Social practical

• we conducted an experiment which aimed to investigate if there was a difference in perceived obedience between men and women based on their responses to certain social situations
• The independent variable of the practical was the gender of the participants
• The dependant variable was the perceived obedience measured from 1 being very unlikely and 5 being very likely
• We sampled the participants using opportunity sampling from 24 participants aged 16 to 60 who were friends and family of students from Surbiton High School
• Our data collection methods was having independent groups filling out a self report questionnaire, qualitative data was collected through asking the participant to complete one open answer question in their own words. the quantitative data was gathered through 9 closed questions with a likert scale includin one reverse order question and 2 filler questions.
• Step 1 Participants signed a consent form before answering questions on obedience
• Step 2 A pilot study was conducted with 3 participants to test the objectivity and reliability of the questions
• Step 3 Questions were changed and adapted before being sent to 24 participants
• Step 4 The 10 most recent male and female responses were selected to remove researcher bias
• Step 5 Scores for the 20 participants were calculated by adding their scores after removing filler questions and reversing scores on the reverse scoring question
• Step 6 Quantitative data analysis included calculating the mean, median, mode, range, and standard deviation
• Step 7 Thematic analysis was conducted on qualitative data by deciding themes and codes for each
• Conclusions:

  From our quantitative date males(21.8) have a higher perceived obedience than females (18.6). Although, The male data has a higher standard deviation (4.47) than the female data (3.77) which means there’s a greater dispersion from the mean and this could suggest that the male groups had greater individual differences.
• generalisability strength high generalisability as both males and females are used from a range of ages (16-60) and backgrounds so it can be applied to a large target population
• reliability strength the questions and procedure are standardised so that the study can be repeated to find consistent results which increases the reliability as the study can be repeat in order to ensure accurate results
• application strength to see differences between males and females in obedience in real life situations 
• Validity strength high internal validity as extraneous variables were controlled so only the IV (gender) affects the DV (perceived obedience) and there were no other contributing factors 
• ethics strength the questionnaire follows the ethical guidelines as the Ppts are kept anonymous and they have the right to withdraw at any time which fits with the ethical guidelines. In addition the Ppts received a debrief
• Generalisability weakness low generalisability as opportunity sampling was used. Only friends and families of 12D Psychology students who are available for the study have participated in the study, which means the results could not be generalised to the wider population.
• Weak reliability as some of the ms forms were  sent last minute through some ways other than email (i.e. phone, text messages). This could mean that the procedure isn’t standardised which makes the results less reliable.
• weak application because it was not a true representation to how they would respond in real life
• Weak validity the study has poor external validity due to the fact that it’s measuring perceived obedience through a self report questionnaire, which doesn’t allow situational factors to influence ppts behaviours towards obedience.  This is a weakness and would suggest that future research should look to measure perceived obedience via observation rather than self report. 
• Weak ethics questions may get too personal and raise ethical concerns. Researchers must ensure that their personal information is handled with care and confidentiality. (only use if the question specifically asks)
• one improvements and why it would be better are we could improve this study by gathering a range of participants, as opposed to just friends and family of Surbiton High School, we could have approached members within United Learning Schools Trust (which Surbiton is a part of). This would improve generalisability of the results as it would provide more variation in participants meaning they would be more representative of the target population of men and women
• Another improvement could be by doing a peer report questionnaire as well as the self report questionnaire used. This would improve reliability as someone’s own perception of their obedience may be biased and including a peer report would provide consistency of the ppts answers. 
• Aim- To investigate if there is a difference in perceived obedience between men and women based on their responses to certain social situations.
• Alternative Directional Hypothesis- Female participants will have a higher perceived obedience score, out of 40, compared to male participants when given a questionnaire including varied social situations.
• Null Hypothesis- There will be no difference in perceived obedience score ,out of 40, between male and female participants when given a questionnaire including varied social situations
• Research Design/ Data collection methods: We used an online anonymous questionnaire with a time limit of 10 minutes to collect our data using an independent groups design, selecting numbers from 1-5 on a Likert scale for the closed questions which produced quantitative data as well as one open question on obedience to obtain a qualitative data. Ptts had to submit their answers from the questionnaire
• Sampling: Opportunity sampling: we have asked people to take part in our study and the ptts have decided to agree to take part with the option of pulling out at any point, and their data’s remaining anonymous. The sample consisted of both males and females between the ages of 16-55 years old,  who live in South-West London.
• 1)created questions based on obedience, ppt signed consent form.

  2)drafted set of questions, created pilot using 3 ppt to test objectivity/reliability of questions.

  3)adapted the questions and sent to 24 ppt

  4)selected first 20 M/F responses to remove researcher bias

  5)calculated scores for M/F by adding scores on quantitative questions, removing scores for 2 filler questions and reversing reverse scoring question.

  6)calculated mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation for M/F quantitative data.

  7)conducted thematic analysis on data from 1 open question by deciding themes and codes.
• Conclusion:

  These results show that the male ptts had a higher mean obedience score as well as a higher standard deviation throughout the practical in comparison to the female ptts. This means that the data collected from the male ptts shows that there was a greater dispersion of the scores they chose throughout the questionnaire on perceived obedience and so this higher difference of results is shown by this higher standard deviation around the mean.
• These results also show that the female ptts had a greater range of results they put throughout the questionaire as well as a higher median score. The higher score of the female ptts mode obedience score shows that a large proportion of them put similar scores throughout the likert scale questions from 1-5 to measure obedience.

   
• Themes: Independence

  Codes: making own decisions

  Quotes: ‘ignore them’, ‘continue regardless’
• We can conclude from our quantitative data that males have a higher perceived obedience as they have a higher mean score of 28.9, whereas females have a perceived mean obedience of 27.9.The males have a standard deviation of 4.6 which is higherr than the females standard deviation of 4.3, suggesting that the males have a higher dispersal from the mean consequently having more individual differences affecting results in comparison to the females.
• We can conclude from our qualitative data that males acknowledge the position of authority more in their themes, such assaying hello’ and ’follow guidance consequences’ whereas the females exhibited more avoidance to authority such as, ,continue to cross, and ,continue with my friend.Both groups demonstrated perceived obedience.

  .

   
• G - The sample was collected using an age range from 16-55 for the males and females, which means it is representative of a diverse sample, which means the findings on perceived obedience between genders has high generalisability.

   
• R - In the study, all ppts were given the same questionnaire which had 9 quantitative and 1 qualitative questions based on perceived obedience in different scenario’s. These standardised procedures will allow this research to be replicated to test for consistency, which raises the reliability on perceived obedience between genders..

   
• V - A pilot study was conducted to test accuracy of our questions were measuring what it is supposed to in regards to perceived obedience in different scenarios. Led to a question being changed as the scenario was not accessible for everyone as it focused on an example in a school, and was receiving similar scores of unlikely. This change increased the accuracy of the findings on perceived obedience between genders and increased the validity.
• G - A weakness of the sample is that they were all based in South-West London as they were friends and family from surbiton high school, which means that the sample is not representative as it lacks diversity of London. This means the findings on perceived obedience between genders lacks generalisability.