Exam 2: Studying Behaviour Scientifically

Why are control groups important?

The case study method was used to study the program which was designed to train the mothers of "failure-to-thrive" infants in nutrition and feeding techniques at Surrey Place Centre in Toronto. The case study method helped researchers to

Which of the following questions is least relevant when considering what could potentially be pseudoscientific misinformation?

Which of the following statements regarding survey research is true?

One problem with physiological measures is

If an experiment has a confounding variable, this significantly lowers its internal validity.

A sample in a survey should accurately reflect the important characteristics of the population from which it is drawn. For example, if a certain population has 53% women and the sample has 53% women, then the sample is said to be a

Researchers sometimes gather information about people's overt behaviours by using pre-existing records or documents which are called _________________.

Ethical guidelines for the treatment of animals in research state that if there are experimental risks for animals, these risks need to be justified by the importance of the research. However, a problem associated with this guideline is that

Dr. Sesay is testing a new antidepressant. He carefully screens his subjects and assigns them to either the control group or the experimental group. He gives one group the new medication and the other group sugar pills that look exactly the same as the real medication. By doing this, he is hoping to control for ____________ effects.

In order to learn about the social behaviour of children, a developmental psychologist goes to a school and watches the children playing on the playground outside during recess. This psychologist is engaged in which method of research?

Dr. Watson is interested in the possible effects of positive media messages on helping behavior. He uses random assignment to examine this idea. Most likely, Dr. Watson is conducting

Describe the key elements of experimental research. Your answer should address the following areas: 1) the difference between an independent and a dependent variable and how they are related 2) the difference between an experimental group and a control group, and 3) the two basic ways that participants can be assigned to various experimental conditions.

What is naturalistic observation, and what is its major advantage?

Which of the following is a characteristic of a good theory?

Dr. Jonas is interested in how parents interact with their children. So she goes to a local daycare centre and watches how parents greet their children when they come to pick them up at the end of the day. This study could best be described as

One of the essential differences between experimental research and correlational research is that

What is known as an unobtrusive measurement?

Imagine you have created a new personality questionnaire and you are worried about social desirability influencing people's responses. Which of the following would minimize the impact of this potential problem?

Which of the following lists the steps of the scientific process in the proper order?