Deck 14: a Statistical Tools for Answering Research Questions

Question 1

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Dr. Massey recently saw a headline on CNN.com that read "Kids Who Are Breastfed Are Smarter." She wanted to conduct a study to determine whether this claim is true. To that end, Dr. Massey, who is affiliated with a university in rural North Dakota, contacted her local hospital to obtain a list of all 172 women who gave birth in 2005. She randomly selected 50 women to take part in the study and 18 agreed to participate. Dr. Massey gave all 18 participants the same survey. There were many questions on the survey, but one was critical to testing her hypothesis. It was phrased to determine whether the mothers fed their babies only breast milk for the first year or fed their babies only formula for the first year. This question was then used to divide her participants into two treatment conditions: Breastfed or Formula-fed. Dr. Massey was very pleased to find that exactly half of the women (n = 9) breastfed their babies for one year, and exactly half (n = 9) formula-fed their babies for one year.
To assess intelligence in the children (now 10 years old), Dr. Massey administered an IQ test. Her university does not have access to the most commonly used IQ test so she developed one on her own that she believes to be a comparable assessment of intelligence. Dr. Massey finds that the mean IQ of the breastfed children was 108.5, and the mean IQ of the formula-fed children was 101.0. Based on this information she concludes that breastfeeding does, in fact, causes an increase in intelligence.
Dr. Massey developed her research project based on a CNN headline. What do you think of that? What concerns and limitations do you see with Dr. Massey's study? How might you fix them?

Answer 1

Research questions may be based on a variety of sources (Ref 2-1, p. 24), including newspaper articles. Dr. Massey's research question is a good one because it is empirical; the question can be subjected to scientific examination (Ref 2-1, p. 25). By obtaining participants from a hospital close to her, Dr. Massey is obtaining a convenience sample. Convenience samples are easily accessible to researchers and most commonly used in research, but are usually not good representations of the population of interest (Ref 4-1, p. 104). Dr. Massey may consider recruiting participants from hospitals across the country to get a more representative sample of mothers. Another issue is nonresponse bias. The fact that less than half of the randomly selected participants agreed to complete the survey may indicate a systematic difference between the children whose mothers participated and the children whose mothers did not (Ref 4-1, p. 106). Dr. Massey measured intelligence using an instrument she developed. Although she believes it is a good assessment of IQ she cannot conclude such until she provides evidence of its reliability and validity (Ref 4-1, p. 98). Last, Dr. Massey concludes breastfeeding causes intelligence but is basing this on mean IQ values only. This is problematic for two reasons. First, she must conduct an inferential statistical test to determine whether, in fact, the mean scores differ due to whether the children were breastfed, or to chance alone (Appendix A, p. 485), and second, her research design does not satisfy the requirements for causation. Specifically, to establish causal inference one must establish covariation, temporal precedence, and rule out all other possible explanations. The independent variable (food type) is not controlled by the researcher. It is not known for how long kids were fed breast milk or formula or what other factors may be present in their environment that might affect intelligence. By design, Dr. Massey cannot make a statement of causation. Although it is a two-group design, because the independent variable lacks proper control it is not a True experiment (Ref 8-1, p. 241).

Question 2

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Dr. Arvey is interested in gender stereotypes. She notices the color of a popular social networking website is blue and wonders what might happen if it were also offered in pink. She hypothesizes that when given the choice of colors, men will be more likely to keep their profiles blue and women will be more likely to switch their profiles to pink. She also thinks that being able to choose the default color on the social networking site will increase one's use of the site. To that end, Dr. Arvey puts up flyers around campus asking for volunteers to participate in research, and she ultimately obtains a sample of 90. She wants to conduct the study in her school's computer lab where the participants can access their social media accounts. The computer lab has 30 seats so she asks the volunteers to sign up for one of three sessions. By running 30 participants at a time she believes she is being very efficient in data collection.
What methodologic issues exist in this procedure? Fix it.

Answer 2

It is possible Dr. Arvey will get volunteers who do not have social media experience. This is a problem because in the study participants will be required to log into their social media account. Dr. Arvey should have used purposive sampling and should have specifically asked for volunteers who have a social media account and regularly use it (Ref 4-1, p. 105). Also, running groups of participants simultaneously in the computer lab may compromise independence. This may be even more of a problem because participants are allowed to sign up for a particular session, making it possible for friends to attend the same session (Ref 8-1, pp. 254-255). Dr. Arvey may consider either running participants on an individual basis or randomly assigning participants to one of the three sessions.

Question 3

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The researchers were interested in understanding the effects of illicit drugs on brain functioning. They recruited participants from local Narcotics Anonymous support groups. Thirty-eight former drug users participated in the study. Fifteen reported cocaine as their drug of choice, 10 indicated heroin as their drug of choice, and 13 indicated synthetic marijuana as their drug of choice. After providing basic demographic information (sex, age, ethnicity), the participants consented to a PET scan of their brain to assess cerebral blood flow. The cerebral blood flow of participants in the three drug groups was analyzed using a one-way ANOVA. The results indicated cerebral blood flow was not affected by drug use (F(2, 35) = 1.82, p > .05). The researchers concluded that drug abuse does not affect cerebral blood flow. These results suggest drugs do not affect the brain as once believed.
Based on the information provided, do you agree with the researchers' conclusion? What changes in the research design would you need to be able to believe that drugs do not affect cerebral blood flow? Fix it!

Answer 3

Experiments are the only research method capable of making cause-and-effect statements. This is because experiments involve the direct manipulation of an independent variable and the measurement of a dependent variable while controlling for other confounding variables (Ref 2-1, 35). Even though the researchers manipulated drug type and measured cerebral blood flow, they cannot say the two are related because there was no control group (Ref 8-1, p. 244). The researchers should add a control group of participants who are not drug users. In doing so, the cerebral blood flow of each drug group can be compared to the control group. An ANOVA can then determine if drug users have different levels of cerebral blood flow compared to "normal" individuals (Ref 9-1, p. 295).

Question 4

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One day while watching television Dr. Ortiz noticed that much of the programming was negative. The local news ran numerous stories about crime and another network channel was playing a marathon of a popular crime drama. Based on this observation, Dr. Ortiz hypothesized that people who watch more television may experience higher levels of perceived threat. To that end, he administered a survey to 250 adults. On the survey the participants were asked to indicate how many hours of television, on average, they watch each week. They also completed The Perceived Threat Scale (PTS). The PTS produces a single score that indicates how much perceived threat one feels, with greater PTS scores indicating higher levels of perceived threat. Dr. Ortiz analyzed the relationship between hours of television watching with perceived threat and found a statistically significant effect (r (248) = +.75, p < .05). He communicated his findings to other psychologists at a regional meeting in a poster presentation. The title of the poster was "T.V. Causes People to Feel Threatened".
Do you agree with Dr. Ortiz' conclusion about television and perceived threat? What do you think about his poster presentation? Fix it!

Question 5

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A clinician was interested in understanding the effect of maternal age and maternal health on in vitro fertilization success. A total of 1078 women were identified as undergoing in vitro fertilization in a large metropolitan city. A random sample of 500 women was selected from this population and sent a letter requesting their participation in the study. A total of 108 women agreed to participate. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each woman. Interviews took between one and three hours to complete. Aside from asking basic demographic information such as age, ethnicity, and highest level of educational attainment, the interviewer asked questions to assess each woman's physical health. The final question of the survey was "How have you changed your diet and exercise routine to prepare for in vitro fertilization?" Data were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative analyses included dividing respondents into three age groups: young (25-29 years), old (30-34 years), and older (35-39 years), and into three health categories based on BMI (normal, overweight and obese) at time of conception. The number of successful pregnancies across age groups and health level was measured. A successful pregnancy was defined as becoming pregnant and carrying the baby to term. This 3 × 3 design was analyzed statistically using a two-factor ANOVA. The data revealed a statistically significant main effect for age (p < .05), health level (p < .05), and an interaction for age × health (p < .05). Further inspection of the data suggested that younger women in the normal and overweight BMI range had the most successful pregnancies. Young women who were obese had a similar success rate as older normal-weight women. Qualitative analysis of how women prepared for in vitro revealed a statistical difference between older and younger women, with older women changing their diet and exercise routine much more than younger women. These results indicate that a woman's age and weight are factors associated with in vitro success, and that behavioral modifications, such as diet and exercise have little impact.
What issues do you see with how the data were measured, analyzed and interpreted? Fix it!

Question 6

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Dr. Rodgers is good friends with Mike McCarthy, the head coach for the Green Bay Packers. One day McCarthy tells Dr. Rodgers that the NFL has been talking about the negative effects of playing professional football. They decide to conduct a student to determine whether professional football players are more likely to develop dementia than other professional athletes. To that end, Dr. Rodgers randomly selects 20 players from the Green Bay Packers and 20 players from the Professional Golfing Association (PGA). He presents each participant with 40 word pairs to study for ten minutes. Following a five minute distractor task, Dr. Rodgers presents the participants one word of each word pair and tells them to speak the second half of the word pair. The total number of correctly recalled words is used to measure memory. Dr. Rodgers performs Pearson's r to see whether memory is related to the number of years each participant has played football or golf professionally. He finds no relationship between memory and years played (r (38) = +.07, p > .05). Dr. Rodgers and Mr. McCarthy present this information to the NFL to assure them football is no more dangerous than other professional sports.
Do you think Dr. Rodgers answered the research question appropriately? What concerns to you have with the research design and analysis? Fix it!

Question 7

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A recent study indicated that people are becoming more supportive of recreational marijuana use. But Dr. Coutley believes that the marijuana produced today is more harmful than marijuana produced in the 1970s. He therefore decides to conduct a study to test his hypothesis. Since Dr. Coutley works for the DEA, he is able to obtain 10 samples of marijuana seized in 1972 and 10 samples of marijuana seized in 2013. To assess potency, Dr. Coutley analyzes the THC content of the marijuana samples. He also assesses the behavioral impact of each sample. Sixty individuals, half of whom are regular marijuana users, were randomly assigned to receive the 1972 marijuana or 2013 marijuana. The participants were told whether they were receiving the 1972 or 2013 drug prior to its administration so each person could make a final decision as to whether to continue their participation in the study. Only two of the 30 marijuana users withdrew from the study. Seven of the 30 nonmarijuana users withdrew from the study. All of the participants who withdrew were assigned to the 1972 drug condition. This resulted in a final sample of 51 participants. Fifteen minutes after receiving the drug the participants completed The Drug Effects Questionnaire, a self-report measure that assesses how "high" one feels. A t-test was used to compare THC content in the two samples. The results revealed that the 2013 marijuana was significantly more potent than the 1972 marijuana (t(9) = 5.32, p < .05). The behavioral effects of the two samples also indicated that the 2013 marijuana was more potent (t(50) = 4.82, p <.05). Dr. Coutley concludes that a linear relationship exists between the year of marijuana production and potency of marijuana. He uses this study to advocate for the nonlegalization of marijuana in his state.
Aside from potency, what other factors/biases may have influenced how high participants reported feeling? Do you agree with the analyses that Dr. Coutley performed? Fix it!

Question 8

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Dr. Noble is a college professor who wants to know whether text anxiety is related to test performance. At the beginning of the semester she administers the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) to all of the students in each of her three classes: Psychological Statistics, Experimental Psychology, and Brain and Behavior. At the end of the semester she calculates each student's mean exam score. She analyzes the data using Pearson's r and finds a statistically significant positive relationship. As students' anxiety increases, their test performance decreases (r(88) = -.68, p < .05). Dr. Noble conducts another study the following semester. Like the previous semester, she administers the BAI to each of the students in her three classes: History of Psychology, Learning and Behavior, and Personality Theories. She also calculates the students' mean exam scores at the end of the semester. However, this semester she attempts to reduce test anxiety in her students by diffusing sweet orange essential oil throughout the classroom on the exam days. Dr. Noble examines the relationship between BAI scores and test performance and finds the two are not significantly related (r(103) = .18, p > .05). She then performs a paired t-test to determine whether test scores obtained in the first semester (no essential oil) differ from test scores obtained in the second semester (sweet orange oil) and finds a statistically significant difference (t(194) = 5.32, p < .05) with student exam scores being greater in the essential oil condition. Dr. Noble presents the data at a regional psychology conference where she reports that anxiety causes students to perform poorly on exams and advocates for the use of essential oils in the classroom.
What problems exist with this study? Fix them!

Question 9

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A psychology student wanted to replicate John Watson's fear-conditioning study for her senior thesis project. After getting permission from her sister, the student introduced a variety of stimuli, including objects and sounds, to her 6-month-old nephew. She found that the baby was not fearful of any stimulus, except for a loud noise she produced by banging pans together. The student recorded that each time she made this loud noise the baby began to cry. She also noted that the baby was particularly fond of a particular stuffed animal. When presented with the stuffed animal the baby would smile and reach for it. The student then began to bang the pans together after the baby was presented with the stuffed animal. Eventually the student noticed that the baby would begin to cry when presented with the stuffed animal, even in the absence of the loud noise. After several weeks of working with her nephew, the student thanked her sister for using her nephew for her project. She wrote up the results and presented them at a regional psychology meeting where to her surprise someone told her she had behaved unethically.
What research design is the student using? Is there a problem because she based her study off of Watson's work? What do you think about the ethics associated with this study? How would you change it?

Question 10

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Dr. Cigainero hypothesizes that people who prefer horror movies are naturally less fearful than those who prefer romantic comedies. She also hypothesizes that fearfulness varies by sex. To test her hypothesis she asks male and female undergraduates what their favorite movie genre is. She randomly selects 25 men and 25 women who indicated horror, and 25 men and 25 women who indicated romantic comedy. These 100 participants are then invited to complete the 72-item Fear Survey Schedule (FSS). The higher someone scores on the FSS, the more generalized fear and anxiety that person has. The descriptive data indicate men and women who prefer horror movies reported less fear than men and women who prefer romantic comedies. The t-tests Dr. Cigainero used to analyze the data support the descriptive statistics. Men who preferred horror movies were significantly less fearful than men who preferred romantic comedies (t(49) = 4.72, p >.05), and women who preferred horror movies were significantly less fearful than women who preferred romantic comedies (t(49) = 3.89, p > .05).
What was wrong with the statistical measures used in this study? Fix it!

Question 11

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Dr. Sikorski wants to know if technology is dumbing people down. She notices that years ago, before cell phones were widely used, people had to memorize important phone numbers. In thinking about this, she realizes that she remembers her best friend's phone number from high school, but cannot remember her best friend's phone number today. She hypothesizes that our reliance upon technology to store information for us has produced "digital amnesia." To test whether technology impairs memory she the first recruits 30 undergraduates who come to the lab. The participants are given a list of 20 items they must purchase at a grocery store. The names of the items are spoken by the researcher, and the participants' progress through the three treatment conditions-digital, traditional, and control-in the same order. In the digital condition they are told they may make a list of the items using their phone. In the traditional condition they are told they may make a list using a pencil and paper. In the control condition they are not permitted to record the list. After the participants were read the 20 items they were given a distractor task to prevent rehearsal. One minute later they were asked to speak the items they were to purchase. Participants were not permitted to use their notes to recall the items. The study uses a within-subject design. To ensure consistency in the procedure, the same 20 items were used in each condition. t-tests were performed to examine group differences in the mean number of items recalled. The results support Dr. Sikorski's hypothesis. The participants recalled significantly fewer items during the digital condition than in the traditional condition (t(29) = 7.23, p < .05) and the control condition (t(29) = 5.42, p < .05). She also found that fewer items were recalled in the traditional condition than in the control condition (t(29) = 4.28, p < .05). Dr. Sikorski concludes that memory aids, either digital or traditional, are ultimately detrimental to memory.
What do you think of how Dr. Sikorski came up with her research question? What issues do you see with design of this study? Fix them!

Question 12

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A large American retailer wanted to increase their sales on Black Friday. They hired a consulting firm that recommended they price-match any of their competitors' Black Friday prices. The retailer measured the total number of shoppers, total number of products sold, and total profit made on Black Friday. The results indicated the marketing strategy was successful. Compared with the prior Black Friday, this year's marketing strategy caused more shoppers, an increase in the number of items sold, and an increase in profit. The retailer concluded the new marketing strategy was an excellent investment that they will continue to use.
Do you think the retailer is making a good decision? Why? What would you recommend they do?

Question 13

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Dr. Everdeen is interested in developing a self-report instrument to measure propensity toward violence in teenagers. To that end, she creates a list of 25 items she believes may measure propensity toward violence. Some of the items include "I would never harm my parent/s or sibling/s," "I would never harm my pet/s," and "I would never harm my best friend." Responses to all items are based on a 5-point Likert scale where 1 indicates very true and 5 indicates very untrue. She administers this survey, along with another survey known to identify beliefs supportive of aggression, to five of her closest friends. She finds a strong correlation between the two measures and concludes her survey is a valid and reliable assessment of violent tendencies.
What issues do you see with how Dr. Everdeen went about creating her instrument? Fix them!

Question 14

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Dr. Fallon wants to know whether pet owners are happier than people who do not own pets. She recruits volunteers by placing flyers around the university that indicate participants are needed for a study on happiness. A total of 150 individuals respond to the ad and participate in the study. After giving informed consent, participants completed a demographic questionnaire, as well as the Subjective Happiness Scale. On the demographic questionnaire the participants reported their sex, age, ethnicity, how many pets they owned, what kind of pets they owned, and for how many years they owned each pet. Dr. Fallon used the demographic questionnaire to divide participants into two groups: those who owned pets and those who did not own pets. He used a t-test to compare whether pet owners were happier than people who did not own pets. The results revealed a statistically significant difference in happiness between the two groups (t(149) = 5.83, p < .05), with pet owners reporting greater levels of happiness than people who do not own pets. Dr. Fallon concludes that owning a pet causes happiness.
Do you think Dr. Fallon disguised the purpose of the experiment appropriately? What do you think of Dr. Fallon's statement of causality? How would you fix these issues?

Question 15

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Dr. Parmentier wants to know if exercise improves memory. He recruits 30 undergraduates from his university and puts the name of each student in a hat. The first student he selects is assigned to an exercise condition. The next student he selects is assigned to the inactive control condition. He repeats this process until all students are assigned to one of the two conditions. Participants in the exercise condition are taken to the university's gym and told to exercise for 30 minutes. The gym has a variety of exercise equipment, including treadmills, elliptical trainers, stationary bikes, and strength training machines for them to use.
What type of sampling method did Dr. Parmentier use? How did Dr. Parmentier assign participants to treatment conditions? What is the problem with how the researcher defines exercise? How would you fix it?

Question 16

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Dr. Vorkman was asked by The Journal of Scientific Research to review an article. The article was sent to him via post and did not include the names of the authors. In the paper the authors describe a relationship between color and happiness. They specifically discuss how individuals who had listened to a choir of singers wearing yellow robes reported more happiness than those who had listed to a choir of singers wearing black robes. The study was conducted by recruiting a 25-member choir from a local church selected at random. The choir was given yellow robes to wear in the summer, and black robes to wear in the winter. To assess happiness, parishioners completed a Happiness Survey after a service in July and after a service in January. The choir performed at both services. A t-test to compare the median happiness scores in July and January was performed. The results indicated parishioners were significantly happier in July. The authors conclude color affects happiness and advocate for a ban on drab-colored clothing. What do you think about the article review process? What feedback do you think Dr. Vorkman should provide to The Journal of Scientific Research?

Question 17

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Dr. King recently read an article that claimed kids' meals make up 20% of one of the largest fast-food burger chain's sales. Dr. King believes that the percent of kids' meals purchased would be significantly reduced if they did not include prizes. Dr. King creates an experiment to determine the impact of prizes on children selecting a kids' meal over other meal options. He recruits 150 local elementary-school children whose parents report their family frequents fast food chains two or more times each week, on average. The children are brought into the lab where they are told they will be interviewed about their lifestyle. They are also told they will get a free meal of their choosing to thank them for their participation. Each child is provided the following options: Meal 1 is a hamburger, fries, and soft drink. Meal 2 is a hamburger, fries, soft drink, and a prize. Meal 3 is a grilled chicken wrap, apple slices, juice box, and a prize. Dr. King records how many children select each meal. He finds that only 13 children selected meal 1. The remaining 137 children are split between meals 2 and 3 (68 children selected meal 2 and 69 selected meal 3).
What statistical test should Dr. King use to determine a difference in meal preference? Are there ethical implications involved in deceiving kids into thinking they were being studied about their physical activity? What other issues might the IRB have considered when reviewing this study? Fix it!

Question 18

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Dr. Holbrook recently read in a popular magazine that kids who participate in formal music education are more likely to get into an Ivy League college. Presuming getting into a good school is related to intelligence, Dr. Holbrook wants to test whether music lessons are related to IQ. To that end, Dr. Massey randomly selects five Ivy League schools and contacts the registrar at each school to request the names of the currently enrolled undergraduates. Of the 8,527 students identified, she randomly selects 3,000 and sends each a survey. A total of 1,374 students complete the survey. Of the questions on the survey, three were critical to testing the hypothesis. The first question assessed whether the student received music lessons as a child. The second assessed how long the student took lessons. The third question asked for the student's cumulative GPA.
Dr. Holbrook found that 78% of the survey respondents participated in formal music lessons as children. She used Pearson's r to determine the relationship between length of music lessons and GPA. She found a statistically significant relationship (r = .48, p < .05). Based on this information Dr. Holbrook concludes that taking music lessons as a child does, in fact, make one more likely to get into a good college. She also concludes that music lessons cause one to have a higher GPA.
Dr. Holbrook developed her research project based on something she read in a magazine. What do you think of that? What do you think about the sample Dr. Holbrook obtained to test her hypothesis? What concerns and limitations do you see with Dr. Holbrook's study and the conclusions she drew? How might you fix them?

Question 19

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Dr. Cheng is interested in whether people who are sleep deprived are resistant to classical conditioning. He hypothesizes that people who have been awake for an extended period will exhibit impaired learning of an association between an electrical shock and a specific geometric shape. Although he's heard that some people have reported skin irritation from the shocks in past studies, Dr. Cheng is concerned that too little shock won't be sufficient to produce a classically conditioned fear response. As such, he decides a high electrical shock is warranted despite the IRB's request to reduce it to a lower voltage. After obtaining a convenience sample of 20 healthy adult volunteers, Dr. Cheng divides them into an experimental group (n = 11) and control group (n = 9) based on their sex. He asks the experimental group to come to the lab on Friday at 9:00 a.m. and the research assistants will make sure they remain awake for 24 hours. At 9:00 a.m. on Saturday the control group, who has reportedly had a good night's rest, will arrive at the lab.
Since Dr. Cheng is interested in the brain's response to fear, he examines peoples' brain activity in an fMRI scanner during a fearful event. He's found that fear leads to changes in the activity of the amygdala, the brain's fear center.
The control participants come to the lab at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, at which time Dr. Cheng puts all 20 participants in fMRI scanners to begin the classical conditioning protocol. The protocol is identical for all participants. An electrode is attached to the participants' ankle. While in the scanner the participants are shown 15 geometric shapes that differ in shape (i.e., circle, square, and triangle) and color (i.e., red, green, blue). Immediately before the red circle is presented the participants receive a painful shock. The shock does not occur prior to the presentation of any other shape.
Dr. Cheng believes all of his participants will learn to be fearful of the red circle and that the activity in the amygdala will provide evidence that classical conditioning has occurred, but that people who are sleep deprived will not learn this association as quickly as those who are well rested. To determine if this is true, he plans to compare the arithmetic average amygdala activity of the sleep-deprived participants to the arithmetic average amygdala activity of the well-rested participants.
Do any ethical issues exist in this study? What do you think of how Dr. Cheng assigned participants to the treatment conditions and what impact does this method of assignment have on the study? What are the problems with the way Dr. Cheng proposes to analyze the data? Fix it!

Question 20

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Extensive evidence indicates exercise improves hippocampally mediated learning and memory. Dr. Smith knows that exercise not only increases blood vessel density in the hippocampus, but also increases the rate of neurogenesis in the hippocampus, and wants to know which is involved in the exercise-induced memory improvements. To that end, 30 rats were divided into three groups. Group 1 consisted of males only. Group 2 consisted of females only. Group 3 consisted of males and females. In the first condition rats received a drug to block the formation of new neurons via IV injection. In the second condition rats received a drug to block the formation of new blood vessels via oral administration. In the third condition, which was the control condition, rats received nothing. All animals were permitted to exercise at will for two weeks on a running wheel located in their home cage. Dr. Smith examines how well the rats perform a spatial learning task. He finds that rats in the antineurogenesis condition perform much more poorly on the task than the rats in the anti-angiogenesis and control conditions. Dr. Smith concludes new neurons are important for spatial learning, but new blood vessels are not.
How is this study confounded? Fix it!

Question 21

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Clay is a graduate student who recently celebrated completing his first year of graduate school. The next day Clay felt terrible. This leads him to wonder what the best hangover remedy is. He begins by asking a few of his friends what has worked for them. One friend says a heavy, greasy meal always makes him feel better. Another friend says she takes ibuprofen and pink bismuth. His roommate swears by lots of coffee. Clay decides to test these remedies empirically and his friends eagerly volunteer to participate in his study. Clay's friends consume drinks of their choosing until their blood alcohol content reaches 1.6, twice the legal limit of intoxication. The next day, he serves each of them bacon, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes. Two hours after they eat they complete a survey to assess how sick they feel. Sickness scores vary from 0 = not sick at all, to 50 = extremely sick. Clay repeats this procedure two more times with the same participants. On the second occasion he gives them ibuprofen and pink bismuth, and on the third occasion he serves them coffee.
Clay's research is not based on a review of the literature. What do you think about that? What type of research design did Clay create and how should he analyze the data? Do you see any limitations with his methods?

Question 22

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Kristen is approaching her 30^th birthday and is worried because she is still single. She's tried to meet men at bars, the gym, and through several online dating sites all with no luck. Her friend, Beth, is a graduate student pursuing a degree in sexology. Beth recently read an article in Cosmopolitan that reported men find women who wear high-heeled shoes more attractive than those who wear flats and that the height of one's shoe was related to whether a man would approach a woman. Beth decides to test whether there is credence to the idea that shoe height is related to attraction and uses Kristen as her guinea pig. She thinks Kristen is the perfect person to study since she often wears shoes with three different heel heights during a single day. She wears flats while at the gym in the morning, 1.5 inch heels at work during the day, and 3-inch heels in the club at night. One day when Kristen is wearing the three types of shoes Beth records how men behave toward her. Each man who approaches Kristen receives a score on a 100-point scale, with higher scores reflecting more attraction. The next day Beth analyzes the data. She finds that three men approached Kristen at the gym and the mean attraction score was 15. Only one man approached Kristen at work and his attraction score was five. Twenty-two men approached Kristen at the club and the mean attraction score was 68. Beth performed independent t-tests to determine whether the attraction scores differed between the treatments. The results confirmed that men were significantly more attracted to Kristen when she wore very high heels. Kristen concludes that the article about attraction and heel height in Cosmopolitan is scientifically credible. She decides to renew her subscription for three more years.
Beth developed her research project based on a Cosmopolitan article. What do you think of that? What concerns and limitations do you see with Beth's study? Fix it.

Question 23

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Dr. Inyang is a counselor whose colleagues have gotten positive results with music therapy. Next week he is beginning a new grief therapy group and decides it is the perfect time to test whether music helps people progress through the grieving process. There are five patients in the group. At the beginning of all 9 sessions Dr. Inyang has each complete the Grief Questionnaire. This questionnaire indicates how much grief one is experiencing, with higher scores indicating more grieving. During the first three sessions Dr. Inyang conducts the group without music, as he has typically done in the past. During the next three sessions he plays calming music during the hour-long session. During the last three weeks Dr. Inyang does not play music. Dr. Inyang uses the results of the Grief Questionnaire obtained during the last session to develop a long-term care plan for each patient. He is surprised to find so many of his patients experiencing high levels of grief despite the fact that almost everyone reported less grief during the fourth through sixth weeks of treatment. This leads Dr. Inyang to question the claims of his colleagues who swear music is therapeutically beneficial.
Identify and describe the design of this study. Do you agree with Dr. Inyang that there is not a causal relationship between music and grief reduction? How and why would you change the design?

Question 24

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Dr. Ali reads a journal article arguing that concussions are related to cognitive impairments later in life. Realizing that blows to the head are the leading cause of concussions, Dr. Ali decides to study cognitive impairments in a sample of boxers. Dr. Ali identified 15 professional male boxers who are now retired and at least 60 years old. All of the boxers' matches were recorded and each boxer competed in at least 20 matches. Dr. Ali randomly selected five matches to watch for each boxer and calculates the mean number of blows each boxer received. A blow to the head was defined as any instance in which the opponent's glove made contact with the boxer from the neck up. Dr. Ali also measures the severity of each blow. Severity is defined by how many steps the boxer takes back following a blow to the head (0 steps = least severe; 5 or more steps = most severe). Dr. Ali brings the 15 boxers to his lab where he administers a neuropsychological assessment of cognitive function. On this scale, higher scores reflect more cognitive impairments. His results reveal that each boxer sustained, on average, 12 blows to the head each boxing match. The mean score of the neuropsychological data also reveals that the boxers have moderate cognitive impairments. Dr. Ali concludes that boxing is detrimental to cognitive function later in life and should be banned as a sport.
Dr. Ali developed his research project based on an empirical study he read in a journal article. What do you think of that? What kind of sample did Dr. Ali obtain to test his hypothesis? What concerns and limitations do you see with Dr. Ali's study and the conclusions he drew? How might you fix them?

Question 25

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Mary Jo recently read a research article about deception in research. The author of the article asserts that deception in research is stigmatized, but individuals in research who are deceived report enjoying the experience. Intrigued by this paper, Mary Jo decides to conduct a study to determine how people feel when they find out they have been deceived, and what types of deception are acceptable. To that end, she conducts two studies. In the first study she randomly assigns participants to one of two treatment conditions. Individuals in the deception group are deceived about the purpose of the study in which they volunteer. Individuals in the control group are told the true nature of the experiment. In both conditions the participants study a list of words in a lavender-scented room and their retention of those words is later assessed. The control group are told the lavender scent is to improve learning, but the deception group are told nothing about the lavender scent. In the second study the participants are again divided into two groups: deception and no deception. Participants come to a health clinic to receive a flu shot. Half of the participants get the vaccine whereas the other half gets a placebo shot (although all believe they have been vaccinated). Six months later the researchers disclose that only some of the participants actually got the vaccine. Mary Jo finds that in the first study deception did not negatively affect participants' perception about research. In fact, many who were not told about the lavender scent were excited to learn why it was present because it confirmed their hypothesis of its presence. In contrast, many individuals in the flu study who did not actually get the flu shot were upset about being lied to.
Was deception justified in this study? What might an IRB say about how the groups were deceived? Fix it!

Question 26

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Mr. Caputo is an administrator at a women's prison. Lately there have been a lot of physical altercations between inmates. The traditional form of punishment for fighting is being put into the solitary housing unit for 7 days, but since this doesn't seem to be working Mr. Caputo decides to explore alternative punitive methods. He decides to conduct a study that he hopes will solve the fighting problem at the prison. He also hopes to present the results at a regional prison administrator convention. To that end, he divides the 1,500 inmates into groups of 150. Each group is required to attend a focus group. To ensure that everyone participates, Mr. Caputo withholds access to the commissary until they complete the study. During the focus group a moderator asks questions such as "What kinds of things cause fights in prison?" and "How do you think fighting can be prevented?" Dr. Caputo also administers surveys to inmates to examine their aggressive tendencies and how fearful they are of prison life. At the end of the study Mr. Caputo discovers that the fights seem to be initiated by the inmates who work in the cafeteria, and fights seem to occur just after fresh produce is delivered to the prison. Based on these results Mr. Caputo decides to replace the kitchen staff and replace fresh produce with frozen fruits and vegetables. He uses this data to convince his colleagues at other prisons to do the same. What kind of research is Mr. Caputo conducting? What problems do you see with this study? Fix it!

Question 27

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On his Experimental Psychology final exam, Aaron is asked to describe the similarities and differences between experiments and nonexperiments. His answer is as follows: First, experiments are the best research method. Second, experiments have independent variables, things that the researcher manipulates such as temperature of the room, or difficulty of task. In nonexperimental designs there are no independent variables because researchers do not directly manipulate anything. Validity differs between experiments and nonexperiments. Whereas experiments have less internal validity than nonexperiments, nonexperiments usually have less external validity than experiments. Statistical methods are different for both methods. t-tests and ANOVAs can be used to analyzed experiments, whereas Pearson's r is used to analyze nonexperiments. Sampling also differs between the two methods. Experiments always use random sampling methods and nonexperiments use nonrandom sampling methods. Also, in experiments participants are masked to the purpose of the study, but are not in nonexperiments. In both methods it is important to have a large sample size, when possible, to increase power. Both types of research usually require IRB approval.
Identify and discuss two things that are inaccurate in Aaron's essay, as well as two things that are accurate.

Question 28

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Recently, Hunter watched an episode of a popular television program that found cursing increases pain tolerance to a cold stimulus. He identified a number of flaws in the methodology so he decided to test the effect of cursing on pain tolerance under more controlled conditions. To ensure his sample is random, Hunter posted flyers around the psychology building asking for volunteers for a study about pain. Twenty-three individuals volunteered and each was tested individually. The procedure required them place their hand in an ice bath held constant at 1 degree Celsius and to keep it there for as long as they were able to withstand the pain. After a five-minute rest they repeated this process but this time they were told to yell curse words while their hand was in the ice bath. Hunter measured how many seconds the participants were able to keep their hand in the ice during the two trials. To maintain consistency in his study Hunter always ran the control condition (no cursing) first, and the experimental condition (cursing) second. Hunter found that people were able to keep their hand in the ice bath for a significantly longer time during the cursing condition when compared with the no-cursing condition. Hunter concluded that despite the flawed methodology in the television show's experiment, their results are valid: cursing causes an increase in pain tolerance. What do you think of Hunter's methodology?

Question 29

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Noah is a social psychologist interested in childhood aggression. He recruits children by posting flyers at pediatric offices and receives 74 volunteers. The guardians of the children provide informed consent for the children to participate. Noah schedules the children to come to his lab, where he has created an environment that is comparable with a classroom setting. Noah has the children watch a cartoon before entering the lab. Some children see a violent cartoon, some see a nonviolent cartoon. He counts how many times each child behaves aggressively, and finds that kids who watched a violent cartoon prior to entering the simulated classroom environment are more aggressive than kids who watched a nonviolent cartoon.
Describe issues with validity associated with this study, as well as ethical considerations.

Question 30

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A group of doctors with the American Cancer Association are interested in conducting a study to better understand the effects of nicotine on brain functioning. They contact family physicians and ask them to provide the medical records of patients who are actively trying to quit smoking, who are otherwise healthy, and who have recently had a PET scan for various reasons. The physicians send the ACA doctors 78 patient records. The ACA doctors examine the PET data from each patient and find that cerebral blood flow is altered in a number of brain regions, including the hippocampus and cerebellum. The ACA doctors conclude that one of the risks associated with smoking is an alteration in cerebral flood flow.
What ethical and methodological issues exist with this study? Fix it.

Question 31

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Each semester, Dr. Lawrence administers a comprehensive final exam to her Biology I students. She is always surprised at how poorly students do on the exam and decides to investigate why. This semester Dr. Lawrence adds one last question to the exam. The question asks "How well do you think you did on this exam?" and the response items are 1 = exceptional, 2 = above average, 3 = average, 4 = below average, 5 = poor. Consistent with past exams, students perform relatively poorly on this exam. The mean score was 68%. Interestingly, she finds that most students felt they did well on the exam. Nearly 75% of the class indicated they thought they did at least above average, 20% of the class felt they did average, and only 5% said they performed below average.
Discuss the discrepancy between actual exam scores and perceived performance. Describe how Dr. Lawrence should test whether a relationship between actual test performance and perceived test performance exists.

Question 32

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Lexi is a veterinary student who wants to know whether dog owners are happier than cat owners, and whether any difference in happiness between dog and cat owners also varies according to sex. She recruits volunteers by placing flyers at local veterinary clinics that indicate participants are needed for a study on happiness. After several weeks and only three volunteers, Lexi gets permission from the veterinary clinics to tell clients they must participate in the study in order for their pets to receive services. She also begins to give people a $25 credit toward veterinary services for their participation. Eventually Lexi gets 80 volunteers (40 men and 40 women). After giving informed consent, participants complete a demographic questionnaire, as well as the Subjective Happiness Scale. On the demographic questionnaire the participants reported their sex, age, ethnicity, how many pets they owned, what kind of pets they owned, and for how many years they owned each pet. Lexi used the demographic questionnaire to divide participants into four groups: men who own dogs (n = 23), men who own cats (n = 17), women who own dogs (n = 20), and women who own cats (n = 20). The mean happiness for each group was computed and compared using several t-tests. The results indicate men are happier than women, cat owners are happier than dog owners, men with dogs are happier than men with cats, women with cats are happier than women with dogs, men with cats are happier than women with dogs, and women with cats are happier than men with dogs. Lexi concludes that a relationship exists between pet ownership and happiness.
What do you think of how Lexi obtained her participants? Do you agree with how she analyzed the data? Fix it!

Question 33

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Dave is a second-year graduate student working on his thesis. He predicts that olfaction is an important factor affecting food consumption. To that end, he obtains a group of rats and randomly assigns them to two treatment conditions. The rats in group one receive standard rat chow. The rats in group two receive a rat chow that is manufactured to have no scent. Dave convinces his advisor that he needs research assistants to help him with his study. Dave's advisor calls the director of the university's work-study program who sends two students to work with Dave. One work-study student, Robin, assigned to help Dave also works part-time in the cafeteria. From 9 a.m. to noon she works at Fiesta Cantina, and from 12:30 to 3:00 she works with Dave. The other work-study student, Patrick, has no other responsibilities than to work with Dave. Dave randomly assigned each student to work with one group of rats. Patrick was assigned the control group and Robin was assigned the experimental group. Their job is to give each rat 25 grams of rat chow. After 1 hour they measure how much of the food has been consumed by each rat. The remaining food is removed and the rats are not fed again until the following day. Dave compares the mean amount of food eaten by rats from each group. He finds that rats in the standard chow group consume just as much food as those in the unscented food. Although contrary to his prediction, Dave concludes that food scent is not associated with food consumption.
What type of research design did Dave create? Why do you think Dave did not find a difference between the groups? Fix it!

Question 34

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Genie is a first-year doctoral student studying clinical psychology at the Adler School of Professional Psychology. She was attracted to this school because of her admiration of Adlerian theory. A central tenant of Adlerian theory is that no one is mentally ill. Rather, Adlerian therapists believe that individuals are driven by social forces and can be motivated to change. Genie wants to know what theories other students at her school admire. To that end, she creates a survey to administer to first-, second-, and third-year doctoral students. Her survey is a brief one-item question that asks "Whose theoretical perspective do you most identify with?" The response alternatives include: Erikson, Freud, Jung, Adler, and Maslow. Genie administers her survey during the holiday party that is held annually for all students, faculty, and staff. This year's party is on December 22, the night following the last final exam. Of the 60 first-, second-, and third-year doctoral students, only 25 attend the party. Of the 25 students, 18 complete the survey. Genie counts the responses by year in school. She finds that 16 identify with Adler, one with Freud, and one with Maslow. Genie concludes that Adlerian theory is the most popular theory among therapists-in-training. This is good news to her and validates her decision to attend the Adlerian School of Professional Psychology.
What do you think about Genie's survey? Would you change the survey and how it was administered? Discuss why and describe how.

Question 35

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Penny has been struggling with her weight for some time now and decides it is time for a lifestyle change. In addition to exercising daily and eating right, Penny takes Fat-Away, an all-natural herbal supplement designed to promote weight loss. To monitor her progress Penny keeps a diary in which she records things such as how she feels and what she eats each day. After 30 days Penny weighs herself and finds she has lost 15 pounds! She's thrilled with the results and decides to become a Fat-Away distributor. In her sales pitch to prospective clients, Penny describes how well Fat-Away worked for her.
What's wrong with Penny's thinking? What additional information would you need to be convinced that Fat-Away causes weight loss?

Question 36

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Mrs. Ballard is a high school teacher who hypothesizes that kids involved in extracurricular activities perform better academically. She decides to examine the most recent graduates of the high school where she works. She obtains two measures for all 176 graduates: final GPA, and how many extracurricular activities they participated in throughout their 4 years in school. She analyzes the data using Pearson's r and finds a statistically significant relationship (r(174) = -.78, p < .05). She presents the results to the principal of the school and argues that students should be required to participate in at least two extracurricular activities each year. The principle looks at the results of the study and informs Mrs. Ballard she is mistaken. Mrs. Ballard is confused because the results revealed a statistically significant relationship between the two variables.
Discuss Mrs. Ballard's hypothesis. Why do you think the principal disagrees with Mrs. Ballard's conclusion? Fix it!

Question 37

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A health psychologist is interested in understanding the effect of age of first menstrual cycle and fertility. A random sample of 300 women is selected from a total population of 803 female patients across three clinics in a small northeastern Texas city. The women in the sample are sent a letter requesting their participation in the study. A total of 82 women provide their informed consent to participate. The researcher contacts each volunteer via telephone and asks them the age at which they first menstruated, the total number of pregnancies they had, and the total number of live births they experienced. In addition, the researchers ask the women questions about their ethnicity, highest level of educational attainment, and household income. Quantitative analyses revealed that the earliest age of menstruation was 9 years, and the oldest age was 17 years. The researcher divides age of first menstruation into three categories: early (9-11), average (12-14), and late (15-17). She calculates the mean number of pregnancies for each age group. She also decides to determine if educational attainment affects fertility and compares the mean number of births by women with a high school diploma (or less), and the mean number of births by women with greater than a high school diploma. Her first analysis indicates that women who menstruate early in life are less fertile than those who menstruate at a typical age, or those who menstruate later in life. Her second analysis reveals that those with more education are more fertile than those with less education. The researcher concludes that while age of menstrual onset is a factor associated with fertility, the ability to become pregnant can be increased with education.
Identify the strengths and limitations of this study. For each limitation offer a solution.

Question 38

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Brooke is a new graduate student. Her advisor, Dr. Martinez, has been studying the impact of experience on cognitive function for years. Dr. Martinez assigns Brooke several journal articles to read. She finds one in particular that piques her interest. The paper describes that rats that voluntarily exercise for 30 days perform better on the Morris Water Maze, a task indicative of declarative memory. She wonders whether this is true in humans, and whether the positive effect of exercise occurs sooner than 30 days following exercise. To that end, Brooke places an ad in the student newspaper to recruit volunteers. Brooke randomly selects 80 participants from the 128 people who responded to the ad. Participants are first assigned to an exercise condition or sedentary condition. Each condition is further divided so that some people participate for 2 weeks, some for 4 weeks, and others for 6 weeks. Participants in the exercise condition are asked to exercise at least twice a week. Participants are asked to keep a diary of their activity and also note their heart rate at five-minute intervals throughout their workout session. Sedentary participants are asked to not change their daily habits. After participating, each person returns to the lab to complete the TOMAL-2, a test to assess declarative memory (higher scores indicate better memory). The results revealed that participants who exercised for 4 weeks and those who exercised for 6 weeks performed much better on the TOMAL-2 than those who did not exercise at all. Interestingly, those who exercised for only 2 weeks performed similarly to those who did not exercise at all. These results suggest that a minimum of 4 weeks of exercise is needed to improve cognitive performance in adults.
How would you describe this research design? What are its advantages? Discuss the operational definition of exercise and describe how and why you might change it.

Question 39

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After reading about the Mozart effect, Francis wants to examine whether music makes you smarter. He asks 200 people to report how much time they listen to music during a typical week and what their IQ is. He divides the participants into two groups based on their IQ: those with an IQ of less than 100, and those with an IQ of greater than 100. He compares the amount of time each group listens to music using an independent t-test. His results indicate those with an IQ of 100 or more listen to significantly more music than those with an IQ of 100 or less. Francis presents his work at a regional psychology conference. The title of his poster, "Music Makes You Smarter," draws a lot of attention. Many people who talk to Francis about the study say his design cannot infer causality and he analyzed the data incorrectly. What do you think they are referring to? Do you think they are being too hard on him? Fix it!

Question 40

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Dr. David Snowden started the "Nun Study" in 1986 in Minnesota. It is an ongoing study that tracks a group of nuns whose incidence of Alzheimer's disease is significantly lower than that of the general public. According to Dr. Snowden, the nuns may have been protected against cognitive decline because their lifestyles have been physically and mentally stimulating. After reading about Dr. Snowden's study, Fred decides to use an animal model to examine the effect of lifestyle on cognitive function. To that end, he divides rats into two treatment conditions. In the control condition rats are raised individually in standard laboratory cages. In this type of environment rats have no social interaction and are limited in their ability to engage in physical activity. In the other group rats are house communally where they have access to running wheels and a variety of objects to explore. After 30 days in their respective conditions, Fred examines how well the animals are able to learn a maze. Performance on the maze is indicative of cognitive function. Fred finds that rats in the environmentally rich environment learn the maze significantly faster than rats in the control condition. Based on these results, Fred concludes that stimulus-rich environments improve cognitive function and protect against age-related decline.
Identify and describe the variables that are manipulated and measured in this study. What type of research design was used and how should the data be analyzed? What more evidence might you need to convince you that a stimulus-rich environment is advantageous?

Question 41

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Donna has two children whose teachers laud their good behavior. While Donna knows she has great children, she also knows they do not always behave perfectly at home. Donna hypothesizes that children behave better for others than they do their own parents. She decides to do a study in which she examines the behavior of children in their home environment and in their school environment.
Discuss the issues of control and ecological validity as it relates to Donna's study. What issues may Donna face with regard to studying children? How might she minimize these issues?

Question 42

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Selena is a first-year graduate student pursuing a degree in School Counseling. She's struggling with her Research Methods class. While talking with her professor, Selena says that she doesn't see the importance of research methods since as a school counselor she won't be conducting research. She also discusses her class project with her professor. Selena wants to study something related to her profession. After seeing so much bullying in her school lately, Selena decides to do something related to bully prevention. She thinks that an intervention program may be more effective than counseling children after bullying has occurred.
If you were Selena's professor how would you respond?

Question 43

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Lucy is a doing her senior thesis on how music makes people feel. She believes that the best approach to this topic is qualitative, since one's reaction to music is very personal and varies significantly from person to person. Lucy recruits 12 of her friends and family to participate in the study. She invites the participants to a focus group. Lucy decides to have a friend who is unfamiliar with the research topic moderate the focus group. Lucy's rationale is that she herself may be too biased and may influence her participants' responses; by having someone unfamiliar with the topic moderate, the discussion will be more authentic. After the focus group is finished the participants document their informed consent by signing their names to a sign-in sheet. Lucy transcribes the audio recordings the moderator made during the focus group and analyzes the data using t-tests and Pearson's r. She creates a poster to convey the study's results. On her poster she describes that women were significantly more likely than men to respond emotionally to music.
What design and analysis problems exist in Lucy's study? What do you think about how she communicated the results? Fix it!

Question 44

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Joey is a sommelier who wants to develop a survey to assess how much his customers know about wine. He writes as many questions about wine he can think of and eventually ends up with 100 items. Joey names the scale the Wine Connoisseur Survey (WCS) and begins to administer it to his customers. Scores on the WCS range from 0 (not knowledgeable) to 100 (extremely knowledgeable). His goal is to identify those customers who are not very knowledgeable about wine so he may get them to enroll in his wine class. Joey decides that he'll ask anyone who scores 50 or less on the scale to take his wine class. To his surprise, very few people score poorly on the WCS. In fact, most people score close to 100. Joey is thrilled to find that so many people are so knowledgeable about wine!
Joey's wife, Ava, is a Master's degree student who decides to use Joey's survey in her thesis project. She predicts that people who know more about wine will spend more money on a bottle of wine than people who know relatively little about wine. To that end, she asks patrons of Joey's store to complete the WCS and then measures how much money they spend on a bottle of wine. She finds that people who score a 50 or less on the WCS spend $8 on average on a bottle of wine. In contrast, those who score greater than 50 on the WCS spend $10 on average on a bottle of wine. Based on these results Ava concludes that knowing more about wine leads them to spend more on a bottle. She reasons that people with knowledge are more appreciative of wine and therefore more willing to splurge on a good bottle. Joey presents Ava's results at the upcoming sommelier convention and uses it to promote the WCS.
What do you think about Joey's scale? What do you think about Ava's conclusions about how wine knowledge affects how much one spends on a bottle of wine?

Question 45

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Julio is an undergraduate who has not chosen a major field of study. His friend, Zoe, is a psychology major and has been trying to convince Julio to declare psychology as his major. Julio is reluctant to do so because he believes psychology is not a real science and he's heard the only way you can get a good job in psychology is if you get a master's or doctoral degree.
What might you say to Julio about the value of a psychology degree?

Question 46

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Dr. Violet wants to teach his Introduction to Psychology students a lesson on the importance of science in psychology. He begins the semester by asking them if they have heard of "Shango." Shango, he explains, is a juice that contains mangosteen fruit, which are rich in xanthones. He recently began drinking six ounces of the juice each day based on a television ad he saw that describe its anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. Every couple of weeks Dr. Violet tells his class he's feeling better than ever and has not gotten sick yet this semester so the Shango is definitely doing its job. At the end of the semester Dr. Violet asks his students if they would be interested in trying Shango for themselves. Sixty of his 75 students are interested. He gives them the information on how to order the product. The next day he reviews hypothesis testing. The hypothesis he uses as an example in class is "Shango prevents colds." He puts students into groups of five to develop a research plan to test the hypothesis.
Discuss what the students probably came up with during this exercise. Do you think most of the students still wanted to try Shango? Discuss why.

Question 47

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At the end of each month a local reproductive health clinic runs statistics about the number of individuals treated for sexually transmitted diseases. For the past three months they have noticed a huge increase in STD treatment and are worried there is an epidemic in their county. They decide to conduct a program evaluation and begin with focus groups to determine what is contributing to the STD outbreak. During the focus group they find that there is also an increase in drug use among young adults in the community. Knowing that drug use impairs decision making, the health clinic concludes that the increase in drug use is causing the STD outbreak. The health clinic applies for a grant to fund an antidrug program and is surprised when they do not get the money. After hiring a research consultant and reviewing the feedback from the grant reviewers they revise their application and resubmit the grant the next time it is offered.
What do you think the feedback from the grant reviewers said? What changes to the grant proposal do you think the health clinic made? Fix it!

Question 48

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Charity is a graduate student who is using a transgenic mouse model of frontotemporal dementia to study Alzheimer's disease. She obtains 30 mice and divides them into three treatment conditions. In the first condition 10 rats are housed communally to assess the impact of social support on the disease. In the second condition 10 rats are housed individually. In the third condition rats are housed individually but have wheels attached to their home cages so they may voluntarily engage in exercise. After one month in their respective conditions Charity sacrifices the animals and examines their brains for the presence of insoluble protein aggregates in the frontotemporal lobe. She obtains five random slices of tissue from each animal's brain and applies a stain to identify the presence of protein. For each animal, the mean amount of protein across the five slices is obtained. Charity is a second-year graduate student who has not yet taken statistics so she is at a loss for how she should analyze the data. She decides to talk to her peers to get their advice on how to proceed.
Identify and discuss the research design Charity employed. How should her colleagues suggest she analyze the data? Lastly, discuss the ethics associated with using animals in research.

Question 49

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Dr. James is interested in knowing what factors best motivate children to perform well in school. He asks his friends to volunteer their children for the study and ends up with 23 children between the ages of 6 and 15 years. He randomly selects 12 children to participate in his first study in which he examines whether money is a good motivator. Half of the kids receive $5 for each A they earn on tests throughout the school year, whereas the other half receive no money. In a second study, Dr. James randomly assigns the students to one of three conditions. In the positive verbal reinforcement group the students' parents praise them for doing well by saying things like "great work" and "I knew you could do it!" In the punishment group students are assigned a menial chore, such as cleaning the house and raking leaves, when their grade on a test is below a B. In the control condition children are neither praised nor punished for their academic performance. Dr. James analyzes the data from the first study by conducting a one-way ANOVA. He concludes that kids who earn money for doing well end up having a higher GPA at the end of the semester than the kids who received no monetary incentive (F(9)=2.72, p > .05). Dr. James also conducts a one-way ANOVA on the second study. His analysis reveals the groups differ significantly (F(9) = 7.25, p < .05). After looking at how each group performs, he states that kids in the reinforcement group end up doing much better in school than the other two groups.
There are several flaws with Dr. James' design and analysis. Identify three and discuss how you would fix them.

Question 50

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Morgan is a tennis coach who wants to know how to be more effective in teaching her students so she studies her current group of beginning tennis students who are between the ages of 8 and 10 years. During the first week of lessons Morgan has the children play tennis without any instruction in order to assess their base level of ability. During the second week of lessons Morgan awards stars to students each time they use the proper forehand form. Morgan continues to do this until all the students use the proper form 75% of the time. After that she continues to give stars for good form, but gives them less frequently. Morgan finds that the kids continue to exhibit good forehand techniques and decides her positive reinforcement strategy is beneficial to the teaching of tennis and is making her a more effective coach.
What type of research design is Morgan using? Based on the information above, can you conclude that Morgan's method is causing the children to perform better?