A psychologist wants to investigate whether adults attempt more logic puzzles when another person is watching them. Participants are told that the study is checking whether the instructions for a new set of puzzles are clear. Half of the participants complete the puzzles while an observer watches them, and half complete the puzzles alone. The psychologist records the number of puzzles each participant attempts.
Before being debriefed, participants are asked what they think the real aim of the study was.
| Condition | Number of participants | Number who correctly guessed the real aim |
|---|---|---|
| Observer present | 20 | 3 |
| No observer present | 20 | 2 |
Using the data, explain why the psychologist might have used deception and why this still raises an ethical issue.
182 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 7.1 Planning Research, covering 7.1.1 Hypotheses, 7.1.2 Variables, 7.1.3 Experimental Designs, 7.1.4 Populations and Sampling, 7.1.5 Ethical issues, and 7.1.6 Dealing with ethical issues and BPS Code. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.