A-Level AQA Psychology Features of Science: Job interview

Researchers wante

Question

Job interview

Researchers wanted to investigate how long it took interviewers to make a decision to hire an employee through a job interview. The researchers wanted to see whether interviewers made an almost instant decision (in under a minute) to hire an employee, as suggested by previous research findings.

They collected data from 160 unstructured job interviews where students were hired for a job at a university careers fair. The researchers asked the interviewers to estimate how long it took them, in minutes, to make their hiring decision.

The estimated time that it took the interviewers to make a hiring decision was split into four categories:

- Under 1 minute
- 1 to 5 minutes
- 5 to 15 minutes
- More than 15 minutes.

The interviewers were fully informed about the aim of the study beforehand and gave their permission for their data to be used in a published research study.

The results of the job interview study are shown in Table 3.

Table 3

Time taken to reach hiring decision | Percentage (%) of interviewers who reported making their hiring decision in this time period 
--- | --- 
Under 1 minute | 5 
1 to 5 minutes | 30 
5 to 15 minutes | 20 
More than 15 minutes | 45

The researchers also asked the interviewers who made a quick hiring decision to give some information about the factors that helped them make a quick decision.

The common themes given by the interviewers are shown in Table 4.

Table 4

Contributing factor for quick decision in hiring an employee | Number of interviewers who reported this as a factor 
--- | --- 
Experience of interviewer | ### 
Confidence of interviewer | // 
Friendly pre-interview chat | ### 
Interview late in the day | ###

Analyse the data in Table 4 to explain one conclusion that the researchers might draw from these results.

Explain two ways that subjectivity could have influenced the job interview study.

Explain one way the researchers could have made sure the job interview study was reliable.

Job interview Researchers wanted to investigate how long it took interviewers to make a decision to hire an employee through a job interview - AQA - A-Level Psychology - Question 2 - 2019 - Paper 3

Worked Solution & Example Answer:Job interview Researchers wanted to investigate how long it took interviewers to make a decision to hire an employee through a job interview - AQA - A-Level Psychology - Question 2 - 2019 - Paper 3

Calculate the ratio of those who decided in under 1 minute to those who decided in more than 15 minutes.

Analyse Table 4 to explain one conclusion that researchers might draw.

Explain two ways that subjectivity could have influenced the job interview study.

Explain one way the researchers could have made the study reliable.

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