Exam 2: Research Methods in Psychology

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

The ____ approach assumes that events are governed by some lawful order.

Which of the following reasons for conducting psychological research with animals is MOST controversial?

The experimental procedure in which both the experimenter and subject are unaware of who is in the experimental and who is in the control group is referred to as the

The ____ is an index of the amount of variability in a set of data.

When two variables are linked and their individual effects cannot be separated out, we speak of the variables as being

Any measurable conditions, events, characteristics or behaviours that are controlled or observed in a study are called

A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables is a(n)

Percy is working with a company to help them develop more effective training programmes 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

Fatima calculated descriptive statistics for the age of residents in a nursing home. She reported the mean age as 75 years, with a standard deviation of 10 years. Later she found that she had made an error in her calculations. One resident's age was entered as 27 when it should have been 72. When this correction is made

Dr Swartz is trying to win FDA approval for a new drug to treat anxiety. Dr Swartz claims that 14% of the people who took this new drug reported reduced anxiety; however other researchers claim that 14% of patients who receive no treatment also report reductions in their anxiety levels. It appears that the patients who improved after taking Dr Swartz's drug

Dr Jacobs is investigating the link between social support networks and grades in school. Students in his classes are required to complete survey forms related to this research; however they are never told about the purpose of the survey. In this case, some researchers might argue that Dr Jacobs's research violates the ethical principle of

Jeso tells you that he just completed an experiment in his botany class, and the results he obtained were statistically significant. This means that the results he obtained

Suppose researchers find a negative relationship between alcohol consumption and the number of correct responses on a skills test: the more alcohol consumed the lower the score. Which of the following fictitious statistics could possibly represent that correlation?

Dr Slabbert plans on introducing a new exam review procedure in his chemistry classes. To check the effectiveness of the new procedure he is going to have half his students try the new technique for one semester, while the remaining students review in the way they have always done in the past. He asks each student to decide which of the techniques they would like to use, the new technique or the standard technique. In this example, Dr Slabbert's procedure illustrates

An experimenter tests the hypothesis that physical exercise improves people's mood. Subjects in the experimental group participate on Monday and Tuesday and those in the control group on Wednesday and Thursday. What is the extraneous (confounding) variable?

A researcher plans to study the relationship between people's smoking behaviour and their tendency to have minor physical illnesses (such as colds or the flu). Most likely she will use correlational research for the study because

Explain what makes psychology a science.

Dr Herbst is interested in people's reactions to a controversial court verdict. Dr Herbst calls people at their home between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon. In this example Dr Herbst has MOST likely selected

According to the ethical guidelines for psychological research with humans, if you agree to be a participant in a research study you would understand that you