The Internal Assessment for IB Psychology consists of collection of data from a simple experiment, followed by a written report. The report is graded by the class teacher and then the reports and grades are sent to an IB Moderator who reviews a sample and adjusts scores if needed. Students must work collaboratively to plan their experiment and collect data for their reports, but reports must be written individually by each student. There are a number of ethical guidelines which must be followed and which restrict some types of experiments. Students are not allowed to conduct studies on obedience or conformity, child studies, animal studies, placebo studies, or any studies involving ingestion or deprivation. Students are also not allowed to compare the following variables in their analyses: gender, age, native language, culture, education level, socio-economic status, or handedness.
The Internal Assessment Report
The experimental report should be between 1800 and 2200 words and contains four sections: Introduction, Exploration, Analysis, & Evaluation.
The introduction describes an existing theory and a supporting study, which will be the basis for the student’s investigation. The aim and relevance of the students investigation should be explained, along with details on the dependent variable, independent variable, and research and null hypotheses.
The exploration section then provides more detail on the investigation, including information on the research design, the study’s sample and the population it was drawn from, ethical guidelines that were followed, and justifications for key elements of the procedure and materials used.
The analysis section summarizes the findings with descriptive statistics and a graph showing the relevant conditions of the experiment, and explains the choice of appropriate inferential statistics based on the variables investigated in order to determine if results were significant and if the null hypothesis should be accepted or rejected.
The evaluation section discusses the experiment’s findings in relation to the original theory, then evaluates relevant strengths and limitations of the study’s procedure, sample, and design for interpreting the results, and suggests potential modifications that could be made to address limitations.
The following assessment summary can help you to check your report and ensure that all required components are included: IB Psychology Internal Assessment Rubric Feedback Sheet
