Research Methods Chapter 12

A study has a 4 × 3 mixed factorial design. In this study, the first independent variable has fourfour level(s), while the second has threethree level(s). Researchers would need to investigate -Press Space to opentwo main effect(s) and oneone interaction effect(s) in this study.

four, three, two one

Each cell of each of the independent variables has unique subjects.

independent-groups factorial design

What is typically the most important effect that is uncovered in a factorial design?

interaction effect

A team of researchers is conducting a study to discover whether video game experts respond differently than non-experts to various types of pictures. The researchers show each group of participants both violent and nonviolent images and compare the skin conductance response to each category of picture. What type of design is this study using?

mixed-factorial design

What is the easiest way to detect a three-way interaction?

plot the data via a line graph

For each type of effect listed—main effects, two-way interactions, and three-way interactions—identify the maximum number of possible effects that could be tested in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design.

3 main effects, 3 two-way interactions, 1 three-way interaction

Identify the true and false statements about using factorial designs to test theories.

A factorial design is an effective way to test a theory. A main effect can also be referred to as an overall effect.

Identify the true and false statements about factorial designs.

Interactions help outline the limits of an effect. Adding a participant variable to a design with an existing independent variable is one way to increase external validity.

Identify the true and false statements about how factorial designs are described in both empirical journal articles and popular media articles

One way to identify a factorial design is via the A × B design (e.g., 3 × 2). Researchers explain whether interactions are significant or not in the Results section.

Identify each term as related to only factorial designs or related to either single independent variable designs or factorial designs.

Only Factorial Designs- mixed design, interaction, difference in differences Single Independent Variable or Factorial Designs-main effect, independent variable, within-groups design

Chee has designed a study examining how exam scores are affected by time of day (morning versus night), type of exam (essay versus multiple choice), and gender (male versus female). Chee's design would be denoted as 2 × 2 × 2. In Chee's design, how many total cells will there be?

8

Tia is creating a factorial experiment in which she is testing three different types of light (red, blue, and green) on three different types of mobile devices (phone, tablet, and gaming console) to see which combination results in the least amount of eye strain for the user. How many total cells will be in Tia's design?

9

Which of the following examples represent factorial designs?

Researchers found that the effectiveness of a bullying intervention depended on whether or not the student had been previously bullied. Experts found that younger people quit smoking faster using nicotine patches, but older people quit faster using nicotine gum.

Telutci is conducting a semester-long study on whether the frequency of in-class quizzes will improve performance on the final exam for research methods and general psychology courses. He finds these results:Identify the true and false statements about Telutci's study.

Telutci needs to calculate four marginal means for this study. There is likely a quiz frequency × course type interaction in Telutci's study. There is likely a main effect of quiz frequency in Telutci's study.

Identify the true and false statements about factorial designs with more than two independent variables.

With three independent variables, there are three potential two-way interactions. When describing a main effect, you do not need to mention any other independent variable.

In one study by Duke and colleagues (2011), researchers gave participants orange juice with either trace amounts of alcohol or enough alcohol to get them legally drunk. Researchers then measured the participants' aggressive behavior using a game in which they were allowed to administer shocks to people they thought were other participants. Match each aspect of the experiment to the correct type of variable.

control variable-amount of orange juice independent variable-amount of alcohol dependent variable-aggressive behavior

In a factorial design with two independent variables, researchers would need to review one interaction effect(s) and two main effect(s). If each independent variable has two levels, this design would also yield four marginal mean(s), which are the averages of each level of an independent variable across all levels of the other independent variable.

interaction effects, main effects, marginal means

Amir is conducting a study in which women and men watch one of three television commercials (charity, political, or control) in order to see which combination of commercial and gender lead to the most helping behavior. Identify the number of main effects and interactions Amir is likely to find in his study. Not all items will have a match.

interaction(s)- one main effect(s)- two

If data from a factorial design are plotted on a line graph, which set of lines would always demonstrate that there is no interaction between the independent variables?

lines that are parallels

Janae is conducting a study on the effects of meditation on stress with both highly anxious and non-anxious participants. She finds that, overall, highly anxious participants report greater levels of stress and that, overall, participants in the meditation group report lower levels of stress than the group that does not practice meditation. She also finds that the impact of meditation on stress is particularly strong for highly anxious participants. Which of the following are significant results in Janae's study?

main effect for anxiety, main effect for meditation, anxiety × meditation interaction

All participants experience all levels of one independent variable but only one level of another independent variable.

mixed factorial design

Howard (2016) examined whether dogs would respond to different types of words (positive versus neutral) depending on intonation (positive versus neutral). He found that dogs overall responded more to words spoken in a positive intonation than in a neutral intonation, but that the dogs did not respond differently to the types of words themselves. Most interestingly, he found that the dogs responded most to the positive words spoken in a positive intonation, compared with any other condition. Identify the significant and not significant results of Howard's (2016) study.

significant result- main effect of intonation, word type × intonation interaction

If Julio designs a 2 × 3 × 4 study, his study includes three independent variables and twenty-four cells.

three, twenty-four

Imagine you are reading this sentence from a popular press article. "Researchers tested a series of different newspaper articles and found that articles about crimes using abstract (versus concrete) language and containing a Black (versus White) perpetrator increased racial bias, but only among those who watched the news every day." What term or phrase best describes the main result in this study?

three-way interaction

Which of the following are reasons why researchers use factorial designs?

to test theories, to test the effect of multiple independent variables, to test the limits of an effect

Each participant experiences all combinations of the independent variables.

within-groups factorial design

Vanhong designs a study in which she has a group of younger adults (18-24 years old) and a group of older adults (50-65 years old) recite a poem by memory, once in front of a large audience and once in a room by themselves. She counterbalances the order of these tasks between participants. She has the participants rate their level of anxiety right before they recite the poem each time. The factorial notation for Vanhong's study is 2 × 2 and it is a(n) mixed factorial design.

2 × 2, factorial

A study has a 2 × 2 × 3 within-groups factorial design. This example has a total of twelve cell(s). Researchers would need to investigate three main effect(s), three two-way interaction(s), and one three-way interaction(s) in this study.

twelve, three, three,, one

Imagine you are reading this sentence from a popular press article. "Researchers tested different forms of textbooks and found that interactive textbooks with online exercises were more effective than static text, but only for students who had high levels of previous technology experience." What term or phrase best describes the main result in this study?

two-way interaction

Koordeman and colleagues (2011) conducted a study on the effect of commercials on alcohol consumption. Participants watched commercials for one of two types of beverages: alcoholic or nonalcoholic. Researchers then measured their consumption of alcohol during a 2-hour movie. Finally, participants completed a questionnaire on their usual weekly drinking habits. The results showed that typically heavy drinkers were influenced to drink more alcohol when they saw alcohol commercials, whereas the type of commercial did not influence the alcohol consumption of typically light drinkers. What is a factor in this study?

type of commercial

Identify the true and false statements about experiments with more than one independent variable.

A cell acts as a unique condition in factorial designs. An interaction can be described as a difference in differences.

Koordeman and colleagues (2011) conducted a study on the effect of commercials on alcohol consumption. Participants watched commercials for one of two types of beverages: alcoholic or nonalcoholic. Researchers then measured their consumption of alcohol during a 2-hour movie. Finally, participants completed a questionnaire on their usual weekly drinking habits. The results showed that typically heavy drinkers were influenced to drink more alcohol when they saw alcohol commercials, whereas the type of commercial did not influence the alcohol consumption of typically light drinkers. What is the most important finding of Koordeman and colleagues' study?

The effect of alcohol commercial on alcohol consumption depended on whether the viewer was usually a heavy light drinker

Aditi is researching whether participants feel more satisfied after drinking a regular soda or a diet soda. She has participants drink both types of soda in random order and measures their level of satisfaction after tasting each one. The amount of satisfaction is the dependent variable and the type of soda is the independent variable in her study

dependent variable, independent variable

Koordeman and colleagues (2011) conducted a study on the effect of commercials on alcohol consumption. Participants watched commercials for one of two types of beverages: alcoholic or nonalcoholic. Researchers then measured their consumption of alcohol during a 2-hour movie. Finally, participants completed a questionnaire on their usual weekly drinking habits. The results showed that typically heavy drinkers were influenced to drink more alcohol when they saw alcohol commercials, whereas the type of commercial did not influence the alcohol consumption of typically light drinkers. Match each element of Koordeman and colleagues' study to the type of variable it represents.

dependent variable-amount of alcohol consumed during the movie participant variable-weekly drinking habits independent variable-type of commercial

Identify each phrase from popular media articles as either describing or not describing a factorial design.

does not describe a factorial design-"controlling for", "is the reason for" describes a factorial design-"it depends", "only when"

A team of researchers is conducting a study to discover whether the brain responds the same way to faces of different races as it does to houses from different cultures. The researchers show each participant several pictures of faces (Caucasian and Asian) and several pictures of houses (typically American architecture versus typically Chinese architecture) and measure brain activity via electroencephalography (EEG). What type of design is this study using?

within-groups factorial design