Question 1 Report
A charity asks visitors to its website whether they have ever felt lonely. The question appears immediately after a video about severe isolation, and the researcher is concerned about demand characteristics.
(a) Explain what demand characteristics are in this situation. [2]
(b) Describe one change that could reduce demand characteristics in the charity’s study. [2]
(a) Cues in the study, such as the isolation video, may reveal its aim [1] and cause visitors to alter answers to fit what they think the researcher expects [1] (b) Any one: place neutral questions before the loneliness question / remove the video / use a less obvious cover purpose [1]; this makes the true aim less clear to participants [1]
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