Exam 10: Introduction to Simple Experiments

Dr.Lonsbary is a cognitive psychologist who is curious about how mood affects memory.She recruited 60 high school students and divided them into three groups.Group A listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel happy (a song titled "Don't Worry,Be Happy").Group B listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel sad (a song titled "Alone Again").Group C listened to no music and instead was asked to sit quietly for five minutes (thought to make them feel neutral). When a participant would come to her laboratory,Dr.Lonsbary would greet the participant and then ask him or her to draw a card.Participants who drew a 1,2,or 3 were assigned to Group A.Participants who drew a 4,5,or 6,were assigned to Group B.Participants who drew a 7,8,or 9,were assigned to Group C.The participants were then given an unlabeled CD to listen to based on their group assignment.The CD contained either the song selection or five minutes of silence.They were then escorted into a different room,where they were greeted by a research assistant who conducted the experiment.The research assistant sat the participants in front of a computer screen and told them that a list of 25 words would be displayed on the screen.They were instructed to listen to the CD with headphones while trying to memorize the list of words.All participants were given the same list of 25 words to remember. When five minutes had passed,the screen displayed a question asking them whether they felt happy,sad,or neutral.After the participant responded,a new screen was displayed asking them to type in all the words they could remember from the list of 25 words.All participants were given three minutes to type the words they remembered.Afterward,the participant was thanked and dismissed.In response to the mood question,a majority of Group A participants said they were happy,a majority of Group B participants said they were sad,and a majority of Group C participants said they were neutral in their mood.Dr.Lonsbary found the following results in response to the number of words remembered. -Which of the following allows Dr.Lonsbary to conclude that she met the covariance rule for causality?

Dr.Phillips is a cognitive-developmental psychologist who studies how children learn mathematical principles.His current interest is in studying how children learn multiplication.He recruits 54 second-graders who have not yet learned how to multiply numbers to participate in his study.He is curious as to whether different teaching styles lead to better mastery of the subject.One condition (A)involves having students read a chapter on multiplication from their textbook.One condition (B)involves having students watch a video of cartoon characters explaining multiplication.One condition (C)involves having students being taught multiplication from a teacher.One condition (D)involves having students being taught multiplication by a fourth-grader.In all conditions,participants spend 30 minutes learning the fundamentals of multiplication and are then given the same 15-question multiplication test.The number of questions answered correctly is recorded.The data are below. -Write a question you would ask of Dr.Phillips' study to interrogate each of the four validities.

What is a design confound? What type of validity is threatened by design confounds and how is it threatened? Explain why not all problems in a study are necessarily confounds.

Dr.Phillips is a cognitive-developmental psychologist who studies how children learn mathematical principles.His current interest is in studying how children learn multiplication.He recruits 54 second-graders who have not yet learned how to multiply numbers to participate in his study.He is curious as to whether different teaching styles lead to better mastery of the subject.One condition (A)involves having students read a chapter on multiplication from their textbook.One condition (B)involves having students watch a video of cartoon characters explaining multiplication.One condition (C)involves having students being taught multiplication from a teacher.One condition (D)involves having students being taught multiplication by a fourth-grader.In all conditions,participants spend 30 minutes learning the fundamentals of multiplication and are then given the same 15-question multiplication test.The number of questions answered correctly is recorded.The data are below. -Identify the independent variable(s),dependent variable(s),and a control variable in Dr.Phillips' study.

Order effects can be controlled by using which of the following techniques?

Which of the following is NOT true of selection effects?

Dr.Lonsbary is a cognitive psychologist who is curious about how mood affects memory.She recruited 60 high school students and divided them into three groups.Group A listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel happy (a song titled "Don't Worry,Be Happy").Group B listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel sad (a song titled "Alone Again").Group C listened to no music and instead was asked to sit quietly for five minutes (thought to make them feel neutral). When a participant would come to her laboratory,Dr.Lonsbary would greet the participant and then ask him or her to draw a card.Participants who drew a 1,2,or 3 were assigned to Group A.Participants who drew a 4,5,or 6,were assigned to Group B.Participants who drew a 7,8,or 9,were assigned to Group C.The participants were then given an unlabeled CD to listen to based on their group assignment.The CD contained either the song selection or five minutes of silence.They were then escorted into a different room,where they were greeted by a research assistant who conducted the experiment.The research assistant sat the participants in front of a computer screen and told them that a list of 25 words would be displayed on the screen.They were instructed to listen to the CD with headphones while trying to memorize the list of words.All participants were given the same list of 25 words to remember. When five minutes had passed,the screen displayed a question asking them whether they felt happy,sad,or neutral.After the participant responded,a new screen was displayed asking them to type in all the words they could remember from the list of 25 words.All participants were given three minutes to type the words they remembered.Afterward,the participant was thanked and dismissed.In response to the mood question,a majority of Group A participants said they were happy,a majority of Group B participants said they were sad,and a majority of Group C participants said they were neutral in their mood.Dr.Lonsbary found the following results in response to the number of words remembered. -Which of the following is a dependent variable in Dr.Lonsbary's study?

A more general term for practice effects and carryover effects is:

Dr.Lonsbary is a cognitive psychologist who is curious about how mood affects memory.She recruited 60 high school students and divided them into three groups.Group A listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel happy (a song titled "Don't Worry,Be Happy").Group B listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel sad (a song titled "Alone Again").Group C listened to no music and instead was asked to sit quietly for five minutes (thought to make them feel neutral). When a participant would come to her laboratory,Dr.Lonsbary would greet the participant and then ask him or her to draw a card.Participants who drew a 1,2,or 3 were assigned to Group A.Participants who drew a 4,5,or 6,were assigned to Group B.Participants who drew a 7,8,or 9,were assigned to Group C.The participants were then given an unlabeled CD to listen to based on their group assignment.The CD contained either the song selection or five minutes of silence.They were then escorted into a different room,where they were greeted by a research assistant who conducted the experiment.The research assistant sat the participants in front of a computer screen and told them that a list of 25 words would be displayed on the screen.They were instructed to listen to the CD with headphones while trying to memorize the list of words.All participants were given the same list of 25 words to remember. When five minutes had passed,the screen displayed a question asking them whether they felt happy,sad,or neutral.After the participant responded,a new screen was displayed asking them to type in all the words they could remember from the list of 25 words.All participants were given three minutes to type the words they remembered.Afterward,the participant was thanked and dismissed.In response to the mood question,a majority of Group A participants said they were happy,a majority of Group B participants said they were sad,and a majority of Group C participants said they were neutral in their mood.Dr.Lonsbary found the following results in response to the number of words remembered. -Dr.Lonsbary's study contains which of the following techniques designed to address a threat to construct validity?

Which of the following is NOT a disadvantage of within-groups designs?

Dr.Lonsbary is a cognitive psychologist who is curious about how mood affects memory.She recruited 60 high school students and divided them into three groups.Group A listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel happy (a song titled "Don't Worry,Be Happy").Group B listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel sad (a song titled "Alone Again").Group C listened to no music and instead was asked to sit quietly for five minutes (thought to make them feel neutral). When a participant would come to her laboratory,Dr.Lonsbary would greet the participant and then ask him or her to draw a card.Participants who drew a 1,2,or 3 were assigned to Group A.Participants who drew a 4,5,or 6,were assigned to Group B.Participants who drew a 7,8,or 9,were assigned to Group C.The participants were then given an unlabeled CD to listen to based on their group assignment.The CD contained either the song selection or five minutes of silence.They were then escorted into a different room,where they were greeted by a research assistant who conducted the experiment.The research assistant sat the participants in front of a computer screen and told them that a list of 25 words would be displayed on the screen.They were instructed to listen to the CD with headphones while trying to memorize the list of words.All participants were given the same list of 25 words to remember. When five minutes had passed,the screen displayed a question asking them whether they felt happy,sad,or neutral.After the participant responded,a new screen was displayed asking them to type in all the words they could remember from the list of 25 words.All participants were given three minutes to type the words they remembered.Afterward,the participant was thanked and dismissed.In response to the mood question,a majority of Group A participants said they were happy,a majority of Group B participants said they were sad,and a majority of Group C participants said they were neutral in their mood.Dr.Lonsbary found the following results in response to the number of words remembered. -Dr.Lonsbary's decision to randomly assign participants to the three groups was done to avoid which of the following?

When conducting an experiment,what is provided by the independent variable?

Prior to conducting the current study,Dr.Lonsbary asked her research assistant to use the same mood manipulation with a sample of 30 college students to determine if people's moods really did change after listening to the music.This preliminary study is known as a:

Dr.Acitelli studies sleep and sleep disorders.She is curious as to whether falling asleep in front of a television set causes people to fall asleep more slowly than falling asleep without watching TV.She recruits a sample of 60 middle-aged women from a local church who reported no history of sleep problems.She creates three conditions.All participants come to the sleep lab for three nights in a row and experience all three conditions.In the first condition (A),participants fall asleep in front of a television that is off.In the second condition (B),participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel.In the third condition (C),participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel but is muted.With the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG),the researcher measures how long it takes participants to fall asleep. -Dr.Acitelli was concerned that asking participants how long it took them to fall asleep would lead them to suspect that was the purpose of the study.Her decision to measure how long it took participants to go to sleep using the EEG instead of self-report was meant to decrease which of the following?

Dr.Lonsbary is a cognitive psychologist who is curious about how mood affects memory.She recruited 60 high school students and divided them into three groups.Group A listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel happy (a song titled "Don't Worry,Be Happy").Group B listened to a five-minute piece of music intended to make them feel sad (a song titled "Alone Again").Group C listened to no music and instead was asked to sit quietly for five minutes (thought to make them feel neutral). When a participant would come to her laboratory,Dr.Lonsbary would greet the participant and then ask him or her to draw a card.Participants who drew a 1,2,or 3 were assigned to Group A.Participants who drew a 4,5,or 6,were assigned to Group B.Participants who drew a 7,8,or 9,were assigned to Group C.The participants were then given an unlabeled CD to listen to based on their group assignment.The CD contained either the song selection or five minutes of silence.They were then escorted into a different room,where they were greeted by a research assistant who conducted the experiment.The research assistant sat the participants in front of a computer screen and told them that a list of 25 words would be displayed on the screen.They were instructed to listen to the CD with headphones while trying to memorize the list of words.All participants were given the same list of 25 words to remember. When five minutes had passed,the screen displayed a question asking them whether they felt happy,sad,or neutral.After the participant responded,a new screen was displayed asking them to type in all the words they could remember from the list of 25 words.All participants were given three minutes to type the words they remembered.Afterward,the participant was thanked and dismissed.In response to the mood question,a majority of Group A participants said they were happy,a majority of Group B participants said they were sad,and a majority of Group C participants said they were neutral in their mood.Dr.Lonsbary found the following results in response to the number of words remembered. -Dr.Lonsbary is considering doing a follow-up study in which instead of asking participants to listen to music to induce mood,she has them write either a story about a character who just won the lottery or a story about a character who just experienced the death of their spouse.This change in the mood variable is designed to enhance the study's:

Name three disadvantages of within-groups designs.

What is the difference between a posttest-only design and a pretest/posttest design? Provide both a benefit and a disadvantage of using a pretest/posttest design.

Prior to conducting the current study,Dr.Lonsbary asked her research assistant to use the same mood manipulation with a sample of 30 college students to determine if people's moods really did change after listening to the music.Running this preliminary study helps establish which of the following?

Using a matched-group design is especially important in which of the following cases?

Dr.Phillips is a cognitive-developmental psychologist who studies how children learn mathematical principles.His current interest is in studying how children learn multiplication.He recruits 54 second-graders who have not yet learned how to multiply numbers to participate in his study.He is curious as to whether different teaching styles lead to better mastery of the subject.One condition (A)involves having students read a chapter on multiplication from their textbook.One condition (B)involves having students watch a video of cartoon characters explaining multiplication.One condition (C)involves having students being taught multiplication from a teacher.One condition (D)involves having students being taught multiplication by a fourth-grader.In all conditions,participants spend 30 minutes learning the fundamentals of multiplication and are then given the same 15-question multiplication test.The number of questions answered correctly is recorded.The data are below. -Explain why Dr.Phillips cannot conduct a within-groups design.