IB Docs (2) Team
SAQ marking: Research methods
Below you will find three sample SAQs for the question: Explain the use of one research method used in the sociocultural approach in the study of the individual and the group.
For each of the samples, refer to the rubric to award marks 1 - 9. After each sample, there is a predicted grade as well as feedback on the strengths and limitations of the sample.
SAQ rubricSAQ Sample 1
The research method used in this study on conformity (sociocultural approach) is a lab experiment. A lab experiment is done in a well-controlled environment. The participants are randomly allocated to a group unlike in a quasi-experiment where participants are not randomly allocated but instead assigned a group depending on a certain trait (e.g. gender). Lab experiments use a standardised procedure which makes it easy to replicate. These types of experiments make it easy for researchers to manipulate their independent and control variables, helping them to establish a cause and effect relationship which is essentially what experiments are trying to do - to establish a relationship/lack of a relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. In order to see a cause and effect relationship, extraneous variables must be controlled.
Asch used a sample of American male students. He deceived the participants by telling them that they are being tested on their vision, not conformity. His independent variable was “social pressure”. His dependent variable was whether the naive participant agreed with the incorrect response given by the confederates. Asch wanted to see whether or not the participants would conform by giving an incorrect response to a simple task such as matching lines of the same length. To make sure the participants could differentiate between the lengths of the lines he did a control for his experiment in which the participant was alone in the room with only the researcher present. The percentage of trials in which the participants made errors was below 1%. He carried out the experiment by having the naive participant sit amongst six confederates (dressed in business attire) and a researcher. The seven students were then all shown two cards, one of which had one line on it, and another which had three lines of different lengths on it. They were asked to match the line on the second card to the line on the first card. Then they had to give their answers one by one. Asch made sure that the naive participant sat in a position in which he could hear enough confederate answers to feel group pressure. They found a mean of 36.8% of participants gave incorrect responses in 50% of the trials or more. They also found that 24% of the participants didn’t conform to any of the incorrect responses given.
Asch used a lab experiment in order to have full control over extraneous variables. This allowed him to determine a clear cause and effect relationship between the presence of social pressure and level of conformity. The researcher also used deception to eliminate demand characteristics as the participants didn’t even know what they were being tested for their level of conformity. Finally, the study is easily replicated, making it possible to see if the results are reliable.
465 words
SAQ Sample 2
One research method used in the sociocultural approach is observations. Observation is one of many methods used to collect data. The researcher needs to watch the participant(s) and record his behaviour. One advantage of observation method is that it provides both quantitative and qualitative data and gives direct evidence of what is being studied to the researcher. An observation can be naturalistic, participant and nonparticipant.
Naturalistic observation involves studying behaviour of the participants in natural setting, meaning that the environment is not affecting their behaviour, or it can be accomplished in a lab. Whilst in a lab observation must be well structured by the researcher. Second observation is a participant observation. It involves a researcher to join the group which he is willing to study to get deeper in the participant's lifestyle. Third, an observation may be nonparticipant, meaning that the researcher is not joining the group that he wants to study, and observes it from the outside. An observation can also be covert and overt. Covert means that the participants don’t know they are being observed. If the researcher has joined a specific group, the participants are being deceived. Overt means that the participants know that they are being observed.
Asch carried out a overt naturalistic observation in order to find out if a participant would conform to seven confederates and their responses to the researcher’s questions. One naive participant was joining a group of confederates. Asch was showing the group a line test, which is based on the comparison of length of the lines, the answer for every trial was very easy. They had to compare which line looked similar to the target line. Each person had to say his answer out loud. The participant was sitting at the end of the row. The confederates and the researcher agreed about their responses during the test before the participant came in the room. Out of 18 trials the confederates said 12 of them wrong. Asch observed if the participant would conform by stating the incorrect answers.
The researcher used overt observation in order to see how the participant is affected by the group pressure during a formal task carried by a researcher. However, overt observation has demand characteristics and it may cause an expectancy effect, when the participant is acting the way the researcher is expecting him to react, and social desirability effect. This observation was naturalistic and was carried out in a lab because it was easier for the researcher to collect data by using a scheduled behaviour procedure, if the participant said the correct answer he didn’t conform. The participant knew he was being observed, and he was trying to fit in the group that answered before him and he didn’t want to be an outsider. It is called normative social influence, and it can be achieved mostly in the lab.
471 words
SAQ Sample 3
One research method used in the sociocultural approach is an experiment. This research method looks for the cause and effect relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The independent variable is manipulated and the dependent variable is measured. Usually experiments collect quantitative data, but it could also be qualitative data. There are three types of experiments: laboratory experiment, a natural experiment and a field experiment.
One example of an experiment would be Asch’s study. He carried out a lab experiment to investigate if social pressure affects a person's rate of conformity. In his study, he placed six people in a room with one of them being the real participant. The others were told how to react and therefore the real participant didn’t know that the other people were confederates. Asch then placed two cards in front of them and they were told to answer which one of the lines on the right card matches the left one. They were asked one by one to answer and he repeated this task several times. In some occasions, the seven confederates were told to choose the wrong answer to test whether the real participant would either conform to the majority view or if they will stick to their own answers.
Asch used a lab experiment because the study showed a cause and effect relationship. The cause in this study was the social pressure to agree with all the other people in the group, and the effect was the level of conformity between the individuals in the group. By using other research methods such as observational studies or surveys, we won’t be able to look for the cause and effect relationship. To create social pressure, an observational study would be really hard to use because the independent variable is not manipulated. In this study the independent variable and the dependent variable is very important and therefore the best method to study the effect of social pressure on a person’s conformity is a lab experiment.
332 words
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