Exam 2: Psychology’s Scientific Method

Brian wants to study how toddlers tackle difficult situations by themselves in their parents' absence.While observing the children in a playground,Brian helps Timmy,a two-year-old toddler,tie his shoe lace.This is an example of:

In a class test,Keith,Ethan,Hannah,and Taylor score 5,6,2,and 3 respectively.The mean of these scores is 4.Therefore,the standard deviation of their scores is approximately:

In the context of evaluating a theory,meta-analysis refers to the process of establishing causal relationships between variables.

The annual earnings of five employees of Concard Inc.are: $19,000,$19,000,$23,000,$24,000,and $450,000.The mode of these five earnings is:

According to a school survey,the midnight dance on Christmas day has been cancelled by popular vote.Haley is angry because she did not participate in the survey.Her teacher explains to Hailey that she must accept the results of the study because:

Alfred conducted a study on the relationship between playground aggression observed in five-year-old boys and their time spent playing with toy guns.The data he obtained gave him a correlation coefficient of +0.64.Explain what this coefficient means with reference to a graph,indicate the approximate appearance of the line,and discuss the strength and direction of the relationship.

In a _____,neither the participants nor the experimenter administering the treatment are aware of which participants belong to the experimental group and which are part of the control group.

In the context of psychology's scientific method,variables are elements of research that:

Liam,a psychology teacher,designs a questionnaire to determine the most preferred social media among students in his classroom.Which measure of central tendency should he use to get an accurate idea?

Professor Stenson is examining the effects of color on patients' anxiety levels.She randomly assigns patients to either a room painted white or a room painted black,and then records their blood pressure.In this case,the independent variable is the:

Surveys,case studies,and interviews are all a part of the psychological research method known as _____ research.

Five adults had the following scores on a personality test: 10,10,20,30,and 50.The median of these five scores is _____.

Ciara believes that working women are happier than women who do not work.She predicts that women who work for at least ten years are more likely to have good mental health after the age of 50 years than women who do not.She decides to test this prediction.In the context of psychology's scientific method,Ciara's prediction is the _____ for the study she will conduct.

In correlational studies,a variable that has not been measured sometimes accounts for the relationship between the two measured variables.This is known as the confounded variable.

In surveys conducted by Gerald,many adolescents reported that they started smoking cigarettes because of peer pressure.In observing adolescent groups,however,Gerald rarely sees adolescents offering each other cigarettes or putting pressure on others to smoke.Gerald predicts that if he conducts further studies on this topic,he will be able to prove that peer pressure is not the primary reason that adolescents start smoking cigarettes.In the context of psychology's scientific method,Gerald is basing his further studies on:

If a person wants to explore the benefits of writing in his or her own life,he or she should:

Norah,a social psychologist,conducts research on a sample of 100 high school students.The sample is collected from the three high schools in Norah's hometown.She observes that the high school students who participate in extracurricular activities get higher test grades than those students who do not participate in those activities.Norah writes a paper that concludes that all American high school students involved in extracurricular activities are better academic performers.Which of the following is the most likely reason that her research paper is NOT published?

Joshua designs a research study to investigate the relationship between two variables: the size of a person's head and I.Q.level.He measures each variable without manipulating either of the variables and finds that I.Q.is higher for subjects with bigger heads.In the context of correlational research,what can Joshua conclude?

Explain the difference between a dependent variable and an independent variable in experimental research.

Which of the following is a potential problem of using correlational studies in psychological research?