Exam 3: The Research Enterprise in Psychology Part 1

A psychologist measures blood alcohol level to determine intoxication. In this example, blood alcohol level is the ____ definition of intoxication.

Dr. Zelke surveys 50 university students to discover the relationship between textbook price and ratings of readability. Dr. Zelke finds that for these two variables the correlation coefficient is -0.70. This indicates that

Dr. Macator predicts that people will act more aggressively during the heat waves of summer than they will during the cold spells of winter. This suggests that Dr. Macator believes that temperature and level of aggression are

A high correlation coefficient (either positive or negative) indicates that

When subjects are administered a series of written questions designed to assess their attitudes, opinions, or behavior, this is called

In the Featured Study on how expectations influence reaction to positive and negative outcomes, the dependent variable was

In scientific investigations a researcher must clearly define the variables under study by precisely describing how they will be measured or controlled. These definitions are referred to as

As the number of bystanders' increases, people are less likely to help someone who is in distress. This suggests that the size of a crowd and helping behavior are

One of your friends is writing a research paper and wants to obtain information about the depth of personal information people typically reveal during a first date. Directly observing a large number of people during a first date will be difficult, so your friend asks for your advice on the best way to collect this type of data. The best suggestion would be for your friend to use

Dr. Prutherow believes that people who are under stress will develop more colds than people who are not under stress. When he randomly selects 10 participants and exposes them to high levels of stress, he finds that 9 of the participants develop colds. Based on these results he concludes that stress causes an increase in colds. Dr. Prutherow's reasoning may be flawed because in this study

The principal disadvantage of the descriptive/correlational research method is

Paulo tells you that he just completed an experiment in his botany class, and the results he obtained were statistically significant. This means that the results he obtained

When two variables are linked and their individual effects cannot be separated out, we speak of the variables as being

Dr. Barton has found that students who score higher than 85% on the first midterm tend to earn scores of 75% or better on the final exam, while students who score less than 60% on the first midterm often end up with a failing grade on the final exam. This suggests that

Estavan received a questionnaire in the mail asking about his general buying habits. He was asked to identify the specific products that he typically buys, and the amount of each product that he typically uses. If Estavan completes the questionnaire and returns it, he will have taken part in research that incorporates

A researcher decides exactly how his research project will be conducted when

The purpose of the control group is to

In an experiment designed to test memory processes, one group was given special instructions and asked to group the items on a list into categories while they tried to memorize them. A second group of participants was given the same list, but they did not receive any special instructions. In this study, the experimental group is

Laura answered a series of written questions that asked about her attitudes and opinions on a number of current issues. The method of data collection that was being used in this case was

Scientific theories are most directly associated with which goal of science?