PSY3100 CH 12

Which of the following phrases might a person encounter in a popular media article that indicates an interaction? "statistically significant" "mixed factorial design" "it depends" "mediator variables"

"it depends"

Imagine that you read the following passage in a journal article. Provide three pieces of information that this passage tells the reader about the study conducted. "A 3 × 4 within-subjects design was specified that varied color of paper (blue, pink, white) and font size (10 point, 12 point, 14 point, 16 point). The time it took participants to read the printed word was measured."

In each response, students should state three of the following six pieces of information that this passage tells the reader: (1) it is a factorial design; (2) there are two independent variables (they may specify that these are color of paper and font size); (3) one variable has three levels (color of paper: blue, pink, and white); (4) one variable has four levels (font size: 10 point, 12 point, 14 point, 16 point); (5) both variables were manipulated as within-groups variables; (6) there is one dependent variable (time it takes to read printed word).

Which of the following can be said of the interaction in a study? It can be determined by investigating marginal means. It can exist even if the main effects are not significant. It is usually less important than a study's main effects. There can be only one type of interaction.

It can exist even if the main effects are not significant.

According to the textbook, why is it important to study interactions? They are more scientific than other analyses. Many outcomes in psychology are interactions. They are more complicated than other analyses. They are easier to understand than main effects.

Many outcomes in psychology are interactions.

RESEARCH STUDY 12.4: Dr. Price conducted a study on how toddlers learn their colors. She thinks that the place where the toddlers are asked about colors and the objects they play with while learning the colors will affect the outcome. She wrote this in the methods section: "Seventy-six children (42 girls; Mage = 18 months, 14 days; SD = 17 days) were in the final group. Children participated in one of four between-subjects conditions (19 children each) differing in location (kitchen vs. living room) and objects (blocks vs. rings vs. puzzle pieces)." Which statement is true based on the excerpt? This is a mixed factorial design This is a single independent variable design This is a 2 × 3 design There is an interaction between location and object

This is a 2 × 3 design

Imagine that you are reading a journal article and you see the following sentence: "The study used a 2 × 2 × 4 design." Based on this sentence alone, you would know which of the following pieces of information? the number of participants in the study the number of main effects that need to be examined the statistical significance of the interaction the number of participant variables

the number of main effects that need to be examined

Dr. Gavin decides that instead of conducting a 2 × 4 independent-groups factorial design, he is going to conduct a 2 × 4 within-groups factorial design. Which of the following things will change? the number of main effects that need to be examined the number of interactions that need to be examined the number of participants needed the number of cells

the number of participants needed

Dr. Gavin decides that instead of conducting a 2 × 4 independent-groups factorial design, he is going to conduct a 2 × 3 × 4 mixed factorial design. Which of the following things will NOT have to change? the number of main effects that need to be examined the number of interactions that need to be examined the number of participants needed the number of researchers needed

the number of researchers needed

By examining the marginal means, it appears that in this study there are no meaningful main effects. there is a main effect of focus of the activity. there is no significant interaction. there is no main effect of type of activity.

there is a main effect of focus of the activity.

Which of the following reasons might Dr. Singh have for changing her study in this way? to enhance external validity to ensure construct validity to deal with statistical validity to control internal validity

to enhance external validity

What are the two main reasons to conduct a factorial study? to increase internal validity and to establish external validity to compare participant variables and to establish covariance to find moderators and to find mediators to test limits and to test theories

to test limits and to test theories

Which of the following is the most likely reason Dr. Singh conducted a factorial design? to determine whether a mediator was present in participants' ability to categorize to test whether there is a difference between creating and searching for category members to test whether there is a difference between thinking about a category and thinking about a category and its opposite to test whether task type interacts with the effect of activity focus

to test whether task type interacts with the effect of activity focus

Provide two reasons a researcher would want to conduct a factorial study.

One reason to conduct a factorial study is to test limits, or explore whether an independent variable affects different types of people differently (e.g., men and women) or whether an independent variable works similarly in different situations. A second reason to conduct a factorial study is to test a theory.

RESEARCH STUDY 12.1: Dr. Singh was interested in the way people recognize objects as members of categories. For example, what makes us recognize a dog as being a dog and not a cat? More specifically, she was curious as to whether people think about categories in a more complex way if they contemplate an "opposite" category first. For example, does a person think differently about the category of "southern" if they first think about the category of "northern"? She was also curious as to whether people categorize differently if they are shown examples of those categories (e.g., looking at pictures of different animals) compared with generating those examples themselves (e.g., drawing pictures of different animals). Dr. Singh has four groups of participants (with 30 people in each group). In Group A, participants were told to cut out pictures of dogs and cats from magazines. In Group B, participants were told to cut out pictures of just dogs from magazines. In Group C, participants were told to draw pictures of cats and dogs. In Group D, participants were told to draw pictures of just dogs. After doing this for 30 minutes, participants in all groups were asked to list the attributes that define the "dog" category. Having a higher number of attributes listed was considered to be an indication of thinking about the category in a more complex way. The results of her study are below. Type of Activity Type of Activity Cutting out Pictures Drawing Pictures Focus of the Activity Dogs and cats 15 9 Focus of the Activity Dogs only 7 6 How many participant variables exist in Dr. Singh's study? 0 1 2 4

0 - no defining characteristic of participant (male/female, age)

Dr. Gavin is conducting a 2 × 4 independent-groups factorial design. How many interactions will Dr. Gavin need to examine? 1 2 3 4

1

RESEARCH STUDY 12.3: Dr. Yared is interested in memorization techniques and motivation. He splits his participants into four equal groups of 20 people each and gave each participant a list of 30 words to try to memorize in three minutes. Two groups were told to repeat the words silently to themselves and two groups were told to make up a story using the words. Two groups were offered 10 cents per word they recalled and two were offered $1 per word. The table shows how many words each group was able to recall. Memory Technique Memory Technique Repetition Make up a story Monetary reward 10c/word recalled 11 17 Monetary reward 1$/word recalled 10 19 What are the marginal means for memory technique? 28 and 29 14 and 14.5 21 and 36 10.5 and 18

10.5 and 18

What are the marginal means for monetary reward? 28 and 29 14 and 14.5 21 and 36 10.5 and 18

14 and 14.5

Dr. Gavin is conducting a 2 × 4 independent-groups factorial design. How many independent variables are in his study? 2 4 6 8

2

Dr. Gavin is conducting a 2 × 4 independent-groups factorial design. How many main effects will Dr. Gavin need to examine? 2 3 4 6

2

If a study describes the "difference in differences," what is the minimum number of variables the researchers were studying? 1 2 3 4

2

In Dr. Singh's study, how many possible main effects exist? 1 2 3 4

2

To determine if there is a main effect for type of activity, Dr. Singh must examine how many marginal means? 2 3 4 5

2

Dr. Singh also was curious as to whether categorization happens similarly for children as it does for adults. As such, she recruits a group of 10-year-olds and a group of 20-year-olds to participate in the study. The results are below. Which of the following is the correct factorial notation for Dr. Singh's new study? 1 × 2 × 4 2 × 2 × 2 2 × 2 2 × 4

2 × 2 × 2

Dr. Green is interested in conducting a 2 × 2 × 3 mixed factorial design, with 20 participants in each cell. Which of the following would NOT be a possible number of participants for this study? 20 40 60 80

20

Dr. Green is interested in conducting a 2 × 2 × 3 within-group factorial design, with 20 participants in each cell. How many participants does she need overall? 20 40 80 240

20

Dr. Gavin is conducting a 2 × 4 independent-groups factorial design. Assuming he wants 25 people in each cell, how many participants does Dr. Gavin need to recruit? 100 150 200 250

200

Dr. Singh will need to examine how many two-way interactions? 1 2 3 4

3

Dr. Singh was also is curious as to whether categorization happens similarly for children as it does for adults. As such, she recruits a group of 10-year-olds and a group of 20-year-olds to participate in the study. The results are below. Dr. Singh will need to examine ________ main effects and ________ interactions. 3; 3 3; 4 4; 8 4; 4

3; 4

Dr. Gavin is conducting a 2 × 4 independent-groups factorial design. How many cells are in his design? 2 4 6 8

8

In graphing the difference in differences, which of the following values would Dr. Singh use? 6.5 7.5 9 12

9

Which of the following could be said of the focus of activity variable in Dr. Singh's study? There is no main effect for the focus of activity variable. A proper statistical test would be necessary to determine the effect of the focus of activity variable. The focus of activity variable is a participant variable. The focus of activity finding is not as important as the type of activity finding.

A proper statistical test would be necessary to determine the effect of the focus of activity variable.

Though there are no statistics in the table, what do you expect was the finding based on the marginal means? There appears to be a main effect of monetary reward There appears to be a significant interaction between monetary reward and memory technique There appears to be a main effect of memory technique None of the manipulations affected memory

There appears to be a main effect of memory technique

Using Dr. Lopez's study as an example, explain why an interaction is often described by saying "it depends."

An interaction can be explained by saying that the effect of one independent variable depends on another independent variable. In Dr. Lopez's study, one might say that the relationship between people's pain expectation and attention depends on how long they experience pain.

Using Dr. Lopez's study as an example, explain why an interaction can be described as "a difference in differences."

An interaction can be thought of as a difference in differences because an interaction describes a different pattern of results in one independent variable based on another. In other words, a difference in one variable is associated with a difference in another variable. In Dr. Lopez's study, a difference in people's expectation of pain relief and attention is different based on how long they experience pain.

Neely is examining the graph of an interaction and sees that one line is flat and one line rises sharply to the right. Which of the following should Neely conclude? There is no interaction. There is a crossover interaction. There is a spreading interaction. There is a main-effect interaction.

There is a spreading interaction.

Provide a graph of the possible interaction in Dr. Lopez's study and discuss whether Dr. Lopez should conclude that an interaction exists in his study.

In each response, students should provide a graph of the interaction. Students may provide a line or bar graph. It does not matter which variable is placed on the x-axis. Two graphs are provided below: students only need to provide one, but which one they provide will depend on which variable they place on the x-axis. Based on the nonparallel/intersecting lines, students should state that it appears that an interaction is present.

Using the data table alone, discuss whether Dr. Lopez should conclude that an interaction exists in his study.

In each response, students should provide difference scores from the table. They can provide either the difference of duration scores (2 minutes: 32 - 25 = 7; 4 minutes: 18 - 25 = -7) or the difference in pain relief expectation scores (expectation: 32 - 18 = 14; no expectation: 25 - 25 = 0).Regardless of which they provide, students should state that it appears that an interaction is present. Students should not receive credit if they reference a graph or interpretation of a graph (e.g., nonparallel lines).

Imagine that Dr. Lopez decides to add an additional variable to his study. He is curious as to whether the results of the study vary based on sex (male and female). The graphs of the results are below. Discuss whether Dr. Lopez should conclude that a three-way interaction exists in his study.

Dr. Lopez should conclude that there is no three-way interaction. In their responses, students may elaborate and say this is because the pattern of results is identical between the two groups/levels of the new independent variable.

RESEARCH STUDY 12.5: To study the effects of physical discomfort on attention, Dr. Lopez conducted the following study: A group of participants were required to keep one hand submerged in cold water (52 degrees). Half of the participants kept their hand in the water for 2 minutes, and half of the participants kept their hand in the water for 4 minutes. In addition, half of the participants were given a placebo pill and told it would reduce the pain of the water (pain relief assumed). The other half were given a placebo pill and told that it would have no effect (no pain relief assumed). While their hands were in the water, participants were asked to watch a video where a ball is quickly passed between and underneath three cups. At the end of the video, participants were asked to indicate under which cup the ball could be found. Whether or not the participant picked the correct cup was recorded (as a measure of whether they were paying attention). The results are below. Duration Duration 2 Min 4 Min Pain Relief Expectation Expecting pain relief 32 18 Pain Relief Expectation Not expecting pain relief 25 25 Name the independent variables in this study and describe their levels.

Dr. Lopez's study has two independent variables: duration of the task and pain relief expectation. For duration of the task variable, there are two levels: 2 minutes and 4 minutes. For the pain relief expectation variable, there are two levels: an expectation of pain relief and no expectation of pain relief.

Using factorial notation, describe Dr. Lopez's study. Given this information, how many main effects and interactions will Dr. Lopez need to examine?

Dr. Lopez's study is a 2 × 2 design. Dr. Lopez will need to examine two main effects and one two-way interaction.

In graphing the results of her study, which of the following would be true for Dr. Singh? Dr. Singh would see a crossover interaction. Dr. Singh would reach different conclusions based on which independent variable she put on the x-axis. Dr. Singh would not be able to use a line graph. Dr. Singh would see a difference in differences for one variable but not the other variable.

Dr. Singh would see a difference in differences for one variable but not the other variable.

Using the marginal means, state whether it appears that the main effects in Dr. Lopez's study are important. (You do not need to say whether the main effects are statistically significant but simply whether a difference appears to exist.)

In each response, students should provide the marginal means for each group (meaning they should provide four marginal means). In examining the pain expectation main effect, there appears to be no main effect/difference, as the marginal means are equal (25). In examining the duration of the pain main effect, there appears to be a main effect. The marginal mean for the 2-minute group is 28.5, and the marginal mean for the 4-minute group is 21.5.

RESEARCH STUDY 12.4: Dr. Price conducted a study on how toddlers learn their colors. She thinks that the place where the toddlers are asked about colors and the objects they play with while learning the colors will affect the outcome. She wrote this in the methods section: "Seventy-six children (42 girls; Mage = 18 months, 14 days; SD = 17 days) were in the final group. Children participated in one of four between-subjects conditions (19 children each) differing in location (kitchen vs. living room) and objects (blocks vs. rings vs. puzzle pieces)." What would make this a mixed factorial design? If location was a within-subjects variable If there were more levels in the independent variables If both location and object were within-subjects variables If there is an interaction in the results

If location was a within-subjects variable

A popular media articles describes how children and adolescents differ in the US and Canada. How does the inclusion of participant variable information denote a factorial design? Participant variables are often used as moderators. Participant variables are found only in factorial designs. Studies with participant variables always find significant interactions. Studies with participant variables are easier to write about.

Participant variables are often used as moderators.

Explain why researchers care about interactions more than main effects.

Researchers care more about interactions than main effects because many of the outcomes in psychology (and, by extension, life) are interactions. In other words, the effect of many variables depends on other variables.

What does the author of the textbook mean when she writes, "We don't live in a main effect world"? She means that psychologists do not like to examine main effects. She means that main effects are not important. She means that interactions are common in everyday life. She means that studies that produce interactions are the only studies worth conducting.

She means that interactions are common in everyday life.

Based on the graphs above, why should Dr. Singh conclude that there is a three-way interaction? There is a two-way interaction for 10-year-olds but not for 20-year-olds. There is a two-way interaction for 20-year-olds but not for 10-year-olds. There is a two-way interaction for 10-year-olds that is different from the two-way interaction for 20-year-olds. There is no two-way interaction for either 10-year-olds or 20-year-olds.

There is a two-way interaction for 10-year-olds but not for 20-year-olds.

What is the difference between a main effect and an overall effect? Main effects are less important than overall effects. Main effects are more complicated to determine than overall effects. Main effects look at one variable at a time; overall effects look at all variables simultaneously. There is no difference between main effects and overall effects.

There is no difference between main effects and overall effects.

Dr. Rhodes notices an interaction in his factorial study. In describing this, which statement might he use to explain the link between Independent Variable A and Independent Variable B in predicting the dependent variable? Variable A cancels out Variable B. The effect of Variable A depends on Variable B. Variable A mainly affects Variable B. The effect of Variable A is mediated by Variable B.

The effect of Variable A depends on Variable B.

You read an article that states, "How well you remember different types of information depends on the context in which you learned them." Based on this information, what else is true about this study? The influence of context on memory depends on the type of information presented. You remember information best only when it's presented in a specific context. There is no effect of context on memory. There is an effect of information type on memory.

The influence of context on memory depends on the type of information presented.

Based on the graphs above, Dr. Singh should conclude which of the following? There is a main effect for participants' age. The three-way interaction does not look significant. The interaction between activity focus and activity type depends on participants' age. Participants' age appears to mediate the relationship between activity focus and activity type.

The interaction between activity focus and activity type depends on participants' age.

A study finds that the relationship between time spent studying and final exam grade depends on the techniques used for studying. Which of the following statements do we know to be true from this sentence? There is no main effect of time spent studying. Some studying techniques caused students to fail. There was an interaction between time and technique. The study used a 2 × 2 design.

There was an interaction between time and technique.

A study finds that exercise improves concentration, especially for students who took a yoga class as opposed to step aerobics. Which of the following statements can we infer about the study based on this finding? There was no main effect of exercise on concentration. This was a within-group study. The researchers were biased against step aerobics. There was an interaction in the results.

There was an interaction in the results.

Why are factorial designs useful in testing theories? They allow researchers to explore the construct validity of a theory. Results from factorial designs are typically straightforward and easy to interpret. They allow researchers to understand the nuances of how variables interact. Results from factorial designs are always intuitive.

They allow researchers to understand the nuances of how variables interact.

Imagine that Dr. Lopez decides to add another variable to his study. He is curious as to whether the results of the study vary based on sex (male and female). Using factorial notation, describe Dr. Lopez's study. Given this new study design, how does this change the number of cells, main effects, and interactions in Dr. Lopez's study?

The new study should be described as a 2 × 2 × 2. Dr. Lopez will need to examine three main effects, three two-way interactions, and one three-way interaction. In addition, there will now be 8 cells instead of 4.

Imagine that Dr. Lopez decides to manipulate the pain duration differently. He now has three levels of this variable: 2 minutes, 4 minutes, and 6 minutes. Using factorial notation, describe Dr. Lopez's study. Given this new study design, how does this change the number of cells, main effects, and interactions in Dr. Lopez's study?

The new study should be described as a 2 × 3. The number of main effects and interactions does not change, but the number of cells changes from four to six.

Lakshmi wants to know whether a new TV show helps children learn their ABCs. She discovers there is an interaction with whether or not parents watched the show alongside the child. Which of the following statements best describes this finding? The show improved ABC skills only for kids whose parents watched along with them. The show did not improve ABC skills because parents had to be there. Only parents can teach children their ABCs. Learning ABCs depends on watching a TV show.

The show improved ABC skills only for kids whose parents watched along with them.

State the three types of factorial designs.

The three types of factorial designs are independent-groups factorial designs, within-groups factorial designs, and mixed factorial designs.

Imagine that you read the following passage in a popular magazine. Should you conclude that the original article found evidence of an interaction? Why is or isn't there evidence of an interaction? "One study had participants watch a crime show. Half the participants watched a documentary of a murder that took place in rural Virginia, while the other half watched a movie adaptation of the same murder. The effect of viewing a crime show on people's fear of being a victim of crime depends on the participants' sex, with women in general being more fearful regardless of which show they saw, whereas men reported more fear after watching the documentary."

This passage suggests that an interaction was found in the original study. Students' reasoning for making this conclusion can come from the inclusion of the term depends or from the inclusion of a participant variable (participant sex) that suggests moderation.

RESEARCH STUDY 12.4: Dr. Price conducted a study on how toddlers learn their colors. She thinks that the place where the toddlers are asked about colors and the objects they play with while learning the colors will affect the outcome. She wrote this in the results section: "Analyses indicated significant main effects of place and object. However, the place × object interaction was not significant. This latter finding suggests that the benefit of using puzzle pieces to learn about colors is not dependent on where the puzzle is completed." Given this excerpt, which of the following statements could also be found in the paper? Toddlers talked about colors with every toy equally Toddlers talked more about colors in the living room Toddlers talked more about colors in the living room but only when they played with the puzzle pieces Toddlers did not change their answers based on location

Toddlers talked more about colors in the living room

Which of the following best describes Dr. Singh's study? a 2 × 2 crossed factorial design a 4 × 2 nested factorial design a 2 × 1 mixed factorial design a 2 × 4 within-groups factorial design

a 2 × 2 crossed factorial design

The mathematical way to describe an interaction is a difference in differences. a caveat. a qualified main effect. a patterned pattern.

a difference in differences.

A simple difference is also called a factorial design. a marginal means difference. an interaction effect. a main effect.

a main effect.

The addition of the new variable to Dr. Singh's study could be thought of as which of the following? a confound a moderator an independent variable a dependent variable

a moderator

Studies with one independent variable can show a difference in differences. an interaction effect. a simple difference. a factorial effect.

a simple difference.

If a person describes the results of a study to you by saying that there is a zero difference in one condition but a large difference in another condition, the person is most likely describing which of the following? a crossover interaction a spreading interaction a three-way interaction a difference interaction

a spreading interaction

A "difference in the difference between the differences" would indicate which of the following? a crossover interaction multiple main effects a three-way interaction a within-groups factorial design

a three-way interaction

To make her study a 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design, which of the following would Dr. Singh need to do? add a second dependent variable (quality of the category attributes listed) add a new manipulated variable (time to complete the task: 5 minutes versus 10 minutes versus 15 minutes) add a new participant variable (sex: males versus females) add a new independent variable (activity condition: alone versus with a friend)

add a new manipulated variable (time to complete the task: 5 minutes versus 10 minutes versus 15 minutes) b/c 2x2x3 needs 3 levels of new variable

The number of main effects that need to be examined is ________ the number of independent variables. more important than equal to unrelated to independent of

equal to

In the case of a factorial design, another term for independent variable is main effect. cell. factor. significance variable.

factor.

The arithmetic means for each level of an independent variable, averaging over levels of the other independent variable, are called estimate means. marginal means. interaction means. factorial means.

marginal means.

If a study has a difference in the differences, you know the study definitely has a crossover interaction. significant main effect. spreading interaction. significant interaction.

significant interaction.

The phrase "especially for" would be used to describe which of the following results? crossover interactions spreading interactions one significant main effect two significant main effects

spreading interactions

Imagine that you are reading a journal article and you see the following sentence: "The study used a 2 × 2 × 4 design." Where are you likely to have encountered this sentence? the introduction the Method section the Results section the Discussion section

the Method section

An author might use all of the following methods to indicate statistical significance EXCEPT using the word significant. including an asterisk in a table. using the notation p < 0.05. the inclusion of a graph.

the inclusion of a graph.