Introduction to Psychological Research
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Course Introduction
Introduction to Psychological Research provides students with a foundational understanding of the scientific methods and principles used in psychological inquiry. The course explores key concepts such as research design, data collection, statistical analysis, and interpretation of findings within the context of psychology. Students will examine various research methodologies including experiments, surveys, observational studies, and case studies while critically evaluating ethical considerations and the importance of validity and reliability. By engaging with real-world examples and conducting basic research projects, students will develop essential skills for analyzing and contributing to psychological knowledge.
Recommended Textbook Research Methods in Psychology Evaluating a World of Information 2nd Edition by Beth Morling
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Psychology Is a Way of Thinking
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Q1) Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage.He believes that marital satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that one can be a good spouse.This is known as:
A)A theory
B)A hypothesis
C)Data
D)Research
Answer: A
Q2) What is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
Answer: Students should state that a hypothesis is a prediction about what a researcher says should happen.Students may say that a hypothesis is an if-then statement,such that if something happens,then they predict something else will then happen.Students should say that a theory is a statement that explains why various variables/concepts are related.Some students may say that hypotheses are used to test theories.
Q3) What are the three components of a good theory?
Answer: Students should state the three components (falsifiable,supported by data,and parsimonious).
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Chapter 2: Sources of Information: Evaluating, finding, and Reading Information
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Q1) Explain how confirmatory hypothesis testing is different from the theory-data cycle. Answer: Students should explain that when people engage in confirmatory hypothesis testing,they are seeking to confirm their hypotheses and are asking questions that will give them the answer they expect.By contrast,when people engage in the theory-data cycle,they ask questions that may confirm or disconfirm their hypothesis.In the latter,they are not trying to find a particular answer but rather trying to find the correct answer.
Q2) Lana is writing her first empirical journal article.Although she thinks she knows why she found the results she did,she also wants to mention some alternative explanations for her findings.In which section will she mention these alternative explanations?
A)Method
B)Results
C)Discussion
D)References
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Three Claims, four Validities: Interrogation Tools
for Consumers of Research
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Q1) For the following three terms,create a manipulated operational definition for each: stress,personal space,and study skills.
Answer: Regardless of the actual operational definitions provided by students,they must provide something that the researcher controls/manipulates.For example,for stress,students cannot simply say that it is when people feel uncomfortable and uncertain.Appropriate answers for stress might be giving students feedback that they failed or information that their performance would have some future implications (show them they qualify for something).
Q2) 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?
A)A constant
B)A variable's level
C)A measured variable
D)A manipulated variable
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Ethical Guidelines for Psychology Research
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Q1) Which of the following has NOT been used as a defense of animal research by animal researchers?
A)Animal research has resulted in many benefits to both animals and humans.
B)Animal research requires less research funding than human research.
C)Animal researchers are in favor of protecting and even enhancing animal welfare.
D)Animal researchers continue to reduce the number of animals needed for animal research.
Q2) What is plagiarism? Explain why plagiarism is an ethical violation.
Q3) Dr.Johnson is planning on conducting a study in which he observes the ways people approach each other in bars.He plans to sit at a local bar and listen to the ways men introduce themselves to women and the ways women introduce themselves to men.To avoid detection,he plans to sit at the bar and write down the information he collects on cocktail napkins.Dr.Johnson concludes that he does not need to have participants sign a written informed consent.Explain the concept of informed consent and why Dr.Johnson does not need to collect informed consent in this study.
Q4) What is an IACUC? Name one way it is similar to an IRB and one way it differs from an IRB.
Q5) What are the two issues that need to be balanced in conducting ethical research?
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Chapter 5: Identifying Good Measurement
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Q1) Given the above situation,explain the difference between criterion validity,convergent validity,and discriminant validity.Why is each one important?
Q2) Which of the following NOT is possible?
A)A measure is neither reliable nor valid.
B)A measure is both valid and reliable.
C)A measure is reliable but not valid.
D)A measure is valid but not reliable
Q3) To test his measure,Dr.Sheffield gives his measure to a group of people in Gamblers Anonymous (GA)and another group of people in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).He finds that people in the GA group have higher scores on his new measure than people in the AA group.This procedure is known as a:
A)Test-retest paradigm
B)Known-groups paradigm
C)Prediction paradigm
D)Group evaluation paradigm
Q4) Explain why many people feel that physiological measurements are the best way to operationalize a variable but why they may not,in fact,be the best.
Q5) Name the three types of reliability and the four types of validity.
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Chapter 6: Surveys and Observations: Describing What
People Do
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Q1) All of the following can decrease accurate responses EXCEPT:
A)Nay-saying response sets
B)Fence-sitting
C)Reverse-worded questions
D)Acquiescence
Q2) Imagine that Dr.Ewell wants to videotape the children in the park.Which of the following is true?
A)He will likely need to get permission to videotape the children prior to doing so.
B)If he uses hidden cameras,he does not need to tell the participants they have been videotaped.
C)He will be unable to use videotape because he is studying children.
D)He can use the videotapes regardless of whether the adult objects as long as the child agrees.
Q3) State three ways that a researcher could reduce reactivity in a study and why each one is effective.
Q4) For each of Dr.Omiata's statements,state whether it is well-worded.If it is not,indicate what the problem is and how it could be fixed.
Q5) What is an advantage of open-ended questions? What is a disadvantage?
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Sampling: Estimating the Frequency of
Behaviors and Beliefs
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Q1) Explain why a researcher may wish to choose snowballing sampling over a representative sampling technique.
Q2) A sample is always ________ a population.
A)More expensive to measure than
B)Smaller than
C)More interesting than
D)More scientific than
Q3) A population is to ________ as a sample is to ________.
A)Entire;part
B)Internal;external
C)Census;people
D)Researchers;participants
Q4) Which of the following is true of a nonrepresentative sample in a research claim?
A)You should automatically disregard the claim.
B)You should automatically accept the claim.
C)You should ask whether it is relevant to what the researchers are measuring.
D)You should ask whether more participants are necessary.
Q5) A representative sample is most necessary for which type of claim (frequency,association,or causal)? Why?
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Chapter 8: Bivariate Correlational Research
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Q1) What does it mean that an association is "spurious"? What can cause spurious associations?
Q2) What are the five questions that consumers of research should ask to evaluate the statistical validity of an association claim?
Q3) A study finds a correlation coefficient of r = .32.According to Cohen's benchmarks,the magnitude of this effect is:
A)Moderate
B)Large
C)Multiply determined
D)Categorical
Q4) Stronger effect sizes allow for all of the following EXCEPT?
A)Greater likelihood of finding a statistically significant relationship
B)Greater accuracy in predicting one variable as opposed to another
C)Greater likelihood of a finding being important in the real world
D)Greater construct validity
Q5) How strong is the external validity of Dr.Moynihan's study? How does the fact that she finds no differences in the associations in men and women also speak to the study's external validity?
Q6) Draw a scatterplot for the three associations found by Dr.Moynihan.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Multivariate Correlational Research
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Q1) Based on her pattern of correlations,which of the following can Dr.Farah safely conclude?
A)Because Correlation 3 is significant but Correlation 4 is not,Dr.Farah has evidence that increased homework comes before academic achievement.
B)Because not all the correlations are significant,Dr.Farah has no evidence that increased homework comes before academic achievement.
C)Because Correlations 2 and 3 are significant,Dr.Farah has evidence that increased homework comes before academic achievement.
D)Because Correlation 4 is stronger than Correlation 5,Dr.Farah has no evidence that increased homework comes before academic achievement.
Q2) Explain the value of pattern and parsimony in attempting to establish causal links in correlational findings.
Q3) Using Dr.Uchida's study,explain the steps he would go through to examine whether there was support for his mediation hypothesis.
Q4) Describe what makes Dr.O'Toole's study (1)a longitudinal study and (2)a multivariate correlational study.
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Introduction to Simple Experiments
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Q1) Define manipulation checks and pilot studies and explain how they address the construct validity of an experiment.
Q2) Name three advantages of within-groups designs.
Q3) A more general term for practice effects and carryover effects is:
A)Order effects
B)Within-person effects
C)Between-person effects
D)Design effects
Q4) Prior to conducting the current study,Dr.Lonsbary asked her research assistant to use the same mood manipulation with a sample of 30 college students to determine if people's moods really did change after listening to the music.Running this preliminary study helps establish which of the following?
A)External validity
B)Statistical validity
C)Internal validity
D)Construct validity
Q5) Name three disadvantages of within-groups designs.
Q6) Explain why control variables are necessary in experiments and why they are not actually variables.
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Chapter 11: More on Experiments: Confounding and Obscuring Variables
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Q1) Explain how within-group variance can obscure between-group differences.
Q2) Which of the following cannot be found in a one-group,pretest/posttest design?
A)A random sample
B)A valid measure
C)A comparison group
D)A manipulation
Q3) The addition of a comparison group can address all of the following threats to internal validity EXCEPT:
A)History
B)Maturation
C)Regression
D)Attrition
Q4) Which of the following things CANNOT be done to reduce the effect of individual differences?
A)Using a matched-groups design
B)Decrease power
C)Collecting measurements from more people
D)Using a within-groups design
Q5) Provide three reasons why Armand's study may have resulted in null effects.
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Chapter 12: Experiments With More Than One Independent
Variable
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Q1) Which of the following is the correct factorial notation for Dr.Elder's new study?
A)1×2×4
B)2×2×2
C)2×2
D)2×4
Q2) Dr.Gavin is conducting a 2×4 independent-groups factorial design.How many interactions will Dr.Gavin need to examine?
A)1
B)2
C)3
D)4
Q3) In graphing the difference between the differences,which of the following values would Dr.Elder use?
A)6.5
B)7.5
C)9
D)12
Q4) Explain why researchers care about interactions more than main effects.
Page 14
Q5) Name the independent variables in this study and describe their levels.
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Chapter 13: Quasi-Experiments and Small-N Designs
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Q1) In addition to measuring the group of participants who joined a fraternity/sorority,Dr.Fletcher decides to give the same measure to another group of 55 participants who decided to not join a fraternity/sorority.After conducting the study,Dr.Fletcher finds out that the people who joined a fraternity/sorority all saw a documentary on body image sponsored by the InterGreek Council the night before recruitment began.This threat to internal validity is known as a:
A)Selection threat
B)Selection-history threat
C)History threat
D)Testing threat
Q2) Explain why Dr.Fletcher is conducting a quasi-experimental design rather than a true experiment.
Q3) A small-N design that involves providing treatment and then removing treatment is known as a/an:
A)Interrupted time-series design
B)Stable-baseline design
C)Multiple-baseline design
D)Reversal design
Q4) List three small-N designs and explain how these designs address maturation.
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Chapter 14: Replicability, generalization, and the Real World
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Q1) In a direct replication,which of the following is NOT allowed to be dissimilar from the original study?
A)The research assistant helping with the study
B)The participants in the study
C)The variables in the study
D)The time of year when the study is run
Q2) Which of the following types of study does NOT support external validity?
A)A study using a different type of population
B)A study that is a direct replication
C)A study that adds a new independent variable
D)A study that adds a new dependent variable
Q3) Provide an example of each of the following for Dr.Tropez's original study: a direct replication,a conceptual replication,and a replication with extension.
Q4) A researcher in theory-testing mode focuses on ________,while a researcher in generalization mode focuses on ________.
A)Internal validity;external validity
B)External validity;internal validity
C)External validity;statistical validity
D)Statistical validity;external validity
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