One compulsory essay, fifteen marks, about a study you have never read before. It sounds like the least revisable question in the course. It is actually the most, because the same six concepts and the same research-methods thinking work on any study they can put in front of you.
📘 What you need to know
Section B is one compulsory ERQ worth 15 marks, based on an unseen research study printed in the paper.
You must discuss the study with reference to two or more key concepts.
The six concepts are bias, causality, change, measurement, perspective and responsibility.
The study may be experimental or non-experimental, and comes from one of the four contexts.
The AO3 command terms are compare and contrast, discuss, evaluate, examine, and to what extent.
Two concepts is enough if the discussion is genuinely in-depth.
If you use more than two, you must still show real range of knowledge, understanding and evaluation.
What the question looks like
You get a short account of a study — often a paragraph — and then an instruction of the form “discuss this study with reference to two or more of the following concepts”, with a list of three or four to choose from.
The exam question will normally offer you a shortlist of three or four concepts rather than all six. Read the list carefully before choosing.
Mining the study in five minutes
Read the study twice with a pen. Almost every concept has a physical home in a description of a method, and once you know where to look, they jump out.
Concept
Where it hides in the study
What to say about it
Bias
How the sample was obtained; who was left out; how questions were worded
Sampling bias, volunteer bias, demand characteristics, social desirability
Causality
Whether anything was manipulated; whether there was a control group
Confounding variables, correlation not causation, bidirectional ambiguity
Change
Time span; before-and-after measures; whether an intervention was used
Whether change was real, lasting and caused by the intervention
Measurement
What the DV was and how it was recorded
Operationalisation, self-report versus observed data, reliability and validity
Perspective
Which approach the explanation comes from
Reductionism versus holism, alternative explanations, cultural bias
Responsibility
Consent, deception, harm, vulnerable participants, how findings might be used
Notice how much of that table is Topic 5. Section B is not really an essay question; it is a research methods evaluation with concept labels attached. If you know sampling, validity and ethics well, you already have most of the content.
Two concepts deep, or four concepts wide?
Under time pressure, two well-argued concepts is the safer bet. Add a third only if it genuinely has something new to say about the study.
Structuring the answer
🧩 A structure that fits any unseen study
Introduction. One sentence summarising the study, then name the two concepts you will use and define them briefly.
Concept one. Define, locate it in the study, evaluate what it does to the findings, link back.
Concept two. Same shape.
Interaction. One paragraph on how the two concepts affect each other in this study. This is where strong answers separate.
Conclusion. A judgement: how far can we trust what this study claims, and why?
Worked examples
WORKED EXAMPLE
Mine an unseen study
A researcher recruited 45 people through a hospital noticeboard who had recently been diagnosed with a long-term illness. Over six months they took part in three interviews about how their sense of identity had shifted. The interviews were transcribed and analysed for themes by the researcher. Discuss this study with reference to two or more concepts. [15 marks]
Read for the sample
Self-selecting from a noticeboard = bias, and a specific patient group limits transferability.
Read for the measure
Themes from interviews, coded by one person = measurement, plus credibility and reflexivity.
Read for the time span
Six months, three interviews = change, gradual and unplanned rather than an intervention.
Read for the ethics
Vulnerable participants and sensitive material = responsibility: consent, confidentiality, protection from harm.
Choose bias and measurement, use change as the interactionfour available concepts, two chosen — say in the introduction which two and why
WORKED EXAMPLE
Write the interaction paragraph
Using the same study, write the paragraph that links your two chosen concepts. [AO3]
Start from the overlap, not from either concept alone
The sample and the measure are not independent problems here.
Make the linkPeople willing to volunteer for repeated interviews about identity are likely to be those most comfortable talking about it, so the themes that emerged may reflect who agreed to speak as much as what illness does to identity.
Add the check that was missing
A second researcher coding independently, or reflexive notes on the researcher’s own assumptions, would have strengthened credibility.
Judge it
So bias in the sample and subjectivity in the measurement compound each other rather than cancelling out.
Two concepts, one argumentthis paragraph is what separates a competent answer from a strong one
💡 Exam tip
Annotate the study on the question paper before you write. Circle sample, measure, design, timeframe and ethics.
Name your chosen concepts explicitly in the introduction. Do not make the examiner infer them.
Quote details from the study — the number of participants, the length of time, the way the data were collected. Specificity is evidence of engagement.
You do not need outside studies, but a brief comparison to a known study can strengthen a point.
Write one paragraph on how the concepts interact. Very few candidates do, and it reads as genuine analysis.
Finish with a judgement about what the study can and cannot support.
⚠️ Common mix-up
Summarising the study instead of discussing it. The examiner already has it in front of them.
Naming five concepts and developing none. Range without depth scores in the middle at best.
Defining concepts in isolation. Every definition must be followed by its application to this study.
Treating it as a Paper 1 essay. There is no choice of question and no outside study requirement.
Skipping ethics because the study seems harmless. Consent, confidentiality and use of findings apply everywhere.
Forgetting the conclusion. Fifteen-mark answers need a judgement, not a summary.
Up next: The Six Key Concepts Explained — the ideas that both ERQs are built on, and how to use them without turning them into content to memorise.
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