Marcus wanted to investigate whether young children prefer playing with wooden or plastic toys. He placed identical sets of wooden building blocks and plastic building blocks in the free-play area of a local nursery. Marcus sat discretely in the corner of the room, pretending to write on a clipboard, and observed which type of block set the children chose to play with first.
Marcus's results are shown in Table 1.
| Gender of child | Wooden building blocks | Plastic building blocks |
|---|---|---|
| Boys | 6 | 3 |
| Girls | 2 | 5 |
Explain one strength and one weakness of Marcus using an observation for his investigation.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Research methods and skills with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 657 questions covering Research methods and skills, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) 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.
