A psychologist investigates whether paced breathing makes people feel calmer before giving a short talk. Participants either complete a two-minute paced-breathing exercise or sit quietly for two minutes. They then rate how calm they feel from 1 (not at all calm) to 7 (very calm).
The psychologist runs every session herself. She gives the paced-breathing group their instructions in a slow, soothing voice, but gives the quiet group their instructions in a brisk, hurried voice.
Before the study begins, every participant is given an information sheet stating that the study is testing whether paced breathing helps people feel calmer.
Explain how two features of this procedure could make the paced-breathing condition appear more effective: one through investigator effects and the other through demand characteristics.
173 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 7.3 Analysing Research, covering 7.3.1 Types of Data, 7.3.2 Measures of central tendency, 7.3.3 Other descriptive statistics, 7.3.4 Tables, Charts and Graphs, 7.3.5 Reliability, 7.3.6 Validity and effects on validity, and 7.3.7 Sources of bias. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.