How to Choose an IB Psychology IA Topic: Examples and Advice

Choosing an IA topic can already feel overwhelming, and the recent shift to a research proposal format only adds to that pressure. First assessed in 2027, this change means the topic you pick now carries different stakes than before. 

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To ease your mind, here are a few strong starting points already suited to the new format: the misinformation effect on memory, anchoring bias in decision-making, or how social media use relates to self-esteem. All three are feasible and ready to build on.

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In this guide, you'll find the four context-method pairings from the official subject guide, what makes a topic genuinely strong, and additional psychology IA examples you can adapt for your own proposal.

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Let's start by confirming exactly what the IA now asks of you. 

Key takeaways

• The IB Psychology IA changed for students first assessed in 2027: it’s now a research proposal you design but don’t carry out, not an executed experiment with real data collection.
• The proposal is common to SL and HL, marked out of 24, worth 30% of the final grade at SL and 20% at HL, with 20 teaching hours allocated to it.
• You choose one of four research methods for your proposal: interview, observation, survey/questionnaire or experiment. In class practicals, the minimum sample sizes are 1 (or 3 to 8 in a focus group) for interviews, 1 for observations, 10 for surveys and 5 for experiments.
• The IB’s class practical ethics rules are a useful guide when planning: conformity and obedience studies are banned, informed consent is required even for surveys, and interviews avoid topics like mental health diagnoses or self-harm.
• A strong topic is realistic to carry out, ethically sound, built on operationalised variables and clearly linked to a named syllabus theory.
• You write your proposal within a 2,200-word limit. Because you collect no data, there are no results to analyse, so you discuss instead what your study could find and what it would mean.

What is the IB Psychology IA?

For students first assessed in 2027, the IB Psychology IA is a research proposal. You design a study to investigate a “population of interest” using one of the four research methods from your class practicals, rather than carrying the study out. 

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Previously, the IA required students to run a small-scale experiment based on a published study, collect real data from participants, and analyse it statistically. The new format replaces that with planning. You set out what you would investigate and how, without relying on results from a study you ran. 

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This task is common to SL and HL, marked out of 24, and worth 30% of your final grade at SL and 20% at HL, with 20 teaching hours allocated to it.

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If you've read older guides describing raw data collection or a full write-up of results, that advice no longer applies. Your proposal is judged on the strength of your reasoning and design, not on data you never gather.

The four context-method pairings

Before you even think of a topic, you need to know which research method you’ll use. The subject guide pairs each of the four contexts with one method for class practicals, and your proposal uses one of those four methods.

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Here are the four class practical pairings, straight from the official subject guide.

What makes a strong topic choice

A strong IA topic choice comes down to feasibility, ethics, and a clean link to a specific syllabus theory, regardless of which context you've picked.

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Here are the criteria that matter most.

• Realistic to carry out - a researcher working with a school’s resources could run the study you propose, without specialist equipment or hard-to-reach participants 
• Clear ethical approval - skip this, and your teacher won't sign off on your proposal; procedures that risk anxiety, stress, pain, or discomfort to participants are non-negotiable to avoid
• Operationalised variables - "stress" isn't operationalised, but "self-reported stress rated on a 5-point scale after a timed test" is, and that specificity is what separates a workable topic from a vague one
• A specific syllabus link - general interest in a topic area isn't enough; your proposal needs to name the exact theory, model, or concept it connects to
• Genuine data depth over ambition - a focused, well-justified proposal is usually more workable than an overambitious design that can’t be explained properly within the word limit 

Topic ideas by context

Each idea below is tagged to its required method, along with a relevant ethics note worth checking before you commit.

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In the sections below, we'll walk through examples for each of the four contexts.

1. Health and well-being (interviews)

This context pairs with the interview method, so every topic below is designed to be explored through structured, semi-structured, or focus group questions.

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Here are a few topics worth considering for this context.

• Stress-management strategies during exam periods - a semi-structured focus group can compare which coping strategies participants use under exam pressure, and why they choose them over other ways of managing stress
• Exercise habits and mood - interviews can explore how participants say regular exercise changes their mood across a busy school week, and what they think explains the link
• Social media use and self-esteem - explore how everyday scrolling habits shape the way participants see themselves, focusing on what they notice about their own feelings after using social media

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Avoid interviewing fellow students on sensitive topics like mental health diagnoses, bullying, or self-harm. Safer ground includes stress-reduction techniques, lifestyle habits, or media consumption.

2. Human development (observations)

Unlike the interview approach above, Human Development asks you to observe behaviour as it happens, not ask people to describe it.

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A few topic ideas worth exploring under this context are below.

• Phone checking while waiting in a queue - non-participant observation can record how often people check their phones while waiting in a queue, tracking one clearly defined behaviour across set time windows 
• Peer correction frequency during a language-learning classroom activity - how often do students correct each other during a language lesson? Track this through controlled or naturalistic observation
• Participation frequency in class when seated near friends versus unfamiliar peers - sitting near friends versus strangers can shift how often a student speaks up, linking directly to peer influence in the development of self

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Consent works differently for naturalistic observation, since asking for it would alert people and change their behaviour. Follow the IB’s ethics guidance and your teacher’s advice on which settings are appropriate. 

3. Human relationships (surveys)

With a minimum of 10 participants required, this context is built for reaching more people at once than the other three contexts allow.

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Consider one of these starting points for your proposal.

• Communication habits and friendship satisfaction - survey how often participants message, call or meet close friends, then compare this with how satisfied they report feeling with those friendships
• Social learning and study habits - survey how often participants say they adopt study habits from friends or classmates they admire, and which habits they adopt most
• Social identity and school clubs - survey how strongly participants identify with a school club or team, then compare how they rate fellow members and non-members on friendliness 

4. Learning and cognition (experiments)

If you've read older IA guides, this context will feel the most familiar, since it still resembles the original experimental format most closely.

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Here are a few topics, each grounded in a named theory from the cognitive approach, that you can build into your own design.

• Effect of question wording on recalled details of a short video - compare how participants recall a filmed event after questions using stronger or milder wording, building on schema theory and Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study
• Anchoring bias in numerical estimates - test whether a random starting number shifts participants’ estimates of an unrelated quantity versus a control group, grounded in anchoring bias in decision-making
• Secondary task and attention accuracy - compare accuracy on a visual search task with and without a simultaneous backwards-counting task, drawing on cognitive load theory to explain the effect

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Even though this is an experiment, no data is actually collected. You're still designing the study, not running it, so your write-up focuses on justifying the design rather than reporting results.

Writing the proposal's analysis and justification

You won’t analyse any results in the new IA, because you don’t collect any data. The closest equivalent is the discussion, where you set out what your study could find, what it would mean and where its limits lie. 

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Your proposal is assessed on four areas: the introduction, research methodology, data collection and discussion. In the discussion, set out what your study could find, what those findings would mean for policy or practice, how researcher bias could affect the study, and one additional method that would add to the picture.

Explore psychology with Immerse Education

Choosing a topic and defending it on paper is only half the picture, since most students never get to test their research instincts in a real setting before their IA is actually due.

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That's exactly the gap Immerse Education's Psychology Summer School helps close. Over two weeks in person, at locations including Oxford and Cambridge, you’ll work on a personal research project guided by experienced tutors. 

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You'll explore cognitive psychology, behavioural studies, memory, personality, and social influence through case studies, experiments, and interactive lectures, building the same research-design instincts your IA proposal now demands, so you walk in already comfortable with the process.

FAQs

What is the IA for IB Psychology?

Your IB Psychology IA is a research proposal, not an executed experiment. You design a study but never carry it out. It's common to SL and HL, marked out of 24.

Do I need to collect real data for my IA?

No. The 2027 format only asks you to design and justify a study, not run it. Your write-up focuses on reasoning, not real results.

Is the IA the same for SL and HL?

Yes, you’ll complete the same research proposal task against the same criteria at either level. Only the weighting differs: it counts for 30% of your final grade at SL and 20% at HL. 

What research methods can I choose from?

Four, each fixed to a context: interviews, observations, surveys/questionnaires, and experiments. Your context choice automatically decides your method.

How do you write an IB Psych IA analysis?

Since you won't collect data, "analysis" means justifying your design choices and forecasting what your findings could or couldn't show.

What is the word limit for the IB Psychology IA?

Your proposal has a word limit of 2,200 words. References and appendices aren’t counted, so plan your space across the introduction, research methodology, data collection and discussion. 

Conclusion: start with the pairing, not the idea

Picking your IB Psychology IA topic doesn’t have to feel like a guessing game. Beginning with one of the four research methods gives you a clearer way to narrow down your ideas. 

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The strongest choices share the same traits: feasible within your school's resources, ethically sound, and tied to a specific syllabus theory rather than a vague idea.

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Use the examples in this guide as a starting point, then adapt one until it fits your own interests and constraints.

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Ready to build real research-design confidence before your IA is due? Explore Immerse Education's Psychology Summer School and start practising the skills your proposal actually needs.