IB Docs (2) Team
The unseen passage: Paper 3
Paper 3, much like the "unseen passage" in English, is a bit of a surprise every year. You will get a piece of research that you have never seen before - and then you are asked to answer a series of questions about the research.
The focus of the paper is research methodology - both quantitative and qualitative. The stimulus piece that you will receive on exam day will be followed by a series of questions to test your understanding of how and why the research method was used - as well as your ability to evaluate the use of the method.
The paper is a one-hour exam. The total mark for Paper 3 is 24 marks. Paper 3 accounts for 20 per cent of the overall mark in psychology.Strategies for answering the questions
Read the stimulus material carefully. This will give you an idea of what to expect in the questions. Once you have understood what the research is about, read the questions carefully, one by one, so that you get an overall idea of what you are being asked to do.
Look for command terms - what exactly are you supposed to do?
Make an outline before you start writing - just a few hints as to what to answer in order to help you remember the facts you need and to structure your answer.
Answer the questions in a focused way. There is no reason to write more than is necessary.
Make sure you refer to the stimulus material in your response, but do not use long quotations from this material. You are supposed to demonstrate your knowledge of research methodology and that you can use this knowledge in relation to the stimulus material.
Static questions
Paper 3 makes use of static questions - that is, all of the questions are decided in advance. Although the exam setters have some choice in what they can ask, it is limited. Below you are going to see each of the questions that may be used and a bit of explanation of what is expected in a response.
Question 1
Question 1 is actually not, in fact, one question - but three. You are always asked the same three questions. These questions are:
Identify the method used and outline two characteristics of the method.
Describe the sampling method used in the study.
Suggest an alternative or additional research method giving one reason for your choice.
Each question is worth three marks.
Question 2
For question 2 the focus is ethics. You will be asked one of the following questions:
Describe the ethical considerations that were applied in the study and explain if further ethical considerations could be applied.
Describe the ethical considerations in reporting the results and explain ethical considerations that could be taken into account when applying the findings of the study.
The question is worth six marks.
Question 3
Question 3 is the question that involves a higher level of thinking. Notice that all of the command terms used so far are rather "low level" command terms. Question 3 asks you to discuss one question with regard to the stimulus piece. The question will be one of the following:
Discuss the possibility of generalizing the findings of the study.
Discuss how a researcher could ensure that the results of the study are credible.
Discuss how the researcher in the study could avoid bias.
Question three is assessed using the following assessment rubric.
| Markband | Level descriptor |
| 0 | The answer does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below |
| 1 - 3 | The question is misunderstood and the central issue is not identified correctly, resulting in a mostly irrelevant argument. The response contains mostly inaccurate references to the approaches to research or these are irrelevant to the question. The reference to the stimulus material relies heavily on direct quotations from the text. |
| 4 - 6 | The question is understood, but only partially answered resulting in an argument of limited scope. The response contains mostly accurate references to approaches to research which are linked explicitly to the question. The response makes appropriate but limited use of the stimulus material. |
| 7 - 9 | The question is understood and answered in a focused and effective manner with an accurate argument that addresses the requirements of the question. The response contains accurate references to approaches to research with regard to the question, describing their strengths and limitations. The response makes effective use of the stimulus material. |
Looking at the rubric, you can see that you are assessed on three key criteria: the response is well organized and focused on the question; there is accurate understanding of research methodology with regard to the question; there are explicit links to the stimulus piece.
To help illustrate how this is assessed, below you will see a sample stimulus piece with model answers.
Sample stimulus piece
Students who are enrolled in academically challenging schools face a multitude of stressors related to increased academic demands in addition to the developmental and biological challenges that are normative to adolescence. The researchers carried out a case study of one school’s IB program to see how students cope with stress. The school responded to a request in an IB publication to take part in a study. Both parental and student consent was obtained prior to the study.
The school had a long established IB program. The total number of IB candidates was roughly 100 in each year group. Forty-eight students from an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program participated in eight focus groups, in which participants were grouped by level of anxiety. In addition, the researchers carried out one on one interviews with several of the students. The researchers also observed several IB HL classes in order to see how students dealt with stress in the classroom.
Before participating in the focus group, anxiety level was determined by participants’ self-reports on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Anxiety Problems Scale. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 18 years. The low anxiety group consisted of 25 students, 52% of whom were female. The above-average anxiety group consisted of 23 students (83% female). Students from both years 1 and 2 of the program were represented similarly in the anxiety groups.
A single researcher moderated each 45- to 75-minute focus group while another member of the research team managed the audio recorder and took field notes. The moderator explained the purpose of the meeting and then posed discussion questions about stress and coping. Participants were asked to describe what they did in response to stress, including behaviors that were effective in helping to cope with the stress. Then, participants were asked to identify reactions to stress that were not effective in helping them cope.
Observations were carried out during class time to see how students coped with stress. In particular, it was observed how students used time in order to make progress on IA’s or other assessments.
Researchers identified different coping strategies based on one’s normal level of anxiety. Active problem-solving and avoidance of demands were reported most often among all IB students in this investigation. Students with above-average levels of anxiety discussed seeking social support more often, whereas students with low anxiety more frequently discussed avoiding demands, reducing their workload, and seeking positive emotions. Students with low anxiety tended to be more productive with their use of time in the classroom. As part of the debriefing, the researchers discussed coping strategies with the participants.
Sample questions and responses
Question 1
A. Identify the method used and outline two characteristics of the method.
The method used in this study was a case study. A case study often focuses on a single group - in this a single school - over a period of time in order to gather a large amount of rich data. In addition, case studies use method triangulation - that is, more than one research method is used as part of the investigation. In this study, both focus groups and observations were used.
B. Describe the sampling method used in the study.
The sampling method used was a voluntary or self-selected sample. This was done most likely to find a school who would be willing to have the disruption of the researchers during the school day. The sample may have also been purposive in that the researchers may have specified in the ad how big the school should be, how long the IB program has existed at the school, and whether the school is public or private.
C. Suggest an alternative or additional research method giving one reason for your choice.
The researchers could also carry out an experiment with the students to see if their perceptions of their own stress are accurate. The experiment could be a natural experiment around mock exam time. The researchers could measure the students' level of cortisol and white blood cell count. This would measure both the level of stress and its effect on their immune system. The measurements would be taken both before and after the mock exams. This additional method would not establish a cause-and-effect relationship, but it could confirm the self-reports of the students' level of stress.
Question 2
Describe the ethical considerations that were applied in the study and explain if further ethical considerations could be applied.
The researchers had to obtain consent in order to carry out the study. Parental consent was obtained, perhaps in line with the school's policy. As part of the consent, the researchers would have to explain the aim of their research and how they would gather their data as well as explain to the participants their rights. In addition, the researchers debriefed the participants. This would be a chance to explain what they had learned from their research, give the participants the right to withdraw their data, and remind them of their rights. In the study, the researchers also provided information about coping with stress in order to assist those that experienced high levels of anxiety.
In addition, the researchers would have kept all information anonymous. This includes not only the participants' comments in the focus groups and interviews but also the individual students' anxiety ratings. It is also important that any descriptions of students do not make it possible for them to be identified. Another concern is the audio recording of the focus groups. These recordings should not be used in a public forum which might allow the participants to be recognized.
Question 3
Discuss the possibility of generalizing/transferring the findings of the study.
Often a case study has the goal of helping the population that is being studied. One goal of the researcher is then representational generalizability. This means that the students chosen for this study would be representative of the population that they were taken from and the findings made by the researchers can be then generalized to the larger school population. In this case, we may be able to generalize the findings to other students in the program. The sample was quite diverse, so this may help to generalize the findings, but it is also not clear from the study how these particular students were chosen. If they were all taken from the same class - e.g. HL English - then they may not be representative of the population and so representational generalizability would be low.
When discussing the generalizability of a case study, psychologists also refer to its inferential generalizability or transferability. This is when the findings can be applied to another setting. To do this, the researchers would have to determine which variables would be important in the context of this study. For example, it would have to be another IB school, with a similar population (socioeconomic, culturally) and would have to have a similar IB program.
Finally, a case study can be generalized to existing theory - that is, theoretical generalizability. This is when a theory is generated from the study which is then supported by carrying out other case studies and getting similar results. If the researchers found that students in other IB schools had the same type of coping strategies, then the findings could be more credibly generalized.
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn