questions on Edexcel A Level Psychology Content, covering Bowlby's work on attachment, Ainsworth and the Strange Situation, Research into deprivation, Research into privation, Research into day care, Cross-cultural research into attachment, Autism, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.