♥Core Studies| Physiological Psychology| Dement and Kleitman (1957) Dream and Sleep♥

Dement and Kleitman (1957)| the Relation of Eye Movements during Sleep to Dream Activity

Dement and Kleitman studied how the stage of sleep you are in affects whether you can or can't recall your dreams.

Background to the study 

Sleeping consists of a number of stages-which can be shown by the different patterns in alpha and beta waves during a test called electroencephalography; which is a method of measuring different electrical activity in the brain by recording from electrodes which will be placed on the scalp. Electroencephalography can also be referred to as an (EEG).

Overall there are four stages of sleep:

Stage One is the lightest stage of sleep (by lightest I mean the easiest to wake a person up from), you can characterise it by a lowered heart rate, relaxed muscle tension and a lover body temperature. Really this is when the body begins a state of relaxation. This stage is represented by slow alpha waves that have a frequency between 8-12 Hz per second.

Stage Two is still light but deeper than stage one, a person can still be woken up relatively easily and this is represented by larger EEG waves and spindles (which are bursts of high frequency waves between 12-16 Hz)

Stage Three is a deeper sleep, the waves are now delta waves which are large and slow waves between 1-3 Hz, in this stage people don't respond to external stimuli such as a light switching on or a car alarm going off and are quite difficult to get up.

Stage Four is the deepest sleep, people in this stage of sleep will respond to personal stimuli such as their baby crying, their metabolic activity is also low. This stage is characterised by delta waves of 1 Hz.

It takes around 30 mins to get down to stage four sleeps. When at stage four you spend 30 mins in this stage and then we fluctuate between stages 3 and 2 but instead of re-entering stage 1 again we go into a phase called Active Sleep. This stage is represented by much desynchronised pattern similar to that if we were awake. In this stage our metabolic activity increases along with heart rate but the body is still more or less paralysed and this stage makes waking up a person an impossible task. This phase of sleep is referred to as the deepest stage called REM sleep (which stands Rapid Eye Movement) this is because you can observe the movement of your eyes in this stage under closed eyelids. We tend to spend 10-15 mins in REM sleep and then go back to stage 4, 3, 2 etc. This cycle takes about 70-90 mins to happen and is repeated 5-6 times a night.

A restoration theory suggests that non REM sleep restores bodily processes that have deteriorated during the day. Whereas REM sleep stimulates protein synthesis which replenishes brain processes. Sleep can be described as a survival function by keeping animals safe from predators, and hibernation can be seen as an extension of this process.

You might wonder why is it that we dream, well there are many theories that relate to just that question. Reorganisation of mental structures theory suggests that REM sleep is involved in the organisation of schemas which is the cognitive structures that support cognitive processes. This is supported by the finding that complex cognitive tasks lead to an increase in the time spent in REM sleep and also by the fact that babies spend so much time in REM sleep. IN other words it can be said that REM sleep is seen as a support of cognitive development. The Activation Synthesis Model proposes that dreams are the 'active interpretation of the signals produced by the cortex during REM sleep. Crick and Mitchinson (1983) suggested that this is a way of us being able to sort out all of the information that we absorbed that day so dreaming is something which allows our brain to decide what information we want to keep or get rid of. And finally Freud (1900) saw dreams as the 'royal road to the unconscious' and psychoanalytic therapists still use dream interpretation as a way  of interpreting individual patients hidden desires and thoughts.

Aim 

Aim of the study was to investigate the following three hypotheses:

Hyp 1- There will be a significant association between REM sleep and dreaming - which basically asks the question whether we dream in REM sleep.

Hyp 2- There will be a significant positive correlation between the estimate of the duration of dream and the length of eye movement- so this is asking whether our eye movement has anything with dreaming,

Hyp 3- There will be a significant association between the pattern of eye movement and the context of the dream- which is basically proposing that the direction in which we move our eyes associates the directions were looking in our dreams.

Participants 

The participants consisted of 9 people. The sample was studied in two groups, a group of five participants who were studied in depth and a group of four participants who were used as a control group (meaning that they were used for a comparison)

The sample was made up of 7 men and 2 women, although not confirmed it is suggested that there was one woman in each group.

Procedure

Sleep sessions took place in a 'sleep lab' that was set up for the experiment- which meant that participants were in a set up environment. Participants could eat normally but were told to not drink caffeine or alcohol on the day of the study- this took place so that any extraneous variables which could disturb the natural sleeping pattern of the participants. EEG electrodes were then placed near the eyes to measure the electric to measure electric activity and therefore REM (Rapid Eye Movement). From this D&K could know when a participant was in REM and what type of REM they were in. Electrodes were also placed around the skull so D&K could measure the brain activity of the participants.  The participants were then woken at various times in the night using a doorbell that was situated by their bed and were asked to record their dreams (if they remembered anything from them) on a voice recorder. Sometimes participants were woken during REM sleep and sometimes they weren't woken during REM sleep. If no dream were recalled it got recorded as a ''no dream''. Five out of nine participants were studied over a period of 61 nights with 351 awakenings in total and an average of 5.7 awakenings per night.

Testing Hyp 1:

Participants were woken up during the night with a loud doorbell sound, and then the participants had to speak into the voice recorder. They were then instructed to first state whether or not they had been dreaming and then, if they could remember the dream they would recall their dream. The participants were only reported as having dreamed if they could coherently recall their dream (give loads of detail about the dream). Participants were woken up on a schedule so one participant would be woken up three times in REM and then three times in N-REM so on, Two were woken up at random, One was told that he would only get woken up in REM but got woken up randomly. Another was woken up at the experimenter’s whim. To eliminate experimenter effects, the experimenter did not communicate with the participants during the night, and also to eliminate bias the participants were not told whether their eyes moved or not.

Testing Hyp 2:
The participants were also woken at either 5 or 15 mins into REM sleep and were asked to predict whether they had dreamt for 5 or 15 mins.

Testing Hyp 3:

The participants were woken up as soon as one of the four patterns of eye movement had lasted for at least one minute. On waking the participants were asked to describe in detail the content of their dream. The four patterns that prompted an awakening were: mainly vertical eye movements, mainly horizontal eye movements, both vertical and horizontal eye movements, very little or no eye movement.

Findings

All participants showed periods of REM every night during sleep. The REM EEG was characterised by a low volt. And relatively fast pattern which were characteristics of a deeper sleep. (Refer to your graph and background to the study to look at patterns of REM). REM never occurred at the beginning of the sleep cycle. REM periods which were not terminated by an awakening varied between 3 and 50 mins with a mean of about 20, and tended to increase in length as the night progressed. REM periods occurred at regular intervals during the night, though each participant has their own pattern: mean period of REM phase for the whole group was 92 mins, with individual norms varying to between 70-104 mins.

Hyp 1: in REM sleep 152 dreams were recalled in comparison to 39 dreams that weren't recalled. In N-REM sleep 11 dreams were recorded in comparison to the 149 dreams that weren't recorded. So this shows that that REM sleep is predominantly- but not exclusively- associated with dreaming. When participants were woken up at 11 mins into REM so the transition to N-REM they could remember distorted bits of information from their dreams.

Hyp 2: results to the estimates of the length of dreams were five mins into REM 45 participants correctly guessed the length of their dreams where as 6 didn't. When fifteen mins into REM 47 participants correctly guessed the length of their dream where as 13 didn't. Which suggests that all participants could correctly choose the correct dream duration fairly accurately? 

Hyp 3: There did appear to be some relationship between the dream content and the type of eye movements. After a series of vertical eye movements dreams such as: standing at the bottom of a cliff operating a hoist, and looking up at the climbers and down at the machinery, climbing up a series of ladders looking up and down, throwing basketballs at a net, first shooting and looking up at the net, and then looking down to pick another ball off the floor. Horizontal eye movements recorded such dreams such as watching two people throw tomatoes at each other. When a mixture of eye movements were recorded dreams involved looking at people or objects close to them. Little or no eye movements recorded dreams when a person was watching something from a distance or just staring fixedly at some object. In order to confirm the meaningfulness of the results of the relationship 20 naive and 5 of the experimental participants were asked to observe distant and close-up activity while awake. These measurements were in all cases comparable to those occurring during dreaming.

Evaluation 

The strength of this method is that it is high in reliability as such studies as this can be repeated by other researchers, And also it took place in a highly controlled environment which meant that any extraneous and confounding variables are ruled out. However it laced in ecological validity as none of the participants had a natural sleep because of being placed in unnatural settings and wouldn't sleep with electrodes placed on their head, but it could be looked over if the study might actually happen if the participants were in their own bed it might alter the sleeping pattern, 

The sample was un-repersentable with a ratio of 7:2 for males to females which is a significant gender imbalance. But this has been overcome by the amount of overall awakenings which summed up to 375 awakenings. As the physiology of the brain is similar in all people we don't need a large sample which is why the sample size is ideal. Both Qualitative and Quantitative data was used; quantitative data was collected by the means of the EEG \and Qualitative data was collected via the description of the dreams. The study was useful as it allowed us to see if there was any correlation between sleep and our eye movement. However it’s not a general sable study as it did take place in controlled conditions therefore its usefulness can be argued.

It is a reductionist study as it gives a biological explanation of the narrow focus, which is that dreaming is simply a product of REM sleep.

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Hope this was helpful. If you have any question please ask and as the exams aren’t far away id encourage past papers for region purposes which for this course can be found on the OCR Website: Core Studies Past Papers Code G542 and Psychological Investigations code is G541

Social Psychology : Section C

Here is Your Section C guide to Social Psychology , Remember this involves Milgram: Obedience, Piliavin et.al: Subway Samaritan and Reicher and Haslams BBC Prison study 

 The Assumptions of The Social Approach (2 marks)

 The social approach assumes we learn behaviour in three ways, firstly by Social Influence, which is where we are influenced by others, secondly by Social Interaction- which is the way in which we form relationships with others and thirdly, by Social Cognition- which is how the influence of others and our interaction with others affects the way we think.  

In The social approach there are three main things they are going to ask you to answer which is how the social approach could explain obedience( this is where you would use Milgram), helping behaviour (this is where you would use Piliavin) and group membership (this is where you would use Reicher and Haslam). 

 Here is an Example: 
Describe how the social approach could explain group membership (4 marks) The social approach suggests that situational factors affect group membership, for example if you're pressured by another you might identify with that group. Reicher and Haslam suggested that group membership can be affected by status, for example in their study Reicher and Haslam expected the guards to identify with their roles as they had high status however this did not happen due to the individual differences between them. Similarities and Differences between the Studies in Social Psychology, (6 markers) Similarities between Milgram and Piliavin:- Both took place in the 60's which is when society had more respect for authority and people tended to me more helpful and obedient in comparison to today’s world.- Both participants were influenced by somebody working for the experimenter- Both had bad ethical issues- Both Ethno-centric - Both recorded spontaneous comments  Differences between Milgram and Piliavin:- Milgram used a Laboratory experiment which lacked in ecological validity and was highly controlled where as Piliavin uses a naturalistic controlled observation which was more naturalistic so it boosted ecological validity. Similarities between Piliavin and Reicher and Haslam:- Both looked at helping behaviour- Both stuck to observational ethic guidelines- Both studied people in groups- Both ethnocentric- Both used Quantitative and Qualitative data Differences between Piliavin and Reicher and Haslam - Piliavin studied in the real world where as Reicher and Haslam studied in an artificial set up setting which decreased their ecological validity- Reicher and Haslam used questionnaires and Quantitative data on top of observation to back up results. Similarities between Reicher and Haslam and Milgram:- Both Lab Experiments - Participants unprotected from harm at some point- Both self-selected sample - Both used some sort of observation - Both only used males - Both lacked experimental realism. Differences between Reicher and Haslam and Milgram:- Milgram studied individuals (one participant at a time) where as Reicher and Haslam studied group processes.- Milgrams study was highly unethical where as Reicher and Haslam was ethical. Section C Part C Describe one similarity and one difference between any of the social approach studies (6)* Piliavin and MilgramOne similarity between Milgram and Piliavin's study is that both studies had ethical issues. By this we mean that at some point throughout the study the participants could have been put through a negative experience. For example in Piliavin's study participants were unaware of their participation in their study-use of deception and protection of harm was broken as someone falling over could prove to be a traumatic experience. In Milgram's study deception was used and participants were told that they were doing a study on learning behaviour where as they took a part of a study of obedience in real life. One difference between Piliavin and Milgram is that they both used different experimental designs, by this we mean that both studies were carried out in different ways. Milgram chose to carry his study out via a laboratory experiment which took place in a highly controlled  environment in which participants were not used to where as Piliavin carried out a naturalistic controlled observation which happened on a train and also there is a high possibility that the experiment could happen in real life. Strengths and weaknesses of the Social Psychology Approach (Part D -12 marks) One strength of the social approach is that it uses real life situations to study behaviour; this is a strength because social psychology is interested in human interaction and this is best studied in real life situations where participants have the opportunity to interact. For example in Pilivans study the research took place on genuine NYC Trains which meant that participants were in a naturalistic setting and were unaware of being studied which gave the researchers the chance to observe naturalistic interactions. Another strength of the social approach is that it helps us to understand social behaviour. This is a strength because it means we are able to explain and offer solutions to problems in the real world e.g. behaviour in groups of prisons. For example in Reicher and Haslams study they were able to demonstrate how the breakdown of a group can lead to conditions to which tyranny can flourish and situations become unpleasant. One weakness of the social approach is that ethical problems can arise when studying social behaviour. This is a problem because it can affect reliability of research in this area. For example in Milgrams study participants felt withdraw was impossible due to the prods used so therefore the reliability of this study can be questioned as the results could be due to the influence of the experimenters. Another weakness of the social approach is that it can be ethnocentric. This is a weakness because results gained from one culture may not reflect the behaviour and experiences of another culture. For example in Piliavin’s study the study could not be generalised to other areas or cultures which means that countries in Europe may have shown different results but as the study only took place in New York City it can’t be generalised.

♥Exam Technique| Core Studies- Section C♥

Section C

You may have or may not have already come across the section C in your core studies paper. You see the trick with AS Psychology exams is that 50% of the marks account for your knowledge of the core studies, the other 50% comes from your exam technique - your ability to answer the answers properly.

Section C is one of those exam sections were it can be tricky but as you practice them more and more you become used to answering these style questions and become to love them. So the time starts now as your exam is on the 11th of May 2015 which from today is 63 days away and this is not long considering we have a two week Easter holiday.

Section C is a 4 part question were it asks you about the approaches and perspectives in psychology( I will be making Section C information pages for all of the perspectives and approaches so you don't have to worry.)

Section C: Part (a)

 

The first part of the section is is part (a) this question is worth two marks and it asks you about the assumptions of an Approach or Perspective which you have covered.

An example of this question would be:

(a) Outline one assumption of the Developmental Approach. [2]

The developmental approach states that our cognitive, emotional and behavioural development is an on-going process throughout one’s life due to our interaction with nature or nurture. For example the cognitive mathematical skills that one person learns develops through their life time, first you learn the numbers then you expand your knowledge with learning how to add, subtract, multiply and divide etc. it is not something that we automatically know.

 

- the answer above is worth more than two marks, you would be accounted your two full marks for stating the first sentence of the example :The developmental approach states that our cognitive, emotional and behavioural development is an on-going process throughout one’s life due to our interaction with nature or nurture.

- However just that sentence above does not prove to the examiner that you fully understand the approach or perspective which is why using a general example that links in with the approach is great as it does allow the examiner to see your understanding of the approach.

How do I answer part (a) ?

1. State what the approach or perspective is

2. Give a general example that links to the approach.

 

Section C: Part (b)

 

Part (b) is worth four marks, it asks you about how your approach or study can deal with a problem from that particular approach.

An example of this question would be:

Explain how the cognitive approach could explain the inaccuracy of eyewitness testimony. [4]

The cognitive approach believes that our thought processes is just information we input, store and output but thinking is not directly seen but we can try and guess what a person is thinking due to their behaviour. For example people that witness and event or a crime would have seen the event by watching it storing it in their memory and recall it when ask questions about it but they may not remember every single detail of that event which makes the results inaccurate. In Loftus and Palmers study participants were inputting the information by watching a series of video clips which they then stored but they then went away for a week and were asked about a specific detail that did not actually occur in the clip they may have forgotten about the information in a week so they would have guessed the answer which means that we may not be able to recall the information correctly which proves that eyewitness isn't always accurate.

 

How do I answer part (b)

1. state what the approach or perspective says
2. give an example
3. state what the particular study says about that issue
4. Give an example from that study of that issue.

Section C: Part C

 

This section is worth six marks it is asking you about the similarity and a difference between two studies in an approach.

An example of this question may be:

Describe one similarity and one difference between any social approach studies. [6]

* Similarities and differences between Piliavin and Milgram.

One similarity between Piliavin and Milgram is that they both have ethical issues in their studies, which means that at some point participants could have been put through a negative experience. For example in Piliavin’s study participants weren't aware that they were being studied on , meaning that deception and protection from harm rules were broken where as in Milgram’s study deception was broken as participants thought that they were doing a study on learning behaviour , where as they were actually doing a study on obedience. One difference between Piliavin and Milgram is that they both used a different experimental design, what we mean by this is that both studies were conducted in a different way. Milgram used a lab experiment method in an artificial setting which was highly controlled with the environment not familiar to participants where as Piliavin used a naturalistic controlled observation method, the set up experiment is a type of event that could have possibly happened in real life in the participant’s naturalistic environment

How do I answer part (c)

1. State which studies you will be comparing

2. State the similarity between the studies

3. Say what you mean by this similarity

4. Give an example from each study

5. State the difference between the studies.

6. Say what you mean by the difference

7. Give an example from each study.

Section C: Part (d)

This section is worth twelve marks and it asks you about the strengths and weaknesses on an approach or perspective.

 

An example of this question may be:

 

State the strengths and weaknesses of the Psychodynamic Perspectives.[12]

One strength of the psychodynamic perspective is the way it can be used to explain a whole variety of phenomenon. This is strength because it helps us to understand the more unusual conditions of the human psyche. For example in Thigpen and Cleckley's study helped to offer explanations for the cause of multiple personality disorder. Strength of the psychodynamic perspective is that it has led to the invention of therapies for treating mental disorders. This is the strength because Freud believed that once unconscious conflicts and emotions were made conscious they could be discussed and resolved. For example in Thigpen and Cleckley's study they showed us how hypnosis could be used to treat multiple personality disorder. One weakness of the psychodynamic perspective is that its ideas are hard to test scientifically. This is a weakness because it means that it is very difficult to replicate research, thus reliability is low. For example in Freud’s study he argued that Little Hans' phobia was a product of his unconscious mind which we are unaware of so were unable to study it. Another weakness of the psychodynamic perspective is that research is often only based on a very small sample. This is a weakness as it means it is unable to make generalisations about behaviour. For example in Freud’s study only one participant was studies who was Little Hans.

How do I answer part (d)

1. State one strength

2.Say why it’s a strength

3. Give an example from a study in the approach or perspective

4. State another strength

5. Say why it’s a strength

6. Give an example from a study in the approach or perspective

7. State one weakness

8. Say why it’s a weakness

9. Give an example from a study in the approach or perspective

10. State another weakness

11. Say why it’s a weakness

12. Give an example from a study in the approach or perspective



Core Studies| Developmental Psychology| Samuel and Bryant (1983)

Background to the study...

My  name is Jean Piaget and i see children as active little scientists as they learn by exploring their own thinking .

Jean Piaget is a famous psychologist being one of the first psychologist studying cognitive development in children. Piaget wasn't only interested in what children could do or couldn't but why they made the mistakes they did.  Through the aid of imaginative tasks Piaget was able to establish  an insight into children's thought processes. His conclusion was children's thinking was not the same as adults and that cognition (thinking) was a development that is learned and not what is biological.

For your Exam you will need to know the different stages that Piaget established and the ages at which the stages occur apart from the pre-operational stage as this is the main focus of P and S&B studies. :

Sensorimotor - this happened between 0-18 months ( senses)
Pre-Operational- this stage happens between 18 months-7 years and this is when symbols (I.E words) and general rules become important .
Concrete Operational- this happens between 7-12 years
Formal Operational - 12+ years

Piaget focused his study on the pre-operational stage as he said that children at that age can not CONSERVE- the ability of understanding that if shape if something is physically changed it has the same mass, volume or number. Or REVERSE MENTAL OPERATION- the acceptance only of what is observed in present so wouldn't believe that water in liquid form came from an ice cube.

His founding had a tremendous impact on teaching in the 1960-70's with his founding provided evidence that children are motivated to learn better when they when they explore thinking with to the extent of what stage they're in.

Piaget experimented on children aged between 5-8 years of age where he showed children two rows of counters containing the same amount of counters in each row and asked children if both rows had the same number of coins in the rows.This was known as the pre-transformational question. Then Piaget spaced out the coins on one row transforming the appearance of the rows. Then he asked whether the rows had the same number of coins in the rows. Children according to Piagets stages cant conserve or reverse mental operation so they would say that the number of coins on both rows are the same in the post-transformational question however they don't understand that when you physically transform one row the number of coins stayed the same so would say that the numbers in the post transformational questions would be different. Which  proves Piagets theory.

However critics of Piagets Experiment Rose and Blank(1974) would suggest that asking two questions could be proven confusing to children so therefore even if the children thought that the number of coins was the same post transformation asking the question twice would make the child think that the first answer they given was wrong which given the basis for Samuels and Bryant's study.

Asking Only One Question In The Conservation Experiment(1983)

Aim

♥ To test the hypothesis that asking only one question in the conservation task would lead to more correct answers.

Participants

Samuel and Bryant picked 252 boys and girls from a variety of schools and preschools in Devon. They were placed into four age controlled groups (A(5.3),B(6.3),C(7.3) and D(8.3))- 21 children in each of the groups) with 63 children in each group. these four groups were then divided into three experimental conditions which were

Standard Piaget 

- pre and post transformation were asked 

One Judgement 

- Shown transformation but only asked one question 

Fixed Array 

- Only shown post transformation and asked one question

84 children was subjected to each of the conditions above.

Each trial was repeated 4 times making a total of 12 trials per child so that researchers could make sure that the results were not due to chance factors, children also experienced only one of the conditions making it an independent measures design. Tasks were also shown at random to reduce the possibility of order effects.

Independent Variables

- age of the participants (5.3,6.3,7.3,8.3)

- experimental condition the children were in (fixed array, one judgement, standard Piaget)

- material used in the conservation task(number-coins, mass-plasticine, volume- liquid in a glass)

Findings

The way the researchers recorded the findings was due to the number of errors the child made. an error was an incorrect statement about the changes in volume, mass or number.

At age 5.3 in the Standard Piaget children scored 8.5, in One-Judgement children scored,7.3 and in the Fixed Array children scored 8.6.

At age 6.3 in the Standard Piaget children scored 5.7, in One-Judgement children scored 4.3 and in Fixed Array children scored 6.4.

At age 7.3 in the Standard Piaget children scored 3.2, in One-Judgement children scored 2.3 and in Fixed Array children scored 4.9.

At age 8.3 in the Standard Piaget children scored 1.7, in One-Judgement children scored 1.3 and in 
Fixed Array children scored 3.3.

 Findings against the IVs

- Age: number of errors decreases with the age going up which shows that the ability to conserve gets significantly better with age.

- Experimental Condition: The mean number of errors is lower for the One Judgement condition (where only pre-transformational question had been asked.)

- Material tested in the conservation tasks: Overall the data shown below presents findings for third variable; it can be seen that children are more successful and so make fewer errors when conserving number compared with volume or mass. 

In the conservation tasks data recorded was recorded on the same principle as the finding were recorded.

In conservation of Mass children in the Standard Piaget scored 1.5, children in One Judgement scored 1.2 and children in Fixed Array scored 1.7.

In the conservation of Number children in the Standard Piaget scored 1.5, children in One Judgement scored 1.0 and in Fixed Array 1.5.

In the conservation of Volume children in the Standard Piaget scored 1.8, children in One Judgement scored 1.6 and in Fixed Array 2.5.

Conclusions:

- Children can conserve better than Piaget initialised in the first place , this could be due to the presentation of questions ( Asking 1 or 2 questions) , asking 2 questions clearly confused the child and created demand characteristics in that if the question is asked twice even if the child thought that their answer was correct both times they are going to assume that the answer they gave the first time must be wrong so say a different answer because they think that's what the researcher is wanting to know.
- The results from Fixed Array condition clearly shows that the transformation needs to be shown in order to understand conservation fully. This is evidenced by the highest number of errors in the fixed array conditions, however did best in one judgement because of the transformation shown which provides child with sufficient knowledge to prove that the material didn't change.

Evaluation 

The researchers were using 3 iv's which is a strength as it allows a cause and effect relationship to be established and the researcher is therefore able to pin point the factors affecting results e.g. as you get older you can conserve better. Also by using an experimental design researchers were able to achieve high levels of control. However because the experiment was a laboratory experiment it happened in a non-naturalistic environment so the results that were obtained could be due to demand characteristics and as in a non naturalistic environment are not true to life this means that this study has low ecological validity.

Overall the study is highly ethical although it was an unusual procedure the possibility of the distress of children was faint.

The sample obtained by Samuel and Bryant was large and could be considered as representative, ages covered the time period in which Piaget said that children cant conserve so it allowed researchers to investigate where conservation begins if an age range wasn't used  than the effect of age could not be tested. Although all the children studied were from one area in England  which could be criticised for being un representative due to its ethnocentric nature as results could have been different in different parts of England or more so different countries over the whole world .

The type of data collected was Quantitative which allowed the creation of statistics which could indicate the probability that results were due to the different change factors.

The research was useful in a few ways,but most importantly it showed us that children's development is affected by the environmental influences, in this case the way the questions were asked affected the response.