I have recently marked a large number of research methods exam papers and in many cases, it was hard to understand some of the answers, which struggled to express the technical challenges involved. However, I came across one particular exam paper that clearly scored maximum marks for each question. What intrigued me was that, on re-reading this student’s answers, there seemed to be nothing truly special or mind-blowing about the quality of what the student had written and yet they scored a perfect 100%. Rather, the student addressed the specific question asked, answered every part of all the questions, and was informed and thorough. The student showed a deep understanding of research methods in psychology, rather than simply ‘rote’ knowledge.
Such cases are, in my experience, relatively rare. However, when you bear in mind that even an 80% is likely, in all probability, to earn a grade A for this particular section of the specification, you can see that a ‘research methods bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’. In other words, get this section right and your overall A-level grade is likely to be strong (regardless of the psychology specification followed). Get this section wrong, however, and you could well be struggling to make the grade.
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