Exam 2: How Psychologists Do Research

In a laboratory, smokers are asked to drive using a computerized driving simulator and cover the maximum distance possible, while avoiding rear-end collisions. Some volunteers are given a real cigarette to smoke immediately before the test. Others smoke a fake cigarette without nicotine. The number of collisions the two groups make is to be compared. In this study, the cigarette without nicotine is a:

Rarely does a psychological study have completely straightforward results. Usually there is some possibility that the difference between two groups could be due to chance. Explain how inferential statistics help us determine how statistically meaningful a study's results are.

Two sets of observations assessing age and the amount of hair on an adult man's head are compared. Which of the following is the most likely outcome?

Meta-analysis combines data from a number of related studies instead of assessing each study's results separately.

Ideally, everything in an experiment except the independent variable is held constant.

Inferential statistics are:

Inferential statistics allow researchers to draw inferences about how statistically meaningful a study's results are.

When two variables have a strong negative correlation, the correlation coefficient will be close to:

Which descriptive method would be most appropriate for studying a random sample of people's attitudes toward stem cell research?

A study in which subjects of different ages are compared at a given time is called a cross-sectional study.

Descriptive or experimental research that is conducted in a natural setting outside of the laboratory is called:

An operational definition is:

What makes psychological research scientific? This chapter points out the importance of precision in the pursuit of knowledge. How does this principle of good science correspond to the critical thinking guideline, "Define Your Terms," discussed in Chapter 1?

Which of the following pairs of variables illustrates a negative correlation?

Why is it important to go beyond averages when summarizing data? What other descriptive statistics are used to help interpret data?

If a significance test shows that the p value of a result is greater than .05, researchers would have high confidence in the study's result.

_______________ are fake treatments or inactive substances used as a control in an experiment.

The president of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is concerned after reading that during puberty, children have increased needs for sleep. She wants to find out if other parents of middle-school children would support a later starting time for school. At one of the Tuesday night meetings, she conducts a survey of the PTA members in order to address this question. When she asks those parents in support of the change to raise their hands, she discovers that 85 percent of the parents support a later starting time. What information has she gained by conducting this survey? What shortcomings exist in her survey?

Replication is an essential part of the scientific process.

A psychological test is said to have content validity if: