Deck 8: A: Two-Group Design: Texting: I Cant Get You Out of My Mind

Question 1

Imagine that you were recently in an airport waiting to pick up a friend when you noticed some interesting behaviors.For instance,you saw some people experience great distress when saying good-bye to their loved ones,while others seemed to show no concern at all.Similarly,some of the people arriving were greeted enthusiastically by their family and friends while others received much more casual greetings.As someone interested in human behavior you propose the hypothesis that individuals higher in relationship satisfaction experience the observed anguish at separation and delight at reunion.To fully investigate this topic,design both correlational and experimental studies to explore this hypothesis.In your answer,please be sure to describe the key differences between these two research designs,specifically addressing both advantages and disadvantages of each.

Answer 1

The answer should state that correlational studies examine naturally occurring relationships,whereas experiments require manipulation and control in order to establish a cause-and-effect relationship.A plausible response would be that the investigator could collect data in the airport for a correlational study by observing pick-ups and drop-offs,and administering a relationship satisfaction measure to those observed.However,an experiment may take place in a research laboratory where the experimenter could manipulate perceptions of relationship satisfaction and its impact on separation and reunion behavior.Correlational studies have the advantage of being easier to administer,but lack the ability to yield causal inferences.Experiments establish cause-and-effect,but can be more costly (in terms of time and resources)as well as produce results that have less external validity.

Question 2

To promote safe driving,phone companies have recently designed apps that disable the text messaging capabilities of a cell phone when traveling more than 10 MPH.As a psychologist,you are aware of the research that shows thought suppression can lead to a rebound effect,whereby people think of the forbidden item more.You are curious whether these safe driving apps have the unanticipated effect of creating greater distraction and ultimately leading to impaired driving.How would you design an experiment to test whether these types of apps promote or inhibit safe driving? Be sure to clearly identify your independent and dependent variables,as well as what happens in your experimental and control conditions.

Answer 2

This question asks students to apply knowledge from the restrictive phone study described in the text to the novel context of driving.Although answers will vary,they should demonstrate students' ability to design an experimental study.Answers should note that the dependent variable is the measured safety of the driving behavior,whereas the independent variable is the use of a safe driver (i.e. ,restrictive)cell phone app.A suitable study may involve randomly assigning participants to a restricted (experimental)and unrestricted (control)condition while having participants drive in a driving simulator.The experimenter could then measure and compare the number of driving errors made in each condition.

Question 3

Dr.Perez is a new teacher who is interested in creating the most conducive learning environment for her students.After great consideration,she has decided to ban the use of laptops for note-taking in her classroom.Instead,students are only allowed to take notes using pencil and paper.At the end of the semester,she assesses her students by examining their overall course grade [on a scale from 0 (lowest possible grade)to 100 (highest possible grade)] and their feelings toward the laptop policy [on a scale from 1 (unfavorable)to 7 (favorable)].Finally,she compares her data with those of a colleague who does not restrict laptop use.Results reveal:
Student performance: t(251)= 5.18,p = .03,d = .46 (M_restricted = 79,M_unrestricted = 75)
Feelings toward policy: t(251)= 6.29,p = .02,d = .51 (M_restricted = 3.69,M_unrestricted = 5.87)
Please interpret these results to explain whether Dr.Perez's laptop policy helped to create a more conducive learning environment,noting specifically what her results reveal about each test variable.

Answer 3

An examination of the average performance revealed that students earned higher grades in Dr.Perez's class (M = 79)than in her colleague's class (M = 75).However,students in her experimental (restrictive)condition reported significantly more negative feelings toward the laptop policy than did students in the control condition.Despite documented improvements in performance,students did not like being restricted from using their laptops.

Question 4

You are interested in studying health behaviors,particularly why some patients comply with their doctors' order to take the full course of a prescribed medication,whereas others stop taking the medication once they begin to feel better.You run an experiment to test whether people who write down their own dosing instructions are more compliant than those who have the doctor do it for them.Results reveal that having patients write their own dosing instructions has a significant impact on compliance.However,a colleague disputes your claim saying perhaps the severity of illness is what is affecting compliance behavior.Use your understanding of random assignment to respond to this concern.

Question 5

Name at least three required elements of a true experiment.

Question 6

The text highlights an intriguing study that demonstrates how the presence of cell phones can decrease closeness,trust,empathy,and overall conversation quality among strangers.Design a follow-up experiment to examine whether the presence of cell phones has the same impact on the conversation quality between friends.In your answer,be sure to operationally define both your independent and dependent variables,as well as specify what will happen to your participants in both the experimental and control conditions.