Research Methods

1. Research Methods Review Game

2. :25 Psychologists generally prefer the experimental method to other research methods because: • Experiments are more likely to support psychologists’ hypotheses • Experiments can show cause-effect relationships • It is easier to obtain a random sample for an experiment • Double-blind designs are unnecessary in an experiment • Experiments are more likely to result in statistically significant findings

3. :25 Theoretically, random assignment should eliminate: • Sampling error • The need to use statistics • Concerns over validity • Many confounding variables • The need for representative sampling

4. :25 Karen and Sue are lab partners assigned to research who is friendlier, girls or boys. After conversing with their first 10 participants, they find that their friendliness ratings often differ. With which of the following should they be most concerned? • Reliability • Confounding variables • Ethics • Random Selection • Assignment

5. :25 Which of the following hypotheses would be most difficult to test experimentally? • People exposed to the color red will be more aggressive than those exposed to the color blue • Exercise improves mood • Exposure to violent television increases aggression • Studying leads to better grades • Divorce makes children more independent

6. :25 Professor Davis wants to design a project studying emotional response to date rape. He advertises for participants in the school newspaper, informs them about the nature of the study, gets their consent, conducts an interview, and debriefs them about the results when the experiment is over. If you were on the IRB, which ethical consideration would you most likely have the most concern about in the Professor’s study? • Coercion • Deception • Confounding variables • Anonymity • Clear scientific purpose

7. Participant Scores

8. :25 Some psychologists consider Stanley Milgram’s obedience studies to be unethical because of which ethical consideration? • Improper sampling procedure • Risk of long-term harm • Clear scientific purpose • Debriefing • Anonymity

9. :25 One of the principal differences between the ethical guidelines for human and animal research is: • Human subjects can be deceived for experimental purposes and animals cannot • Animal subjects can be placed at much greater physical risk than human subjects can • Human subjects must be chosen much more carefully than animal subjects • If humans might physically suffer because of the study, the suffering must be minimal, in contrast to animal studies where any amount of suffering is ethical if it helps to further a clear scientific purpose • Environmental conditions for human studies must be monitored much more closely than they are in an animal study

10. :25 What is the median of the following distribution: 6,2,9,4,7,3 • 4 • 5 • 5.5 • 6 • 6.5

11. :25 Sandy scores a perfect 100 on a test that everyone else fails. If we were to graph this distribution, it would be: • Symmetrical • Normal • skewed • Evenly Distributed • A straight line

12. :25 Jose hypothesizes that a new drug he has just invented will enhance mice’s memories. He feeds the drug to the experimental group and gives the control group a placebo. He then times the mice as they learn to run through a maze. In order to know whether his hypothesis has been supported, Jose would need to use: • Scatter plots • Descriptive statistics • Histograms • Inferential statistics • Means-end analysis

13. Participant Scores

14. :25 Which of the following is the best example of random sampling? • Picking out of a hat to assign each of three classes to an experimental conditions • Having a computer generate a random list of 100 high school students • Approaching any 50 students during sixth period lunch • Mailing out a large batch of surveys to college students • Choosing every other person that you see in a shopping mall

15. :25 Vincenzo conducts an experiment to see whether fear makes mice run through mazes faster. He first selected a sample of 60 mice and then divided them into a control group and an experimental group. Which cannot be a confounding variable? • How fast the mice are at the start • When the mice run the maze • The population from which he selected his subjects • How frightened the mice are before the experiment • Where the mice run the maze

16. :25 Charlotte, a doctoral psychology student, hypothesizes that boys have fights with the finger paints more than girls do. She tests her hypothesis by casually watching the finger-painting table for three days of nursery school. What method is she using? • Field experiment • Informal survey • Case study • Naturalistic observation • Ethnography

17. :25 Jen collects survey data that indicates that students who spend more time preparing for the AP test tend to score better than other students. Jen can now conclude that: • Studying improves exam grades • A relationship exists between studying and exam grades • A significant correlation exists between studying and exam grades • Anyone who does not study will do poorly on the exam • Better students tend to study more

18. :25 Organized sets of concepts that explain phenomena are: • Independent variables • Dependent variables • Hypotheses • Theories • Statistics

19. Participant Scores

20. :25 Students will be able to read a statement printed in Comic Sans font faster than the same statement written in the Lucida Calligraphy font. This statement is an example of a(n): • Hypothesis • Theory • Replication • Operational definition • Correlation

21. :25 James is part of an experiment on exercise and mood. What would be the dependent variable of the study? • Diet • Mood • Exercise • Age • Body weight

22. :25 A quasi-experiment cannot be considered a controlled experiment because: • Subjects cannot be individually selected • Subjects cannot be randomly assigned • Experimenter bias is unavoidable • Demand characteristics are unavoidable • Too few subjects participate in the procedure

23. :25 When subjects in the experimental group put a puzzle piece in the wrong place, the experimenter unconsciously winced. The wincing must be eliminated because it is: • Fraudulent • A demand characteristic • A placebo effect • A confabulation • A confounding variable

24. :25 The best method to eliminate bias by the experimenter is the: • Experimenter expectancy effect • Single-blind procedure • Double-blind procedure • Placebo effect • Counter-balancing

25. Participant Scores

26. :25 Of the following, which research method is most effective for studying unusually complex or rare phenomena? • Controlled experiment • Quasi-experiment • Test • Survey • Case Study

27. :25 Of the following, which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between political party membership and attitude toward the death penalty? • Controlled experiment • Quasi-experiment • Test • Survey • Case Study

28. :25 Of the following, the strongest positive correlation would most likely be shown between: • An adult’s weight and running speed • Close friendships and happiness • Sense of humor and years of education • Poverty and good health • Visual acuity and salary

29. :25 Ms. Costas owns a business with nine other employees. Ms. Costas’ annual salary is $90,000. Her manager’s salary is $60,000. Of her other, three earn $25,000 each and five earn $15,000 each. The range of this distribution is: • $75,000 • $50,000 • $25,000 • $20,000 • $15,000

30. :25 Ms. Costas owns a business with nine other employees. Ms. Costas’ annual salary is $90,000. Her manager’s salary is $60,000. Of her other, three earn $25,000 each and five earn $15,000 each. For this distribution, the mean is: • Lower than both the median and the mode • Lower than the median, but higher than the mode • Lower than the mode, but higher than the median • Higher than both the median and the mode • The same as the median

31. Participant Scores