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Assessment Resource
Level 2 Psychology
27688, Analyse key features in published experimental psychological research
Credits: 4
Teacher guidelines:
The following guidelines are supplied to enable teachers to carry out valid and consistent
assessment using this internal assessment resource.
To avoid plagiarism teachers should alternate the studies used in assessments between
years and between levels.
Context/setting:
In this activity students will analyse key features in experimental psychological research.
Teachers can expect to explicitly discuss ethical issues as they arise.
Conditions:
The final assessment task will be completed at school under teacher supervision. It
should not be taken home in either written or electronic form.
Before assessment begins, the students should understand the key features of
experimental psychological research.
Students will be required to analyse the key features used in a piece of published
experimental psychological research.
Summaries or extracts may be oral, visual and/ or written. Resources should be
appropriate to Level 7 of the NZC, or have characteristics that enable students to meet
the expected level of understanding. Assessment of this standard also provides
opportunities for students to develop aspects of the key competencies of the NZC.
Teachers should not provide detailed notes that ‘teach to the assessment’ as they
discuss the key features of experimental psychological research. It is essential that, as
part of the assessment, students make their own analyses independently.
Resource requirements:
Teachers will provide resources and/or opportunities to understand the experimental
method as used in psychological research.
Teachers will provide relevant copies, extracts or summaries of selected research or
directed practical investigations. Copies, extracts or summaries could be gathered from
psychology textbooks, popular works on psychology, journals, newspaper and magazine
articles, televisual broadcasts and documentaries, movies, podcasts, and websites.
Directed practical investigation may include in-class experiments or EOTC activities. If
EOTC activities are undertaken, teachers must follow Ministry of Education guidelines
http://eotc.tki.org.nz/.
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Some possible studies:
The studies below are intended to provide teachers with guidance on support materials
It is not intended that the list of resources below is exhaustive. Teachers should select
resources that are relevant to their course outlines and student requirements.
The following study groupings include examples of three data gathering methods for
assessment.
Example Experiments
 Bandura (1961) ‘The Bobo doll experiment’ ; Transmission of aggression through
imitation of aggressive models, Bandura, A. Ross, D and Ross, A. Journal of
Abnormal and Social Psychology 63, 575-582.
 Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 31-35
 Middlemist, R.D., Knowles, E.S. and F Matter, C.F. Personal space invasions in the
lavatory: suggestive evidence for arousal Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology (1976) Volume: 33, Issue: 5, Publisher: US: American Psychological
Association, Pages: 541-6
 Gazzaniga, M.S. (1967). The split brain in man. Scientific American, 217, 24-29
 Gibson, E.J. and Walk, R.D. (1960) The ‘visual cliff” Scientific American 202 67-71
 Pavlov, I.P. (1927) Conditioned reflexes. London: Oxford University Press.

Held, R. & Hein, A. MOVEMENT-PRODUCED STIMULATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
VISUALLY GUIDED BEHAVIOR. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology
1963, Vol. 56, No. 5, 872-876

Blakemore, C. and Cooper, F.W (1970) Development of the brain depends on the
visual environment. Nature, 228 477-8.
General Sources of Experimental Research Studies
 “Forty Studies That Changed Psychology”
 Gross, R., Key Studies in Psychology, 5th ed. (London: Hodder Arnold, 2007)
 Standard psychology textbooks.
Additional information:
Teaching and learning guidelines that inform psychology as it is taught in New Zealand
can be found at http://www.tki.org.nz/ncea/.
Information on psychology as it is practiced in New Zealand is available from the New
Zealand Psychological Society, http://www.psychology.org.nz.
Information on Maori-focussed psychological research available through Maori and
Psychology Research Unit
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27688, Analyse key features in published experimental psychological research
Level: 2
Credit: 4
Student Instructions Sheet
During your Psychology programme in class, your teacher will work with you on a variety
of experimental psychological researches. You will do a wide range of activities in class
which will help you understand the ideas, concepts and applications used in
psychological research. From these studies one will be selected for the assessment
activity.
Your teacher may also give you opportunities to apply your understanding of the
experimental method through practical activities.
Summary of the experimental Method used in psychology research
As part of your Psychology programme your teacher will work with you to source
reference texts or other materials to explore experimental psychological research.
Key features of experimental psychological research include
 identifying the problem
 hypothesis
 independent variable (IV), dependent variable (DV)
 control and/or causality
 extraneous and/or confounding variables,
 gathering data,
 analysing data,
 stating conclusion(s),
 relating findings to original hypothesis or theory,
 suggesting improvements to the methodology and/or areas for further research.
Assessment guide
For achieved
For merit
For excellence
Analyse key features in a
published piece of
experimental psychological
research.
The analysis includes a
detailed analysis of the key
features and a justification
for the use of the
experimental methodology
in a published piece of
experimental psychological
research with supporting
reasons identified and
explained.
The analysis includes a
comprehensive analysis of
the key features and
identifies weakness and/or
suggests further
improvement in the
experimental methodology
in a published piece of
experimental psychological
research with at least one
weakness and/or
suggestion for further
improvement explained.
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Task - Analyse the Key Features of an experiment
Analyse one piece of published experimental research from the discipline of psychology.
This piece of research will be Dement and Kleitman’s research into the relation of eye
movements during sleep to dream activity.
Dement, W. & Kleitman, N (1957) The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream
activity: An objective method for the study of dreaming. Journal of Experimental
Psychology, 53 339 - 46
Your task is to analyse key features in given experimental psychological research by
completing the table below.
To achieve you must identify and explain:
 the key features in the given published piece of experimental research in terms of
the scientific method used in psychology,
 the key features may include but are not limited to – the problem being
considered, hypothesis, independent variable, dependant variable, control and/or
causality/ extraneous and/or confounding variables, gathering of data, analysis
and interpretation of data, stating of conclusion(s), relating finding to original
hypothesis or theory.
To gain merit and excellence you must:
 justify why the experimental method was the appropriate methodology to
undertake this research
 identify weaknesses and/or suggest improvements in the design of the
experiment
Author (Date)
Title
Identify and
explain the
problem being
considered
This may include
the historical
context
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Identify and
explain the
aim and
hypothesis or
hypotheses
Having considered
the problem
identify and
explain why this
methodology has
been chosen
instead of another
methodology
Having considered
the problem
explain and justify
why this
methodology has
been chosen
instead of another
methodology
Identify and
explain the means
of gathering data
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Explain and justify
the means of
gathering data
Identify and
explain the means
of analysing data
Explain and justify
the means of
analysing data
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Identify and
explain the stated
conclusions and
relate the findings
to the original
hypothesis or
theory.
Identify the
weaknesses
and/or suggest
further
improvements in
the experimental
methodology and
explain at least
one of these.
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Assessment schedule
27688 Judgement statements: Analyse key features in experimental psychological research
Achieved
Achieved with Merit
Achieved with Excellence
Identify and explain key features in a
piece of published experimental
psychological research.
Justify the use of the experimental
methodology in the published experimental
psychological research with two reasons
identified and explained.
Identify weakness and/or suggest
improvement in the experimental design in
the published experimental psychological
research with at least one weakness and/or
improvement explained.
For each key feature at least ONE
element is identified and explained, e.g.
one of the three hypotheses
Two or more reasons are identified and
explained as to why the experimental
method was used in the research
One weakness is explained and/or one
improvement is suggested with reasons.
27688 Evidence statements: Analyse key features in experimental psychological research
Achieved
Achieved with Merit
Author (Date) Dement, W. & Kleitman, N
(1957)
This will involve the student
Title Dement, W. & Kleitman, N (1957) The
relation of eye movements during sleep to
dream activity: An objective method for the
study of dreaming. Journal of Experimental
Psychology, 53 339 – 46.
Identifying the problem:
Freud argued that the function of dreaming
was to preserve sleep by unconsciously
fulfilling wishes which would otherwise
Justifying why the choice of the
experimental research method in the
selected study has advantages over nonexperimental methodologies
 Given the previous work and theoretical
propositions regarding dreaming the use
of an experimental method was used to
look for an alternative explanation
 An experiment is a research method
used by psychologists that allow us to
Achieved with Excellence
 Despite the method being tightly
controlled there are 2 key areas where
improvements could be made:
 An obvious weakness of the study is its
lack of ecological validity. The situation
in which the participants had to sleep
was unusual and could have affected
their sleep patterns. Also the nature of
the method of waking participants may
have affected their ability to recall their
dream. Improvements could have looked
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upset and therefore disturb the sleeper.
For example a cognitive approach might
explain how dreaming is a way of dealing
with our problems such as those relating to
work and personal life. Whereas a
physiological approach might explain
dreaming as the result of random firing of
neurones which create an image which we
then put meaning to.
During a typical night a sleeper passes
through different levels of sleep in a cyclic
fashion between 5 and 7 times. Level 1
and 2 are light sleep characterised by
irregular EEG patterns.
Was Freud right or are there other and
better explanations of dreaming.
Choice of experimental method
State why the experimental method has
been chosen without justifying its use:
e.g. easy to get data, can link two
variables, test a hypothesis, it’s
controllable
+
See Merit
Hypothesis or hypotheses
These are testable and predictive
statements which will be supported or not
supported.
make statements about cause and
towards a more naturalistic setting for
effect, because unlike non-experimental
sleep. Means of waking other than a
methods they involve the deliberate
doorbell could be less intrusive.
manipulation of one variable, while trying
 A further problem with the study was the
to keep all other variables constant. The
sample size. The sample size was small
experimental method allows investigation
and only included 2 females so we could
into REM [IV] and dreaming [DV]. The
argue that the results were biased
subjects were woken in both REM and
towards the dream pattern of men rather
non REM sleep to see if dreaming was
than women. Subsequent studies have
occurring.
found that there are large differences
 Before researchers carry out
between individuals in the reports of
experiments they operationalise the
dreaming during REM. A larger sample
variables and create hypotheses. A
with a more equal balance of the sexes
hypothesis is a testable, predictive
would have increased validity.
statement.
 Also it is recommended that participants
in experiments are effectively debriefed.
 Experiments can usually be easily
replicated. The experimental method
It is not clear what debriefing occurred.
consists of standardised procedures and There have been concerns that at best this
measures which allow it to be easily
study is empirically speaking ‘quasirepeated.
experimental’ and not one of correlation. It
 Experiments produce quantitative data
which can be analysed statistically.
may suggest but does not establish case.
There were 3 hypotheses:
1. There will be a significant association
between REM sleep and dreaming.
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2. There will be a significant positive
correlation between the estimate of the
duration of dreams and the length of
eye-movement
There will be a significant association
between the pattern of eye movement and
the context of the dream.
Gathering data
The nine participants were seven adult
males and two adult females. Five were
studied intensively.
The participants were studied under
controlled laboratory conditions, whereby
they reported to the laboratory just before
their usual bedtime. They had been asked
to eat normally but to avoid caffeine or
alcohol on the day of the study. The
participants went to bed in a quiet, dark
room.
An electroencephalograph (EEG) was
used to amplify and record the signals of
electrodes which were attached to the
participants face and scalp.
Testing Hypothesis 1 At various times
during the night (both during REM and NREM sleep) the participants were
awakened to test their dream recall. The
participant then had to speak into a tape
recorder near the bed. They were
instructed to first state whether or not they
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had been dreaming and then, if they could,
to report the content of the dream.
Testing Hypothesis 2 The participants
were also woken up either five minutes or
fifteen minutes into a REM period, and
asked to say whether they thought they
had been dreaming for five or fifteen
minutes.
Testing Hypothesis 3 The participants
were woken up as soon as one of four
patterns of eye movement had lasted for at
least one minute. On waking, the
participant was asked to describe in detail
the content of their dream.
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Analysing data
All the participants showed periods of REM
every night during sleep.
The REM periods occurred at regular
intervals during the night, though each
participant has their own pattern.
Results relating to hypothesis 1: The
results show that REM sleep is
predominantly, though not exclusively,
associated with dreaming, and N-REM
sleep is associated with periods of nondreaming sleep.
Results relating to hypothesis 2: revealed
that all but one of the participants were
able to choose the correct dream duration
fairly accurately.
Results relating to hypothesis 3: There did
appear to be some relationship between
the dream content and the type of eye
movements.
Stating conclusions;
That the hypotheses were supported and
why +
see excellence.

Evidence statements are indicative and not exclusive.
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