Exam 2: A: Research Methods in Psychology

A good interviewer must try to create a positive social relationship with the respondent in order to facilitate trust and open communication.What is the interviewer attempting to establish?

A researcher computes a correlation coefficient and determines that it is zero.What does this finding indicate?

When carrying out an experiment,which variable does the researcher manipulate?

Suppose Dr.Spock found that a sample of humans showed more emotional reactions than a sample of Vulcan aliens.How could Dr.Spock be sure that the results weren't due to chance alone?

In 2005,approximately how many manuscripts submitted for publication did the American Psychological Association reject?

When participants are randomly assigned either to an experimental condition or to a control condition,this is called a design.

At the conclusion of the experiment,the researcher explains to the participants that it was necessary to provide them with inaccurate information to minimize bias.The researcher goes on to say that even though their data have been collected,they can still withdraw their data if they choose to do so.Which process is being carried out by the researcher?

A researcher reports to his colleagues that he belongs to a secret scientific society,where no one but the researcher will ever know about the studies the society members are doing.Which principle is being violated?

Sometimes variables that are outside of the experimenter's control affect a participant's behaviour.Such factors are called variables.

Why do research designs often include a control condition?

As outlined in the textbook,researchers studied the effectiveness of audiotapes that contained subliminal messages.The researchers cleverly anticipated the placebo effect by adding another independent variable to the experiment.How was this achieved?

To measure the effects of task complexity on an individual's perception of time,a researcher has one group of participants do simple addition problems and another group solve complex mathematical formulas.Both groups are then asked to estimate the time elapsed since they began the task.Later,the researcher finds out that the participants given the complex task were in a room with higher noise levels than the other group.In this study,which term best describes the noise level?

If two variables are completely unrelated to each other,they will yield a correlation coefficient of zero.

A seafood distributor hires a researcher to determine whether eating oysters makes one more passionate.The researcher collects data that show that the people who eat the most oysters have the most active love lives.What can be concluded from this research?

Which scenario best lends itself to naturalistic observation?

When planning a study,the researcher determines that of the one hundred participants,fifty will be randomly assigned to the experimental condition and the other fifty to the control condition.Which type of experimental design is being used?

Dr.Norton is using a research technique in which neither the research participants nor the research assistants are aware of which participants receive which treatment.Which approach has Dr.Norton most likely employed?

A researcher is interested in the relationship between brain damage and the ability of humans to plan their behaviour.What type of research design would be most appropriate to implement?

Surveys provide one with the opportunity to participate in research outside the laboratory.How effective are the surveys in affecting one's attitudes ? Self-report measures also provide data about experiences that cannot be observed directly.How reliable is the data obtained thereby? What other methods would you suggest for the assessment of behaviour?

Often stated as a prediction that a certain outcome will result from specific conditions,a(n) is a tentative and testable explanation of the relationship between two or more events or variables.