What is the Internal Assessment for IB Psychology?

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. For both SL and HL there are a number of ethical guidelines which must be followed and which restrict you from certain types of experiments. You are not allowed to conduct studies on obedience or conformity, child studies, animal studies, placebo studies, or any studies involving ingestion or deprivation.

SL Internal Assessment

The Standard Level Internal Assessment consists of replicating an existing (published) simple experiment (meaning one independent variable and one dependent variable), then writing a report between 1000 and 1500 words describing your study, your results, and possible conclusions that can be drawn, along with comparison to the original study you have replicated.

HL Internal Assessment

For the higher level assessment, the internal assessment also consists of a simple experimental study, with the same general guidelines. There are a few differences for the HL report. The report for HL is longer (1500-2000 words) and it requires more detailed explanations of your hypothesis and null hypothesis, and it also has more more detailed requirements for the results sections (use of inferential statistics and implications for your hypotheses).

You can check out the Internal Assessment – Student Guide for a handy checklist for each section of the report for both SL and HL.

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