Exam 2: Research in Psychology

Melanie has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.If the disorder is genetic,who is at greatest risk of developing the disorder?

Chan-ju and Lucas are researchers studying consumer behavior.Chan-ju goes to a store and watches the shoppers for several days.She takes very careful notes about what she sees the shoppers doing,but she does not talk to the shoppers or interact with them in any way.Lucas goes to a store and asks each shopper a series of questions.He makes sure to ask these questions of each shopper in the store.Chan-ju's study is an example of a(n)____,and Lucas's study is an example of a ____.

A(n)____ variable can be any factor,other than the variable being manipulated by the experimenter,in the experimental situation that might affect the dependent variable.

Kami starts reading books to his child before she is born.Now that she is two,he begins spending a little time each day on educational games,hoping that this will increase her intelligence.Kami believes that the most important determinant of mental development is ____.

Some people believe that a person is born intelligent (or not)and education does little to affect this.This is an example of the ____ argument.

A researcher wants to know what conclusions she can reasonably draw from the data that she collected in her experiment.The researcher should use ____ statistics to understand the meaning of her data.

Dr.Zumbahlen is conducting a research study in which she is interested in the effects of aerobic activity on weight loss.Aerobic activity is defined by thirty minutes of exercise on the treadmill three times a week.This specific way of defining aerobic activity is referred to as a(n)____ definition.

Using your critical thinking skills to evaluate research designs and statistical methods becomes most important when you think about results that are ____.

Which of the following is NOT one of the fivequestions that provide a strategy for critical thinking?

Dr.Kurtz believes that students who use calculators learn the basics of math better.He designs an experiment in which Group A is taught a math concept and allowed to use calculators.Group B is taught the same math concept but is not allowed to use calculators.Then he gives both groups a standardized math test to assess their knowledge of the concept and compares their scores.In Dr.Kurtz's experiment,the standardized math test score is the ____.

N.A.has a damaged hippocampus,and psychiatrists visit him weekly for two years.During these visits,they test his memory and IQ.One of the limitations of this case study is that it ____.

____is the degree to which the data are stable and consistent.

One way to prevent experimenter bias is to be sure that the experimenter and the participants know nothing about who is receiving the experimental treatment and who is not.This is known as ____.

Dr.Gillis has decided to use ____ in his research to guard against both experimenter bias and participant expectations.

Dr.Kermit is interested in studying whether the readers on Reading Rainbow cause higher student reading scores than the readers on Avocado Alley.To answer his question,Dr.Kermit should use which research method?

Dr.Adcock is a community psychologist studying whether a special program instituted for an at-risk group of junior high school students decreases behavior problems.At-risk students are randomly assigned to either Group A,the special program,or Group B,a study hall meeting at the same time.In this experiment,Group A is the __________ while Group B is the __________.

One can say that the results of a study are not statistically significant when the results ____.

Dr.Wisgoski asks fifty drug addicts a series of questions about their childhoods and then collects blood samples from them.He finds a high correlation between levels of the stress hormone cortisol and the amount of reported childhood trauma.Dr.Wisgoski concludes that childhood trauma causes high levels of stress during adulthood,which,in turn,causes drug addiction.Dr.Wisgoski's operational definition of adult stress level is ____.

Dr.Hodo is conducting a study in which he examines the effect of two types of therapy on depression in college students.The type of therapy is the ____ variable.

A psychologist is looking for a link between aggressive behavior and television violence.She measures the frequency of fighting and television-viewing habits of many twelve-year-old children.The psychologist concludes that children who watch more violent programming also get into fights more often.This is an example of ____.