Exam 2: Research Methods in Psychology

Dr Mokoena believes that people who are under stress will develop more colds than people who are not under stress.When he randomly selects 10 participants and exposes them to high levels of stress, he finds that 9 of the participants develop colds.Based on these results he concludes that stress causes an increase in colds.Dr Mokoena's reasoning may be flawed because in this study

As scientists, psychologists assume that behaviour is governed by some ____________________ order.

Variables, other than the independent variable, that are likely to influence the dependent variable are called ____________________ variables.

The best way to reduce the risk of experimenter bias is to use a double-blind research procedure.

Which of the following is NOT a common methodological flaw to consider when evaluating scientific research?

While a(n) ____ is the group of individuals actually observed in a research study, the ____ is the group of individuals that researchers want to generalise or extend their findings to describe.

Bill received a poor performance evaluation in his job last year.Since then Bill has started working through his lunch hour, has taken on four special projects, and has enrolled in night classes to upgrade his computer skills.If Bill receives a better evaluation at his next performance it will be hard for him to figure out why because

Gugu is in a class where the scores on the second midterm exam ranged from 75 to 85 points.Shaun is taking the same course, but in his section the scores ranged from 50 to 98 points.In this example the standard deviation in Gugu's class should be

Describe how inferential statistics are used and explain statistical significance.

Naturalistic observation, case studies, and surveys all have in common that

In descriptive/correlational research, the investigator

The second step in the research method is the making of the empirical observations and measurements.

If A and B are highly correlated, which statement MOST accurately describes the relationship between A and B?

Percy is working with a company to help them develop more effective training programs for their employees.He has spent a great deal of time reviewing all the documentation the company has about previous training opportunities they have provided for their employees.Up to this point in time, Percy has been engaged in

Dr Desai predicts that if teachers ignore students who act up in class, fewer students will act up in class.Dr Desai's prediction is an example of

In Emma's sociology discussion group 4 of the 5 students are between the ages of 19 and 23; the fifth student is 54 years old.If Emma wants to report the statistic that best represents the "average" age for her discussion group, she should report either

A correlation coefficient of zero describes

Which of the following statements concerning experimenter bias is false?

Statistics that are used to interpret data and draw conclusions are called

Individuals who think critically do not rely on anecdotal evidence because this type of evidence