Staying active throughout the workday can be difficult, and small prompts might help. A health psychologist investigated whether setting hourly vibration alerts on smartwatches reduces daily sedentary behavior. They placed a call for participants on a local fitness center's private social media group page and recruited a volunteer sample of 10 participants.
During Week 1, participants recorded the total hours they spent sitting down during their working hours (Monday to Friday). During Week 2, they activated hourly vibration alerts on their smartwatches and recorded their sitting hours again.
The data collected is presented below:
| Participant | Week 1: Sitting hours (without alerts) | Week 2: Sitting hours (with alerts) |
|---|---|---|
| A | 35 | 30 |
| B | 42 | 35 |
| C | 28 | 29 |
| D | 45 | 38 |
| E | 38 | 32 |
| F | 50 | 44 |
| G | 30 | 30 |
| H | 41 | 35 |
| I | 36 | 37 |
| J | 44 | 40 |
Outline one way that the sampling technique used to obtain participants for this study could have affected the generalisability of the results.
201 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Planning and conducting research. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.