Key questions and practical investigation (social psychology)

Introduction: Bringing Psychology to Life

Welcome to one of the most exciting parts of Social Psychology! So far, you have learned about why people obey authority and why prejudice happens. But psychology isn't just about reading textbooks; it’s about understanding the real world and conducting your own research. In this chapter, we look at Key Questions (how psychology explains current events) and your Practical Investigation (how you become the researcher).

Part 1: Key Questions in Social Psychology

A "Key Question" is a bridge between psychological theory and society. The exam board wants you to be able to take a contemporary issue—something you might see in the news—and explain it using the theories you’ve already studied.

What makes a good Key Question?

According to the 8PS0 syllabus, a key question should be:
1. Relevant to society: It matters to people today.
2. Discussed as a contemporary issue: You talk about it like a real-world problem, not just an academic debate.

Examples of Key Questions

The specification gives us a few ideas of what these questions might look like:
• "How can we reduce prejudice in crowd behaviour or rioting?"
• "How can we explain heroism in society?"

How to Answer a Key Question

Don't worry if this seems tricky at first! To answer these, you simply "borrow" concepts from the rest of Topic 1.
• To explain rioting: You might use Agency Theory (people acting as agents for a leader) or Social Impact Theory (the influence of the number and immediacy of the crowd).
• To explain prejudice: You might use Social Identity Theory (seeing the "other" group as an out-group) or Realistic Conflict Theory (groups fighting over limited resources).

Quick Review: When answering a key question in an exam, always describe the issue first (the "what") and then use psychological theories to explain the "why."

Part 2: The Practical Investigation

As part of your AS Level, you must carry out a practical research exercise. For Social Psychology, the syllabus requires you to design and conduct a questionnaire to look for a difference between two groups.

1. Designing Your Questionnaire

You need to gather two types of data:
• Quantitative Data: Numbers. Use closed questions (like "Yes/No") or ranked scales (e.g., "On a scale of 1 to 5, how much do you agree..."). This is easy to turn into charts.
• Qualitative Data: Words. Use open questions (e.g., "Describe how you feel when...") to get descriptive, in-depth answers.

2. Choosing Your Participants (Sampling)

How do you pick people for your study? The syllabus lists four main methods:
• Opportunity Sampling: Using whoever is available at the time (e.g., asking people in the canteen). Easy, but might be biased.
• Volunteer Sampling: Putting up a poster and waiting for people to come to you. Ethical, but you might only get "helpful" types of people.
• Random Sampling: Every person in the target population has an equal chance of being picked (e.g., pulling names out of a hat). Very fair!
• Stratified Sampling: Making sure the proportions of your sample match the population (e.g., if 60% of the school is female, 60% of your sample is female).

3. Creating a Hypothesis

You must write an alternate hypothesis. This is a clear statement predicting what you think will happen. Since you are looking for a "difference," your hypothesis might look like this:
"There will be a difference in the prejudice scores of males and females as measured by a Likert scale questionnaire."

Key Takeaway: Your practical must use a questionnaire, collect both numbers and words, and aim to find a difference between groups.

Part 3: Analysis and Ethics

Once you have your data, what do you do with it? You need to show off your math and analysis skills!

Quantitative Analysis (The Numbers)

You should calculate:
• Central Tendency: The Mean (average), Median (middle value), and Mode (most common).
• Dispersion: The Range (highest minus lowest) and Standard Deviation (\(SD\)).
Note: Standard Deviation tells us how much the scores "spread out" around the mean. A low \(SD\) means most people gave similar answers.
• Visuals: You can display your results in frequency tables or bar charts.

Qualitative Analysis (The Words)

For your open questions, you use Thematic Analysis. This involves:
1. Reading through the answers.
2. Identifying recurring "themes" or patterns.
3. Counting how often those themes appear.

Ethical Guidelines

Psychologists must follow the BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct (2009). When doing your practical, you must consider:
• Risk Management: Ensure your questions don't cause participants stress or upset.
• Informed Consent: Participants must agree to take part.
• Right to Withdraw: They can quit at any time.
• Confidentiality: Keep their names secret!

Summary Table: Practical Investigation Essentials

Research Method: Questionnaire (Self-report)
Question Types: Open (Qualitative) and Closed (Quantitative)
Sampling: Random, Stratified, Volunteer, or Opportunity
Ethics: BPS Code of Ethics (2009)
Data Analysis: Descriptive stats (Mean, \(SD\)) and Thematic Analysis

Top Tip for the Exam: You might be asked to "evaluate" your practical. Think about reliability (would you get the same results if you did it again?) and validity (did the questions actually measure what you intended?).