A psychologist investigates whether adults make fewer wrong turns when navigating with a paper map or with written directions. Each adult follows the same route through an unfamiliar community centre using one of the two navigation aids. Every adult hears the same recorded instructions, is given a six-minute time limit and is not allowed to ask questions during the task.
Afterwards, each adult rates how similar the task felt to navigating their usual journeys, where 1 means not at all similar and 5 means very similar.
| Navigation aid | Mean number of wrong turns | Mean similarity rating |
|---|---|---|
| Paper map | 2.1 | 1.8 |
| Written directions | 3.4 | 1.7 |
Describe one weakness of using this standardised procedure. Use the results for wrong turns and similarity ratings to explain whether the difference is likely to apply to adults navigating their usual journeys.
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.