Research and Design 1 Exam 1

Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage. He believes that martial satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that one can be a good spouse. He conducts a study to test his ideas. Assuming that his data match his theory, which of the following statements should he make?

"The data provide support for my theory."

Which of the following studies would probably require written informed consent?

A confidential study examining income level and voting behavior

Which of the following is the first section of an empirical journal article?

Abstract

Name four examples of biases of intuition.

Being swayed by a good story Being persuaded by what comes easily to mind Failing to think about what we cannot see Focusing on the evidence we like best

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!" Explain why converting this study to an experiment changes the type of claim the researcher can make

By converting the study to an experiment, the researcher can now make causal claims. This is because experiments allow the researcher to establish temporal precedence and to rule out third variables (thereby enhancing internal validity). allows the researcher to establish temporal presence which helps to rule out third variables.

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?

Check whether the authors established covariance, temporal precedence, and internal validity.

Sasha believes that she is a nice person. To confirm this, she asks all her friends whether she is a nice person; they all agree that she is. Sasha concludes that she is a nice person and says she has evidence of it. However, she does not ask any of her enemies whether they think she is a nice person. This is an example of which of the following?

Confirmation bias

Lana is writing her first empirical journal article. Although she thinks she knows why she found the results she did, she also wants to mention some alternative explanations for her findings. In which section will she mention these alternative explanations?

Discussion

Which of the following questions assesses internal validity when evaluating causal claims?

Does the study establish temporal precedence?

Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. What should Dr. White do next?

Evaluate the ways in which her study differed from previous studies that supported this theory.

Which of the following is a limitation of Google Scholar compared to PsycINFO?

Google Scholar is not limited to just psychology and related fields.

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

He must conduct an experiment.

Dr. Smitherman insists that all his research assistants knw how to be producers of research. All of the following relate to this requirement EXCEPT:

He wants to make sure they have previousy been participants in research studies.

Dr. Gonzalez is a peer-reviewer for a manuscript submitted to a journal. He is likely to provide comments on which of the following?

How well the research was conducted.

All of the following are true of institutional review boards (IRBs) in the United States EXCEPT:

IRBs must have a psychologist as a member.

When is it acceptable for a researcher to study only participants from a specific group, such as a researcher studying depression in a sample of Native American women?

If the specific group being studied is especially prone to the problem being studied (e.g., if depression rates are higher in Native American women)

Which of the following is a reason why it is important to be a knowledgeable consumer of research?

It is important to understand whether the information you read is accurate

Compared with doing a generic Internet search, why is PsycINFO a superior way to find scientific sources?

It searches only sources in psychology and related fields.

Which of the following is NOT a section or subsection commonly found in an empirical journal article?

Outcomes

Which of the following ethical violations proposed by the Belmont Report was NOT committed in the Tuskegee Study?

Participants were not given monetary payments for their time.

According to the Belmont Report, which of the following groups of people is entitled to special protection?

People with developmental disabilities

Describe two pros and two cons of reading about scientific research in popular magazines compared with reading about research in scientific journal

Pros Journalists play an important role in telling the public about exciting findings in psychology Psychological research is covered in online magazines, news outlets, and in podcasts and blogs. Cons Journalists who are not trained in science writing might not correctly summarize a journal article. Journalists may oversimplify things and even make claims that the study did not support

Your professor says that researchers do not make ethical decisions alone. What does this mean?

Researchers must consider the opinions of others, including institutional review board (IRB) members and peers

In considering whether research is ethical, which of the following are balanced against each other?

Risk to participants versus value of the knowledge gained

RESEARCH STUDY 2.1: Charlotte is studying subliminal messages and weight loss. She is curious whether people will lose more weight if they hear subliminal messages that encourage weight loss ("don't eat that food," "you want to be thin," etc.) in the music on their iPods compared to people who do not have subliminal messages in their music. She studies 40 people and finds the following results: To understand whether the subliminal messages have an effect, Charlotte needs to consider which of the following cells in the chart?

She must consider all of the cells.

Which of the following is true of operational definitions?

Some psychological concepts are more difficult to operationally define than others.

Which of the following is true of variables?

Some variables can be either manipulated or measured.

Which of the following is true of students' views of deception and harm in research studies?

Students can find deception to be stressful

State the five ethical principles proposed by the APA. How do these principles differ from the Belmont principles?

The five ethical principles proposed by the APA are respect for persons, beneficence, justice, integrity, and fidelity/responsibility. The principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice are identical to those of the Belmont Report. The other two principles are unique to psychologists.

Name the four validities used to interrogate claims. If you were to question a study's four validities, provide a question you might ask related to each validity

The four validities used to interrogate claims are construct validity, internal validity, external validity, and statistical validity. For construct validity, one might ask, "Is the measure really measuring what it is supposed to measure?" or "Did the researcher manipulate this variable in the best way?" For external validity, one might ask, "Do the findings of this study extend to people not in the study?" or "Does this phenomenon happen in the real world, outside the laboratory?" For internal validity, one might ask, "Are there explanations other than the one the researcher provided?" For statistical validity, one might ask, "Did the researcher draw the correct conclusions given the data?" or "Is there a chance that the researcher said there was an effect when there really wasn't one?"

Hannah just finished reading an empirical journal article for a class project. What information might she get out of reading the references section of her article?

The name of an article that researched a similar topic

Looking for which of the following in a trade book will give you a hint as to its scientific rigor?

The number of references

Deci and Ryan (1985, 2001) have proposed that there are three fundmental needs that are required for human growth and fulfillment: relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Susan predicts that students who have these needs met in their psychology class feel happier and more satisfied with the class. She collects data and finds that students who feel more related and competent do feel happier but that feeling more autonomous does not seem to matter. Susan thinks that maybe autonomy is only necessary when people are in situations in which they are not being evaluated. Susan's hypothesis was not completely supported by her data. What does this mean?

The theory may need to be amended.

In which of the following scenarios should you be skeptical of an authority?

When they based their opinions on their intuition

The text mentions two important questions to ask about a popular media story. What are these two questions, and why are they important to consider as you evaluate a story?

Your Answer: Is the Story Important? Is the Story Accurate? These two questions are important because they consider whether or not the information being presented to them is important to consider in terms of the way the research was conducted and if that research data has been peer-reviewed by experts in their field. Also, asking if a story is accurate is important because journalists for popular media outlets tend to stretch the truth of research, causing research consumers to misinterpret the accuracy of the research.

Translational research is best thought of as _______________ basic research and applied research.

a bridge between

A Type I error is known as which of the following?

a false positive

Diego is interested in examining the relationship between a person's attachment style and his or her relationship satisfaction. He finds 65 studies that have examined this topic. He combines the results of all these studies and calculates an effect size. His research is most accurately described as:

a meta-analysis.

Research that is done specifically to solve a practical problem, like increasing memory ability or decreasing symptoms of depression, is known as:

applied research

Research that is done specifically to add to our general understanding of psychology, like distinguishing the components of extraversion or predicting the time it takes a person to determine whether an object is a face or another object, is known as:

basic research

Two biases of intuition discussed in the text are:

being swayed by a good story and being persuaded by what comes easily to mind.

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

both strong positive associations and strong negative associations

Asking questions to get the answers we want is known as:

confirmation bias

Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression, Dr. White found no difference between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. In this study, estrogen levels in participants were the ___________________.

data

Another word for data is a(n) _______________________.

observation

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

one that is manipulated

Which of the following is a dependent variable?

one that is measured

In the theory-data cycle, theories first lead to

questions

Ethical decision making done by researchers can change in response to all of the following EXCEPT:

the possibility of additional grant funding.

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?" Manish's concern is addressing which of the following?

the study's statistical validity

Research studies are superior to personal experience because:

they include at least one comparison group.

According to the text, the bridge between basic and applied research is known as:

translational research

You submit a study for approval by the institutional review board (IRB), and they tell you that written informed consent is required. Which of the following can be excluded from your informed consent document?

A description of the study's hypotheses

What is the problem with being swayed by a good story?

A good story may not be supported by data.

Which of the following is NOT an example of coercion?

A researcher offering three points of extra credit to college students to participate in a study

Which of the following is an example of translational research?

A sports pychologist who uses information on how we emotionally process victory to deisgn an intervention for improving mental stamina during athletic performance.

Which of the following is an example of basic research?

An experimental psychologist who examines peopole's ability to perceive a "sweet" taste

Which of the following has been used as a defense of animal research by animal researchers?

Animal research has resulted in many benefits to both animals and humans.

Name three ways that articles published in scientific journals are different from journalistic articles.

Articles published in scientific journals are different from journalistic articles because they are 1. Peer Reviewed. 2. Empirical 3. Written by Scientists and not just journalists or lay-people

Which of the following is an example of being a consumer of research?

Attending a psychological conference.

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

Construct validity and external validity

If you are interested in reading an overview of peer-reviewed scientific research within a specific area, which of the following reading sources would you choose?

Edited books

Edward believes that there are a lot of differences between men and women on a variety of different dimensions. He believes this because when he thinks about books that have been written on men and women, he can quickly recall only books that say men and women are different (e.g., Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus) and cannot recall any that say men and women are the same. His reliance on what comes to mind is an example of which of the following?

The availability heuristic

Explain how the peer-review process ensures that only quality science is published.

The peer-review process ensures that only quality science is published by having editors of scientific journals send those research papers and data to experts in specific scientific fields in order to be critiqued and sent back to the editor for their consideration of publication into their scientific journal.

When determining whether a study should be conducted, we have to balance which two issues?

The potential risks to participants vs. the value of knowledge we can gain

The belief that the participants in a research study should be representative of the type of people who would also benefit from the findings of the research stems from which principle of the Belmont Report?

The principle of justice

RESEARCH STUDY 4.1: Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Dr. Kushner asks his participants to provide informed consent. Doing this is adhering to which principle of the Belmont Report?

The principle of respect for persons

Name the three criteria/rules necessary for making a causal claim. Describe why each is important

The three criteria are the rule of covariance, the rule of temporal precedence, and the internal validity/third-variable rule. The covariance rule is important because one variable cannot cause another variable if they are not related. The temporal precedence rule is important because for something to cause something else, it must occur in time before the thing it is thought to affect occurs. The third-variable rule is important because we have to know that truly one variable causes another and not that a third variable is causing the change.

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. Name the variables in this study and indicate the levels of each.

There are three variables in the study. The first variable is the sex of the participant. It has two levels (male or female). The second variable is the type of music. It has three levels (rock music, classical music, or operating-room sounds). The third variable is the time it takes each participant to complete the task. It has infinite levels (continuous variable).

Why might a researcher debrief his participants even if his study didn't include any deceptive elements?

To ensure that his participants had a good research experience

The quality of jounalists' coverage of a science story will be determined by two factors:

the importance and accuracy of the story.

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?

the criterion of temporal precedence

RESEARCH STUDY 4.1: Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Upon receiving institutional review board (IRB) approval, Dr. Kushner trusts his graduate student to conduct the study. However, his graduate student does not conduct the study and instead provides Dr. Kushner with invented results that support his hypotheses. This is known as which of the following?

Data fabrication

In addition to being ethical violations, why are data falsification and fabrication problematic?

They impede scientific progress.

Why is it important to adopt the mindset of a scientific reasoner?

To avoid falling into the pitfalls of personal biases

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. Consider the measured outcome variable in this study. Provide both a conceptual definition and an operational definition for it.

Conceptual definition is board-game performance, task performance, or mock-surgery attempt. (Generally, the study was attempting to look at how men and women complete a game of "Operation.") Students should also state that the operational definition is the time it took to complete the task. Students may say that scores were measured in seconds, but that is not necessary.

Name the three types of claims. Explain the difference between claims.

The three types of claims are frequency claims, association claims, and causal claims. One difference is based on the number of variables: Frequency claims examine one variable, whereas association and causal claims examine two variables. Association and causal claims say that two variables are related, but causal claims go a step further and say not only that two variables are related but also that one variable causes the other (which is established through covariance, temporal precedence, and internal validity).

Dr. Johnson is planning on conducting a study in which he observes the ways people approach each other in bars. He plans to sit at a local bar and listen to the ways men introduce themselves to women and the ways women introduce themselves to men. To avoid detection, he plans to sit at the bar and write down the information he collects on cocktail napkins. Dr. Johnson concludes that he does not need to have participants sign a written informed consent. Explain the concept of informed consent and why Dr. Johnson does not need to collect informed consent in this study.

nformed consent is designed to fully inform participants of the components of their participation in a study (costs, benefits). Answers may vary, but in some answers, students may mention the Belmont/APA principle of respect for persons, although they do not need to. They may also mention APA Standard 8.02, but they do not need to mention this either. In each response, students should state that Dr. Johnson does not need to collect informed consent from people because they are already in a setting where they expect to be observed and it is a low-risk public setting. In this case, the participants are not doing anything they would not be doing otherwise;

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. Dr. Kang sends his study to a journal to be published. One of the peer reviewers questions the way Dr. Kang manipulated emotion, arguing that being exposed to emotional words does not make one emotional. The reviewer is questioning which of the following?

the construct validity of the study

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 is the independent variable in Dr. Kang's study?

the emotional or neutral content of the words