Psychology — Research Methods

Exam board: Edexcel  |  Back to subjects

Board-Specific Note

Edexcel (Pearson) specification; check the specific content list for your paper.

Learning Objectives

• Design experiments
• Use sampling techniques
• Analyse data

Key Points

• Independent and dependent variables
• Random and stratified sampling
• Measures of central tendency

Lesson Plan (50 minutes)

1. Starter (5 min): Recall prior knowledge of research methods with quick questions.
2. Teaching (15 min): Work through each of the learning objectives, explaining principles step by step.
3. Key points review (5 min): Revisit the key points together, confirming understanding.
4. Worked example (10 min): Model the example question: What is the independent variable?. Solution: The variable the researcher manipulates
5. Practice (10 min): Students attempt the practice questions independently; circulate and support.
6. Plenary (5 min): Review answers and address misconceptions.

Homework

• Write a hypothesis
• Describe random sampling
• State the mode of a data set

Assessment

Check practice answers against the model answer; use the built-in practice questions as formative assessment.