Week two: Research Methods Flashcards
In experimental research, the dependent variable is _________ by the researcher.
manipulated
conditioned
measured
operationalised
measured
The purpose of a control group is to
have a group that receives none of the dependent variables.
have a group that acts as a comparison group.
control the behaviour of participants.
have a group that receives all of the independent variables.
have a group that acts as a comparison group
A zero correlation suggests that
participants who score high on one variable will score low on another.
performance on one variable does not allow one to predict performance on another variable.
participants who score low on one variable will score high on another.
the two variables are causally related.
performance on one variable does not allow one to predict performance on another variable.
A negative correlation between two variables means:
a. There is no relationship between the variables.
b. The higher a subject scores on one variable, the lower s/he will score on the other.
c. The lower a subject scores on one variable, the lower s/he will score on the other.
d. The higher a subject scores on one variable, the higher s/he will score on the other.
The higher a subject scores on one variable, the lower s/he will score on the other.
A hypothesis is best characterised as
any phenomenon that can change from one situation to another.
a tentative belief about the relationship between two or more variables.
a procedure that precedes a theoretical framework.
a systematic way of organising and explaining observations.
a tentative belief about the relationship between two or more variables.
What kind of measurement level is the variable: Time taken to eat a pie? (measured in seconds)
ratio
ordinal
nominal
interval
ratio
Experiments provide the cleanest findings of any method of psychological research because experimenters can
test complex phenomena outside of the laboratory and then determine if the variables interacted as predicted.
conduct both pure and quasi-experimental designs and observe the effects of each.
employ statistics and then manipulate the results.
manipulate variables one at a time and observe the effects of each.
manipulate variables one at a time and observe the effects of each.
In a study to test the effects of alcohol on driving, you were in a group of participants that received no alcohol. This means that
there is insufficient information to determine your group.
you were in the experimental group.
your license will be revoked at the end of the study.
you were in the control group.
you were in the control group
Which one of the statements is NOT true for random assignment?
a. Participants are assigned to experimental conditions by chance.
b. It ensures that the distribution of individual characteristics is consistent across experimental groups.
c. It is an important design aspect of an experiment.
d. Participants can decide in which experimental group they want to be.
Participants can decide in which experimental group they want to be.
Any variable, other than the independent variable, that may be influencing the dependent variable in a systematic way is referred to as a/an _____ variable.
design flaw
error
confounding
placebo
confounding
Which option represents the weakest correlation?
- 0.4
1.0
+ 0.3
+0.1
+0.1
Which method would be most likely to give you accurate data, if you were interested in describing ‘Office Christmas Party’ behaviour of teachers?
Correlational
Naturalistic observation
Experimental
Survey research
Naturalistic observation
You are conducting research on the effects of video games on aggression. Your IV is that half of participants play a violent video game and the other half of your participants play a non-violent game. Your, DV is amount of wasabi sauce that the participant would be willing to feed another participant on a piece of sushi after playing the game. Unknown to you, the participants playing the violent video game all love wasabi and the participants playing the non-violent game all hate wasabi. In this example liking of wasabi is a…
confounding variable
irrelevant variable
independent variable
dependent variable
confounding variable
To operationalise a variable means to
divide participants into groups who experience different conditions of the independent variables.
offset the many sources of bias that can affect the results of a study.
turn abstract concepts into concrete variables that are defined by some set of actions or operations.
select samples that are as representative as possible of the population of interest.
turn abstract concepts into concrete variables that are defined by some set of actions or operations.
Any phenomenon that can differ, or vary, from one situation to another, from one person to another, or from one time to another, is called a/an
variable
