Exam 6: Constructing Laboratory Experiments

What are manipulation checks, and why are they important to include in the design of a study?

Inducing happiness in participants before they complete a survey by having them reflect on pleasant moments with their families would be an example of:

_____(a)_____ are situations where participants respond as they would outside of the experiment. _____(b)_____ are situations where participants are asked to respond as if they were in the situation specified by the experimenter.

__________ are measurement tools that can be used to determine the extent to which our manipulations were effective and worked how we expected them to work.

What are some important considerations when constructing an experiment?

In a study of group identification, Barbara had half of participants think about the things that make them feel uncertain about their life and their future. The other half of participants were instructed to think about the things that make them feel certain about their life and future. Whether participants were induced to feel certain or uncertain was expected to influence later responses. This example is most likely what type of manipulation?

Your research advisor wants to investigate how the severity of potential monetary consequences (high, low) and the presence of other people (0, 1, 4) influence people's willingness to cheat. However, your advisor does not have the time to do so - so you have been given the opportunity to design that study. Specifically, with these variables, create an experimental design that utilizes one environmental manipulation and one social manipulation in the context of an analogue experiment. In your response, be sure to (a) provide sufficient elaboration of your design to clearly identify which manipulation is paired with which variable; (b) explain how and why your manipulations are examples of an environmental and social manipulation; and (c) explain how and why your design is an example of an analogue experiment.

Researchers wanted to investigate how groups of people make decisions, so they designed an experiment where participants would be randomly placed into groups of five and asked to consensually determine which two of six employees to lay off, as if they were executives of a company. This type of experimental condition is most likely a(n):

Which of the following techniques is an appropriate way of obtaining random assignment to conditions? (circle all that apply)

What role does a manipulation check play in the experimental process?

A lab experiment in which participants must make decisions about whether or not to allocate resources to a collective of fellow participants is likely to be: