A developmental psychologist investigates the impact of a newly introduced law banning smartphone use in schools on students' social interaction during break times. The researcher compares students from a school in a region where the ban has been legally enforced with students from a school in a region with no such ban.
Which of the following correctly identifies the experimental method used in this study and the correct rationale?
It is a natural experiment because the independent variable (the smartphone ban) is a naturally occurring environmental change that is not manipulated by the researcher.
It is a quasi-experiment because the independent variable (the smartphone ban) is a pre-existing difference between the groups of students that cannot be changed.
It is a field experiment because the study takes place in a real-world school setting and the researcher has actively manipulated the independent variable.
It is a quasi-experiment because the dependent variable (students' social interaction) is a naturally occurring behavior that cannot be artificially controlled.
644 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Research methods and techniques. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.