Exam 2: Reading and Evaluating Scientific Research

Before beginning an experiment, researchers use_________________ to define exactly how variables like "intelligence" or "happiness" will be measured.

Any property of an organism, event, or something else that can take on different values is called _____.

What are the five characteristics of good research described in the textbook? Briefly explain each. Module: 2.1

Dr. Watson wanted to know which gender was better at sharing at the sixth-grade level, so he went to the local middle school to observe lunch periods. This is a form of ____________.

One way to increase the possibility that research results will generalize is to study a ____________ sample.

One of the main reasons for using a laboratory for psychological research is to: a. prevent subjects from escaping. b. study behavior in a natural setting. c. do large-scale studies. d. allow the researchers to control certain factors.

Which of the following is true about studies that ask participant to place a hand in a tub of freezing water, which can cause some discomfort or even pain?

Researchers should store their data after they present or publish it because:

Most people would agree that anxiety can lead to sleep loss. However, Dr. Jenkins believes that sleep deprivation can also cause increased anxiety. Which research method would allow him to test a cause-effect relationship between the two?

Jasmine took a self-administered online intelligence test three times yesterday and obtained scores of 124, 128, and 125. This made her feel great because the score she received from the psychologist last month at school was only a 95. What characteristic might the online test be lacking?

If the distribution of quiz scores for a class has high variability, most of the students scored within a few points of each other.

A correlation tells us: a. whether a cause-effect relationship exists. b. whether two variables are related c. whether or not a test is efficient. d. if people are responding to demand characteristics.

In an experiment, the __________ group receives no manipulation.

If the difference between groups in an experiment is unlikely to have occurred by random chance alone, the difference is said to be ____________________.

Researchers must give participants total anonymity.

A negatively skewed distribution has a long tail on the right of the cluster.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is often cited as an example of:

A group of researchers are studying depression in a sample of patients. Each researcher independently assesses the level of depression in each patient, but their assessments do not match. The problem with the research is that:

Why is it important to make sure that different participant groups are roughly equivalent in terms of personal characteristics (e.g., age, gender) before any independent variable is introduced?

When psychologists observe behavior and record data in the environment where it normally occurs, they are using _____.