The seven skills you will be tested on

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1. Identify Research Methods 

2. Operationally define variables 

3. Identify ethical guidelines

4. Interpret statistics 

5. Generalizability

6. Support or Refute 

Skill #1 Research Methods 

There are to main categories for this method non-experimental and experimental 

Your answer should be phrased “The research method used is a…” 

Non-experimental 

Case studies are in-depth investigations of ONE individual or small group (ex. classroom, nursing home, etc.) - typically because there is a rare characteristic that warrants research (ex. exceptional autobiographical memory, extraordinary childhood neglect, etc) or to see if features of the group are worth researching further. 

Naturalistic observations investigate human, animal (or even neurons in the eyes of the College Board) behavior in “natural” settings (meaning not in your traditional psychology lab) WITHOUT direct interaction. The moment a researcher interacts with a participant, such as asking a question or manipulating the environment (ex. room noise level), the situation is no longer “natural.” The APA ethical guidelines even allow researchers to skip informed consent if the nature of the study is not harmful. Notice the following methods section.

Meta-analysis is done in order to investigate whether similar studies of the same topic can be pooled together in order to increase the size of your data and improve conclusions/generalizability. When you are considering if an AAQ is a meta-analytic study, look for reference to a large number of participants drawn from other completed studies. A meta-analysis is not going to attempt to replicate the previous work (so you will not find new observations, participants, etc.) but instead combine previous studies. Notice the following methods section.

Correlational research can be done in a lot of different ways. The key to determining if an AAQ is a correlational study is to rule out other forms of research and to evaluate how the data findings are presented. Case studies and meta-analysis are not likely to be confused with correlational research because of their unique features. It would be more common to confuse correlational research with naturalistic observations and experiments.

When one conducts correlational research, data is collected with the purpose of finding trends between two variables. If data from the study is graphed, it would usually be in the form of a scatter plot. This enables predictions regarding those two variables. This can be done a few different ways.

For example

Example 1: A researcher could administer a survey to a target population that asks 5 qualitative (numerical) questions with the purpose of seeing if there is a trend between certain responses (ex. number of hours of sleep per night and self-reported happiness). A researcher could even ask about only 2 measurements if the focus is that narrow. 

[Example Needed]

Experimental 

Experimental research is designed to determine whether or not one variable CAUSES a change in another variable. In order to conduct experimental research one must:

1. Randomly assign participants to groups. AAQs will clearly note if this occurred. Any reference to random assignment automatically makes the answer “an experiment.” Note: It is possible to see a “within-subjects design experiment.” The CollegeBoard should provide a note that this type of experiment satisfies random assignment (as we discussed in class). “Within-subject design” will still fall within the category of “experiment.”

2. Manipulate the exposure to the independent variable between your experiment group(s) and control group. For example, if you are evaluating the effects of a new medication - you would intentionally provide the new drug to your experimental group but NOT the control group.

Operationally Define Variables 

Operational definitions are PRECISE and often NUMERICAL (notice Sample Prompt 2 is non-numerical) descriptions of how variables in a study were MEASURED.

The AAQ text will always provide you with the exact answer. Your job is to identify the operational definition within the text and correctly copy it.

The Sample Response 

 “The operational definition of ________ is…”

Skill 3 

Sample responses 

Interpret Statistics (Table/Written) 

Describe the meaning of {statistic} of the {variable,participants,etc.}in the study 

The statistic is either going to be presented in a table, written into the prompt or visualized via a graph. How to evaluate graphs is explained in Skill Five. Your task is to state what the statistic actually means in the context of the study

Five - Interpret Graphs 

Generalizability 

Explain the extent to which the research findings may or may not be generalizable using specific and relevant evidence from the study. 

Generalizability refers to the extent to which a study can be generalized (applied broadly) to the larger population. Your task is to evaluate the participant demographics and determine who is represented or who is not represented. The same generalizability AAQ question could be answered with a “YES” or “NO” based on your reasoning. As long as you provide a logical reason, you will score. Notice that in the example below.

Skill #7: Support or Refute 

Your task is to clearly state what the researchers found. This is usually going to be located in the Results and Discussion section of the prompt. The author should provide a statement or two of their findings.

THEN you must identify a very specific aspect of the study that supports your statement. For example, you could cite a specific numerical finding, the details of a graph or provide a summarizing statement (the Sample Prompt 1 example illustrates “summarizing statements”).