Deck 10: How to Design a Correlational Study

Question 1

Which of the following variables would be suitable for use in a correlational study?

A) Diagnosis: depression, anxiety or psychosis
B) Whether the participant has a driving licence or not
C) Reaction times
D) Degree subject studied

Answer 1

C
Explanation: Only continuous variables can be used in a correlational design

Question 2

Which of the following variables would NOT be suitable for use in a correlational study?

A) IQ
B) Age
C) Employment status (employed or not)
D) Annual income

Answer 2

C
Explanation: Only continuous variables can be used in a correlational design, therefore this variable is suitable for use in a correlational study

Question 3

As extraversion increases, number of parties attended per month increases. Which type of relationship is described?

A) No relationship
B) Non-linear
C) Negative
D) Positive

Answer 3

D
Explanation: This is an example of a positive relationship; as scores on one variable increase, scores on the other variable also increase.

Question 4

Which of the following is a two-tailed hypothesis for a correlational study?

A) There will be a relationship between conscientiousness and grades at university
B) There will be no relationship between conscientiousness and grades at university
C) People with higher scores on a conscientiousness measure will achieve higher grades at university
D) People with higher scores on a conscientiousness measure will achieve lower grades at university

Question 5

What type of hypothesis is this: It is predicted that as levels of social support increase, levels of depression will decrease.

A) One-tailed, predicting a positive relationship
B) One-tailed, predicting a negative relationship
C) Two-tailed
D) Null

Question 6

A significant correlation showed that the amount of time spent meditating daily causes improvements in mood. What is wrong with this conclusion?

A) A negative relationship is described
B) Correlation cannot imply causation
C) Mood is not suitable for inclusion in a correlational study
D) Amount of time spent meditating is not suitable for inclusion in a correlational study

Question 7

What type of design would you need to use if you wanted to determine causality in a research study?

A) Qualitative
B) Categorical
C) Correlational
D) Experimental

Question 8

What is a confounding variable?

A) An unmeasured variable that can explain some of the variance in a dataset
B) An unmeasured variable that cannot explain some of the variance in a dataset
C) A measured variable that can explain some of the variance in a dataset
D) A measured variable that cannot explain some of the variance in a dataset

Question 9

You run a regression to look at whether the ability to detect lies can be predicted by a participant's age. How would you describe the age variable in this study?

A) Independent variable
B) Predictor variable
C) Outcome variable
D) Dependent variable

Question 10

You run a regression to look at whether the ability to detect lies can be predicted by a participant's age. How would you describe the lie detection variable in this study?

A) Predictor variable
B) Independent variable
C) Outcome variable
D) Dependent variable