Exam 2: The Tools of Psychological Research

Dr.Duggan is trying to determine the likelihood that the pattern of responses in the data collected during a recent study occurred by chance.To help in making this determination, Dr.Duggan should use:

The value around which scores in a data set tend to cluster is called:

Mathematical techniques such as the mean and standard deviation, that help researchers describe their data, are called __________________.

Tess went to a day care center to study social interactions in young children.She used a hidden camera and she told the children she was a student teacher working there for the day.In this case Tess is using:

Which of the following is a measure of variability?

If random assignment is used, researchers assume that differences in group performance are not due to:

Explain how experimental research differs from correlational research and identify the advantages that are associated with the experimental research method.

A researcher who waits by a store exit, recording the general age of each customer, and whether the customer uses the automatic or manual door is engaged in:

Some measures of central tendency can be influenced by ____________________, which is how much the scores in a data set differ from one another.

Outline the four steps in the scientific method using an appropriate example to illustrate each of the steps.

The arithmetic average or ____________________ is a commonly used measure of central tendency.

Imagine that the personality traits of conscientiousness and extroversion have a strong negative correlation.If Heidi has a score in conscientiousness that is extremely low:

An inactive or inert substance that appears to be a real drug is called:

Dr.Krenshaw believes that people who are under stress will develop more colds than people who are not under stress.When he randomly selects 20 participants and exposes them to high levels of stress, he finds that 17 of the participants develop colds.Based on these results, Dr.Krenshaw concludes that stress causes an increase in the number of colds a person experiences.His reasoning may be flawed because in this study:

Explain the difference between a positive and a negative correlation using appropriate examples.

When a researcher attempts to become part of the activities being studied, in order to unobtrusively observe the behavior under investigation, the researcher is engaging in:

The range of a set of data is the sum of the largest and smallest scores.

Descriptive statistics help researchers:

The research method that focuses on a single individual is:

Which of the following is NOT involved in scientific method?