Exam 3: Three Claims,Four Validities: Interrogation Tools for Consumers of Research

A dependent variable is one that:

Name the four validities used to interrogate claims.If you were to question a study's four validities,provide a question you might ask related to each validity.

RESEARCH STUDY 3.1 Anderson is reading his morning paper and reads the following headline: "Female Engineering Majors' Effort on Math Problems Depends on Sex of Role Model." (This headline is based on a study conducted by Stout, Dasgupta, Hunsinger, and McManus, 2011.) In the study, female students were asked to complete a math test by either a male math major or a female math major. Female students tried to solve more of the math problems when asked by a female math major compared with a male math major. -Refer to Research Study 3.1 above to answer the following question. In this study,the authors were interested in students' math effort.Which of the following would NOT be a reasonable operational definition of math effort?

Which of the following is the difference between anecdotal claims and frequency claims?

Refer to Research Study 3.3 above to answer the following question. Clarissa's concern is addressing which of the following?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.4 Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. -Refer to Research Study 3.4 above to answer the following question. Dr.Kang can make a causal claim that "emotion enhances memory" because:

Refer to Research Study 3.3 above to answer the following question. Quinn's concern is addressing which of the following?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.4 Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. -Refer to Research Study 3.4 above to answer the following question. Dr.Kang's decision to assign participants randomly to Group A and Group B increases which of the following?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.1 Anderson is reading his morning paper and reads the following headline: "Female Engineering Majors' Effort on Math Problems Depends on Sex of Role Model." (This headline is based on a study conducted by Stout, Dasgupta, Hunsinger, and McManus, 2011.) In the study, female students were asked to complete a math test by either a male math major or a female math major. Female students tried to solve more of the math problems when asked by a female math major compared with a male math major. -Refer to Research Study 3.1 above to answer the following question. In this study,the authors recorded how many math questions (out of 10 questions)participants tried to solve.This is an example of which of the following?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.5 From a Slate.com article entitled "Psych-Out Sexism: The Innocent, Unconscious Bias That Discourages Girls from Math and Science," published on March 1, 2011. Stout, Dasgupta, and their colleagues wanted to find out why women's outstanding performance on science and math tests in high school and college correlates so weakly with their eventual interest in pursuing careers in those fields. In high school and college, girls increasingly earn math and science grades equal to or better than the grades of their male peers. But when it comes to choosing a career in math or science, more men than women decide to walk through those open doors. The psychologists asked female students studying biology, chemistry, and engineering to take a very tough math test. All the students were greeted by a senior math major who wore a T-shirt displaying Einstein's E =? mc2 equation. For some volunteers, the math major was male. For others, the math major was female. This tiny tweak made a difference: Women attempted more questions on the tough math test (comprising 10 questions) when they were greeted by a female math major rather than a male math major. -Refer to Research Study 3.5 above to answer the following question. In the study described above,what type of claim is the author making? Explain why you think this is the claim being made.

Which of the following allow us to make better predictions using association claims?

Dr.Hadden wants to conduct a study that will allow him to make claims that apply to all college students.Which of the following validities is he prioritizing?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.2 Dr. Ramon makes the following claim: "Watching television leads people to spend less time communicating with their spouses, study says." Dr. LaSalle makes the claim: "Research shows that making more money correlates with spending less time talking with your spouse." -Refer to Research Study 3.2 above to answer the following question. Which type of claim is Dr.Ramon making?

Which of the following is true of operational definitions?

An independent variable is one that:

RESEARCH STUDY 3.1 Anderson is reading his morning paper and reads the following headline: "Female Engineering Majors' Effort on Math Problems Depends on Sex of Role Model." (This headline is based on a study conducted by Stout, Dasgupta, Hunsinger, and McManus, 2011.) In the study, female students were asked to complete a math test by either a male math major or a female math major. Female students tried to solve more of the math problems when asked by a female math major compared with a male math major. -Refer to Research Study 3.1 above to answer the following question. Which of the following is a variable in this study/headline?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.4 Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. -Refer to Research Study 3.4 above to answer the following question. Dr.Kang sends his study to a journal to be published.One of the peer reviewers questions the way Dr.Kang manipulated emotion,arguing that being exposed to emotional words does not make one emotional.The reviewer is questioning which of the following?

Who is responsible for deciding which validity is prioritized in a study?

Which of the following is an association claim?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.6 You read an article stating that Facebook is related to unhappiness. In the study, a group of high school students were asked how many times a day they checked their Facebook pages and how happy they were. In discussing this article with your friend Matt, he exclaims, "I knew it! I have always said that being on Facebook is the cause of all my unhappiness!" -Refer to Research Study 3.6 above to answer the following question. Explain how you could convert the study described above into an experiment.