Research Exam 1

A researcher wants to see whether patients taking a new drug will feel better or worse than patients Who do not take the new drug, this is an example of:

Non-directional alternative

Hypothesis is

• A tentative statement

• A predication

• More specific and focused than a theory

The hypothesis "if children play educational puzzle games, such as Minecraft, then they will be better at math than children who do not play puzzle games" is an example of what type of hypothesis?

Synthetic hypothesis

A specific case (for example, the kitty Genovese murder) leading to a general principle (like the bystander effect) is example of

Inductive logic

Independent Variable

• Can be manipulated

• Can be measure

• Can be controlled by the researcher

If you conclude your hypothesis is TRUE when it’s actually FALSE, you have a

Type 1 error

Extraneous variable is the variable that

Influences DV and obscures the effect of IV - we need to control

There are two important characteristics of a good DV. They are

Reliability and Validity

A researcher measures how many minutes a participant is willing to spend in trying to solve a puzzle. This is an example of measuring the dependent variable by

Latency or duration

Inferential statistical are sued to make inference from a [blank] to a [blank]

Sample; population

Casual relationships can be established with an research design

Experimental

A researcher is interested in the relation between time spend on social media and self-esteem. The researcher asked participants to record how many hours per day they spend on social media and take a survey to measure their self-esteem. This is an [blank] research study

Correlational

A researcher is interested in the relation between time spent on social media and self-esteem. The researcher randomly assigns 50 participants to spend 1 hours per day on social media for a week, 50 participants to spend2 hours a day on social media for a week, and another 50 participants to spend 3 hours a day on social media for a week. At the end of the week, the researcher asks participants to take a survey to measure their self-esteem. This is a [blank] research study

Experimental

A quasi-experimental research design is used when

• it is unethical to manipulate the independent variable

• It is impossible to manipulate the independent variable

A quasi-experimental research design is used when

• it is unethical to manipulate the independent variable

• It is impossible to manipulate the independent variable

In an experimental study, researchers manipulate the [blank] to influence a change in the [blank]

Independent variables; dependent variable

A researcher is interested in the relation between time spent on social media and self-esteem. The researcher randomly assigns 50 participants to spend 1 hours per day on social media for a week, 50 participants to spend2 hours a day on social media for a week, and another 50 participants to spend 3 hours a day on social media for a week. At the end of the week, the researcher asks participants to take a survey to measure their self-esteem. What is the independent variable in this study?

Time spend on social media

A researcher is interested in the relation between time spent on social media and self-esteem. The researcher randomly assigns 50 participants to spend 1 hours per day on social media for a week, 50 participants to spend2 hours a day on social media for a week, and another 50 participants to spend 3 hours a day on social media for a week. At the end of the week, the researcher asks participants to take a survey to measure their self-esteem. What is the dependent variable in this study?

Self-esteem

Identify the independent variables and levels of the independent variable in the following study: researchers examined the effects of red or blue lighting at a club on alcohol consumption

1 independent variable (lighting) with 2 levels (red,blue)

Identify the independent variable(s) and levels of the independent variable in the following study: Researchers had subjects either sit, jog, run, or jump for 5 minutes before doing a memory task

1 independent variable (physical activity) with 4 levels (sit, jog, run, jump)

Identify the independent variable(s) and levels of the independent variable in the following study: Researchers want to determine whether time of day and caffeine consumption influences test performance, they ask half of the students in a research methods class to take exam 1 at 10:00am and the other half of the students to take the exam at at 6:00pm, within each of these groups half of the students drink coffee before the exam and the other half drink water instead.

2 independent variables (time of day, caffeine consumption) each with 2 levels (10:00am, 6:00pm, & caffeine, no caffeine)

Check the possible extraneous variable(s) in the following study: Researchers examined the effects of red or blue lightning in a club on alcohol consumption

- Time of day
- participants alcohol tolerance
- participants' age
- type of music at the club

Check the possible extraneous variable(s) in the following study: Researchers had subjects either sit, jog, run, or jump for 5 minutes before doing a memory task

-Participants age
- participants endurance
- participants memory
- participants diet

Check the possible extraneous variable(s) in the following study: Researchers want to determine whether time of day and caffeine consumption influences test performance, they ask half of the students in a research methods class to take exam 1 at 10:00am and the other half of the students to take the exam at at 6:00pm, within each of these groups half of the students drink coffee before the exam and the other half drink water instead.

- Participants' caffeine tolerance
- participants' preference for morning or afternoon classes
- amount of time spent preparing for the exam
- type of coffee provided

In scientific research, we can never prove a hypothesis to be true

True, we never prove a hypothesis we merely supports or do not support it.
(Due to the existence of extraneous variables we rarely catch all of these variables, so there is always another explanation for our findings; leading to the 5% exception.)

Hypothesis should be written as___statements.

Synthetic

Which is an example of a synthetic statement?

Participants are in small groups, then they will be more likely to help struggling group members understand a course concept compared to participants in large groups.

____ strategies put theories and hypothesis to the test by trying to disprove or "falsify" them.

Disconfirmational

Check all statements of deductive logic

- Children like cake, my child will like cake
- Cats love tuna, my kitty will love tuna
- Miamians are always late, my friend from Miami will be late

Which of the following is an example of inductive logic?

My Cuban friend loves coffee, all Cubans love coffee

In research, we pit the ___ hypothesis against the ___ hypothesis

Null; alternative

"The experimental group will not differ from the control group" is a___hypothesis.

Null

"The experimental group will differ from the control group" is a___hypothesis.

Alternative

Which of the following symbols can you use to write null hypothesis?

- Equal sign (=)
- Greater than or equal to sign (> with the line under it)
- lower than or equal to sign (< with the line under it)

Which of the following symbols can you use to write a directional alternative hypothesis?

<, >

"Depressed individuals who receive therapy will be less depressed than those in the control group who do not receive therapy" this is an example of a ___ hypothesis.

Directional alternative

A group of graduate students design a study with the following___hypothesis: "participants with high self-esteem will have lower levels of alcohol consumption compared to participants with low self-esteem."

Directional alternative

A group of graduate students design a study with the following___hypothesis: "Participants will high self-esteem will differ in their levels of alcohol consumption compared to participants with low self-esteem."

Non-directional alternative

A group of graduate students design a study with the following___hypothesis: "Participants will high self-esteem will not differ in their levels of alcohol consumption compared to participants with low self-esteem."

Null

In psychology, we typically allow___error in our research.

5%

It is more difficult to find significant research in___research.

Non-directional

Operational definitions are needed___.

Or both the IV and the DV

Select all the variables that would need operational definitions in the following study example: "A social psychologist hypothesized that exposing children to violent television shows would make them behave more aggressively."

Violent television shows (IV)
aggressive behavior (DV)

Select all the variables that would need operational definitions in the following study example: "A Researcher wants to examine the impact of caffeine consumption on high school students perceived performance on a college entrance exam."

- Caffeine consumption (IV)
- Perceived exam performance (DV)

What are the different types of independent variables?

- Physiological-based
- experience based
- stimulus based
- participant-based

To see if a new drug works to lower anxiety, researchers give participants an anxiety drug or a placebo. This is an example of a (n) ____ independent variable.

Physiological-based

An independent variable that involves training participants on how to complete a task is a(n) ____independent variable.

experience-based

Researchers measure how long it takes a participant to give up on solving an impossible puzzle. In this example,___is used to measure the dependent variable.

Duration

A developmental scientist measures the number of times a child initiated a conversation with a caregiver when solving a complex task. In this example, the scientist is measuring the___of the dependent variable.

Frequency

A reliable measure is always valid

False

Students in intro to psych were allowed to re-take the midterm exam, although nothing changed between the midterm and the re-take, students generally improved by 25%. The exam is___.

Not reliable

All students in the class scored 95% through 100% on the final exam this is an example of___.

Ceiling effects (occurs when average scores are very high)

Extraneous variables cause the variability of scores ___ groups to increase; nuisance variables cause the variability of scores ___ groups to increase.

Between, within

Researchers conduct a study to test whether playing with pads before an exam decreases test anxiety. Students are in one of the 4 groups where they either play with puppies, kittens, bunnies or wooden blocks (control) right before an exam. The students and the "bunnies" condition were all late to the exam because they had to help find one bunny who had hopped away. This is an example of___.

Extraneous variable

A researcher concludes that their new drug does not work to reduce anxiety when, in reality, the drug really does reduce anxiety. This is an example of

Type II Error

Researchers conduct a study exploring the influence of caffeine on a college students' moods where students in one of 3 groups: students either receive coffee, an energy drink, or a bottle of water when they arrive to campus. The day of the study, some students in the "energy drink" group have a big test in their organic chemistry class. This is an example of____.

Nuisance variable

Including that there were differences between your groups (you can say your hypothesis was true) when, in reality, there were no differences between your groups (your hypothesis was actually not true) is a type ___ error.

I

Researcher concludes about their new drug reduces anxiety when, in reality, it does not this is an example of

Type one error

I conduct a study to explore whether there is an effect of class time on course performance. Participants are in one of 3 groups: 8 am, 10 am, and 12 pm. It's a control for extraneous variable, I have the same professor teach the course, the course is the same for all groups, the TA who grades assignments is also the same across groups. This is an example of___.

Constancy

I conduct a study to explore whether there is an effect of class time on course performance. Participants are in one of 3 groups: 8 am, 10 am, and 12 pm. It's a control for extraneous variable, I remove all participants who have learning disabilities or sleeping disorders from the study. This is an example ____.

Elimination

In ____ Counterbalancing, the different treatment sequences are presented to different participants.

Within-group

My study design involves one group of participants who watch a scary movie followed by a funny video and a different group of participants who watch a funny video followed by a scary video. This is an example of___.

Within-group counterbalancing

I study design involves a participants Watching a scary video followed by a funny video on test day 1 and coming back on test day 2 to watch a funny video followed by a scary video. This Is an example of___.

Within-subject counterbalancing

Counterbalancing helps to control for___effects.

Order

I want to measure the difference between how children in middle childhood (ages 8- 10) and adolescence (ages 13-18) solve a puzzle problem. What kind of independent variable is this?

Participant based IV

As researchers, how do we deal with extraneous variables?

We try our best to control them

I create a new measure to detect lies. It uses your heart rate and skin conductance (like sweat) to try to tell if you're lying. It turns out that it actually just measures how nervous you are, not whether or not you are lying. My lie detector lacks _____.

Reliability

One of the most used statistical programs that has opened up the use of sophisticated techniques to those who want to engage in research is:

SPSS

What type of statistics is used to organize and describe the characteristics of a collection of data?

descriptive

Which of the following scenarios correctly depicts the self-correcting nature of science?
A). Jane controls various extraneous variables in her study on self-esteem.
B). Mark conducts a replication with extension study on counterfactual thinking and finds that the previous research reached a faulty conclusion.
C). Kelly conducts a study illustrating a cause-effect relationship between distraction and reading comprehension.

Mark conducts a replication with extension study on counterfactual thinking and finds that the previous research reached a faulty conclusion.

In one study, students read a fictitious job application. The applications are identical except that half have a female name ("Joan") and half have a male name ("John"). The students rate the likelihood of the applicant succeeding at the job. What is the dependent variable?

The students' ratings of the applicants' success

Students read a fictitious job application in the National Football League (NFL). The applications are identical except half have a female name ("Joan") and half have a male name ("John"). Given gender differences in the NFL, "John" applies for quarterback and "Joan" applies as a coach. The students rate the likelihood of the applicant succeeding at the job. What is the a potential extraneous variable?

The type of position the applicant applies for

Which of the following best represents a hypothesis involving emotion?
A). A person can experience physiological arousal first, and then interpret those feelings as arousal
B). A person can experience arousal and interpret those feelings as arousal at the same time
C). An event causes arousal first, and then the person has to label this arousal
D).Exposing people to torture videos (compared to videos about nature) will increase their feelings of arousal (as measured by heart rates and breathing rates)

Exposing people to torture videos (compared to videos about nature) will increase their feelings of arousal (as measured by heart rates and breathing rates)

The principle of falsifiability (or falsification) refers to the idea that ...

research should be capable of producing results that do not support the hypothesis.

Jasmine uses her knowledge of past research on social facilitation to help formulate a hypothesis for her experiment. This example illustrates

deductive logic

A researcher wants to see if air traffic controllers pick up on potential plane collisions better when they have coffee. He gives them coffee halfway into their shift, and measures how quickly they note potential collisions. He finds they are better at the beginning of their shift, and concludes that coffee hurts their decisions. What carryover problem is involved here?

Fatigue

Jeremy would like to do a study in which each participant is exposed to three different treatment conditions (Treatments A, B, and C). In order to do complete counterbalancing, Jeremy will need exactly ________ participants to get through one fully counterbalanced order.

6
(1. ABC, 2. ACB, 3. BCA, 4. BAC, 5. CAB, 6. CBA)

Does randomization guarantee that groups are equivalent at the start of a study?

No, it does not guarantee equivalency, though it does give us confidence that the two groups are mostly equivalent

A researcher develops a new study method to help students. He gets scores from students at Time 1, teaches them the new study method, and looks at their Time 2 scores. Since students did better at Time 2, he concludes that his new study method had a positive effect. What he doesn't know is that the students stole the Time 2 answer key, which is why they improved! What error did he make in concluding that his new study method improved student understanding?

Type I Error; He said there was an effect when there wasn't

Imagine you decide to introduce a new hourly work schedule into a factory to see if the new schedule increases productivity.
-You find two factories (Factory A and Factory B) and have: Factory A workers work new 10 hour shifts, 4 days a week. Factory B workers work old 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week
-You find that Factory A is more productive than Factory B!

Which of the following is a reason for why Factory A might be better than B that is not related to the new hourly schedule?

All of these are possible extraneous variables:
- Maybe Factory A was more productive than Factory B even before the new hourly schedule started
- Maybe any change in schedule boosts productivity (that is, even six days at 6.66 hours per day would boost productivity)
- Maybe Factory A has other incentives to work hard (like a productivity bonus) that is unavailable to Factory B workers

A researcher finds that she can consistently reproduce study results when she repeats the study design. She has found high:

Reliability

Natalie conducts an experiment in which she randomly assigns half the individuals to drink alcohol and half to drink tonic water that they think is alcohol. What kind of independent variable is being used?

physiological