Led by Ronald Fisher Simulacrum
About this course
The strand that runs through the whole of OCR GCSE Psychology. Research methods are assessed in both components, and a fifth of the marks across the qualification test them — with a further tenth on the mathematics of method. This module gathers that strand into one place.
Your host is the Ronald Fisher Simulacrum, who built the modern theory of experimental design — randomisation, control, and the discipline of stating a hypothesis before collecting data. His life's argument is what the exam tests: a study is only as good as its design.
This is the one part of the course that teaches a craft, not a theory — how to plan a sound study, run it, and read its data honestly.
Led by Ronald Fisher Simulacrum
The question
How do you design a study so its data can actually answer the question? You will learn to state null and alternative hypotheses, to identify and handle the independent, dependent, co-, and extraneous variables (including standardisation), to choose between repeated and independent measures designs, to select a sampling method (random, opportunity, self-selected) with an eye to representativeness, and to recognise the ethical issues — consent, harm, deception — and their remedies under the British Psychological Society's Code.
Outcome
You can plan a sound investigation — hypothesis, variables, design, sample, and ethics — given a research question.
Sub-units
Led by Ronald Fisher Simulacrum
The question
Which method actually gathers the data you need, and what does it let you conclude? You will study the six research methods — experiments, interviews, questionnaires, observations, case studies, and correlations — with the strengths and weaknesses of each, learn to match a method to a research question, and learn what each licenses you to claim. Above all, why a correlation does not establish cause.
Outcome
You can choose and justify a research method for a given question, and explain the trade-off it makes — including why correlation is not cause.
Sub-units
Led by Ronald Fisher Simulacrum
The question
Once the data are in, what may you honestly say about them? You will distinguish quantitative from qualitative data, compute and interpret descriptive statistics, read tables, charts, and graphs for what they do and do not show, distinguish reliability from validity, and identify the sources of bias that distort a study's conclusions. This is where the course's mathematical skills are exercised.
Outcome
You can analyse a study's results — read its data, judge its reliability and validity, and spot its bias — and state what those results do and do not establish.
Sub-units