Exam 2: Reading and Evaluating Scientific Research

What does a correlation coefficient of -0.94 indicate about two variables?

Research participants in psychology studies must give ____________________, meaning that they are told about the experiment-including any potential risks-and then freely agree to participate.

Dr. Welsh is doing experiments using drugs. He is concerned that his subjects will respond to demand characteristics. He may want to control for this by using which of the following? a. stratification b. two independent variables c. a placebo d. randomization

The _____ always marks the 50th percentile of the distribution.

Without the process of replication as part of the scientific process, what would happen?

Which of the following is subjective?

Dr. Stanhope is trying to determine which type of correlation is represented on his scatterplot, in which nearly all of his data are clustered along a diagonal line running from higher numbers on the left down to lower numbers on the right. Which type of correlation is represented by this pattern?

What is the purpose of an institutional review board?

Researchers are not allowed to deceive participants about the purpose of the study.

A researcher uses a blood pressure cuff (technically called a sphygmomanometer) to measure the blood pressure of participants while they are shown sexual, violent, or relaxing videos. The blood pressure measurement in this study is an example of ______________.

Which correlation coefficient is most likely to describe the relationship between brushing one's teeth and the number of cavities one gets?

Professor McSpell designed an experiment to test her hypothesis that exercise will increase spelling ability. She divided children into three groups and had one group do 10 minutes of exercises, one group do 30 minutes of exercises, and the third group do no exercise. She then tested all three groups of children to see how many words they could spell correctly on a spelling test. In this experiment, the scores on the spelling test serve as the a. dependent variable. b. independent variable. c. control group. d. reliability measure.

As the average daily temperature in Des Moines, Iowa, decreases the number of persons who are observed wearing sweaters in the workplace increases. This is an example of a(n) ________ correlation.

Which of the following is a strength of experiments? a. They cannot be repeated by anyone other than the experimenter. b. They allow for the establishment of cause-effect relationships. c. They are not subject to demand characteristics since the subjects do not know they are being observed. d. They allow us to draw definitive conclusions about behavior in the natural environment based on subjects' behavior in the laboratory.

Ann is convinced that corporal punishment (e.g., spanking) is a good way to discipline a child because she knows a child whose behavior improved because of it. Whether or not you agree with her, Ann is using a flawed argument. Which type of evidence is she using?

The mean, median, and mode are all measures of central tendency.

________________are a major problem in psychology research, and can cause participants to change their behavior based on how they think they are supposed to behave.

Anecdotal evidence, appeals to authority, and appeals to common sense are all considered poor forms of evidence. Provide an example of each and explain why claims based on them cannot be trusted. Module: 2.1

Good scientific research is based on measurements that are objective, valid, and reliable.

_______________assumes that there are facts about the world that can be observed and tested independently from the individual who describes them.