Exam 3: Three Claims, Four Validities: Interrogation Tools for Consumers of Research

Which of the following could be an independent variable in a causal claim?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.6: From a Time.com article entitled "Why Men Shouldn't Listen to Rock Music While Playing Board Games," published on December 13, 2016. Researchers Fancourt, Burton, and Williamon wanted to find out whether different types of music would impact participants' performance on a mock-surgery game, "Operation." Many real-life surgeons listen to music while operating, so the authors were interested in whether this may actually help performance, and whether that differed by sex of the participant. The psychologists asked male and female participants to play the mock-surgery game, "Operation," in which they needed to remove three different organs from a "patient" using tweezers.The experimenters played either rock music, classical music, or operating-room sounds.They found that the type of music made a difference on the performance of male participants, who were slower to complete the task (in seconds) while listening to rock music compared with classical music.The performance of female participants did not differ based on the type of music they listened to. What type of claim is the author making in this study? Explain why you think this is the claim being made.

Consider two variables: income and relationship satisfaction.Describe the three types of associations assuming these two variables.

For the following three terms, create a manipulated operational definition for each: stress, personal space, and study skills.

RESEARCH STUDY 3.1: Anderson is reading his morning paper and sees the following headline: "Men Should Avoid Rock Music When Playing Board Games." (This headline is based on a study conducted by Fancourt, Burton, & Williamon, 2016.) In the study, men and women played the game "Operation" when listening to different types of music.Male participants performed worse when listening to AC/DC than when listening to Mozart, but female participants' performance did not differ based on music. How many variables are included in this study?

A common finding in the study of aggression is that exposure to television is associated with increased aggressive behavior in children.You know this relationship may not be causal because you are not sure which occurred first: watching television or being aggressive.You are questioning which of the following rules of causation?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.4: Dr.Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory.He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university.He puts the names of all the participants in a hat.The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B.Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder).Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk).He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university.He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. Which of the following makes Dr.Kang's study an experiment?

When examining the statistical validity of a frequency claim, one should look for the:

RESEARCH STUDY 3.6: From a Time.com article entitled "Why Men Shouldn't Listen to Rock Music While Playing Board Games," published on December 13, 2016. Researchers Fancourt, Burton, and Williamon wanted to find out whether different types of music would impact participants' performance on a mock-surgery game, "Operation." Many real-life surgeons listen to music while operating, so the authors were interested in whether this may actually help performance, and whether that differed by sex of the participant. The psychologists asked male and female participants to play the mock-surgery game, "Operation," in which they needed to remove three different organs from a "patient" using tweezers.The experimenters played either rock music, classical music, or operating-room sounds.They found that the type of music made a difference on the performance of male participants, who were slower to complete the task (in seconds) while listening to rock music compared with classical music.The performance of female participants did not differ based on the type of music they listened to. Explain the difference between a variable and a constant.Give an example of each from this study.

What makes certain constructs harder to operationalize?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.3: Anton and his friends are discussing a study he read about in his developmental psychology class.In the study, the researcher made the claim that most middle school students who are bullied have low self-esteem.Clarissa questions the study, saying, "I am not sure that I am convinced.I am not sure you can really measure being bullied." Quinn also questions the study, saying, "Which middle school students did they study? I am curious if they included both private and public school students." Manish also is curious about the study, asking, "I wonder how strong the relationship is between bullying and self-esteem.Could you predict one from the other?" Quinn's concern is addressing which of the following?

Which of the following allow us to make strong predictions using association claims?

Dr.Ellison finds a relation between amount of sleep and problem solving.Specifically, having a higher amount of sleep the night before an exam is associated with higher scores on two measures of problem solving.This is an example of which type of association?

Stefan wants to make a causal claim in his dissertation.Which of the following is necessary?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.1: Anderson is reading his morning paper and sees the following headline: "Men Should Avoid Rock Music When Playing Board Games." (This headline is based on a study conducted by Fancourt, Burton, & Williamon, 2016.) In the study, men and women played the game "Operation" when listening to different types of music.Male participants performed worse when listening to AC/DC than when listening to Mozart, but female participants' performance did not differ based on music. In this study, the authors were interested in participants' board game performance.Which of the following would be a reasonable operational definition of performance?

You read a news article titled, "New Drug Reduces OCD Symptoms in Mice" about a recent scientific study.To evaluate whether the title's claim is supported, you should do which of the following?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.3: Anton and his friends are discussing a study he read about in his developmental psychology class.In the study, the researcher made the claim that most middle school students who are bullied have low self-esteem.Clarissa questions the study, saying, "I am not sure that I am convinced.I am not sure you can really measure being bullied." Quinn also questions the study, saying, "Which middle school students did they study? I am curious if they included both private and public school students." Manish also is curious about the study, asking, "I wonder how strong the relationship is between bullying and self-esteem.Could you predict one from the other?" Anton is concerned that the researcher made a Type I error.What does that mean?

To evaluate how well a study supports a frequency claim, you need to focus most on evaluating which of the following validities?

Which of the following phrases would NOT indicate that a researcher is making a causal claim?

RESEARCH STUDY 3.7: You read an article stating that Facebook is related to unhappiness.In the study, a group of high school students were asked how many times a day they checked their Facebook pages and how happy they were.In discussing this article with your friend Matt, he exclaims, "I knew it! I have always said that being on Facebook is the cause of all my unhappiness!" Using the three criteria for evaluating causal claims, discuss the reasons your friend Matt is correct or incorrect in his interpretation of the study.