Researchers wanted to investigate how long library visitors spent looking at a newly installed interactive digital floor map before choosing a book section to visit. They wanted to test whether visitors make rapid spatial decisions (in under 10 seconds), as suggested by environmental psychology models.
They collected data from 80 library visitors who were observed using the interactive map in the main lobby. Immediately after selecting a direction and walking away, researchers approached the visitors and asked them to estimate how long, in seconds, they spent looking specifically at the interactive digital floor map.
The estimated time spent looking at the map was split into four categories:
The visitors were fully debriefed immediately after the survey and gave consent for their anonymous data to be used in a published research study.
Explain one way the researchers could ensure that this digital floor map study is reliable.
638 exam-style questions on Edexcel A Level Psychology Methods. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.