AP Psychology-Types of Research Quiz

Researchers at Princeton University exposed two groups of mice to cold water (the stressor). One group of mice was allowed to exercise regularly and the other were not allowed to exercise. The mice in the exercise group did not have stress induced protein expression in nerve cells in a brain areas associated with anxiety. (Journal of Neuroscience, May 1, 2013

Experiment

Josephine receives a letter from the college she graduated from which requests that she answer a series of questions about her college experience and her life today. In which type of research is Josephine being asked to participate?

Survey

Administrators at several middle schools have put in place a code of conduct for their students. An educational psychologist collects data through interviews, tests, and observations of students and teachers at each of the schools to see if the new code has an impact on student behavior. The results show that these schools made a huge improvement in school climate. The educational psychologist writes up all of his information in a large report for other schools to learn from. Which research method is being used in this example?

Case Study

Psychologists studied an individual who had a severely damaged hippocampus (a brain area related to memory and learning) by meeting with him multiple times per week for a period of two years. The psychologists repeatedly tested the patient on memory and learning tasks. In addition they accumulated a large amount of qualitative data through interviews with the patient and her family members.

Case Study

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University had 190 college students track their daily activities and rate their overall mental states. The results found that participants who were more physically active also reported higher levels of enthusiasm and excitement than their less active fellow students. (Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology- December, 2011)

Case Study

Researchers conducted an in depth investigation of NFL football players who were over the age of 30 to understand how playing for many years in this intense high contact sport might impact brain function. The researchers gave the athletes several general medical tests, conducted interviews, and examined their brains through the use of MRI screening.

Case Study

In a study one half of the participants were chosen by chance to be given a new drug for reducing anxiety and the other half were given a placebo. The participants and the researchers were unaware of who was given the drug and who was given the placebo. The participants came in for examinations weekly, and after six months on the drug the participants were given self-report forms and a medical examination to determine if their level of anxiety had decreased, stayed the same, or increased as a result of either treatment.

Double Blind Experiment

In a study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital researchers investigated the effect of taking folate and vitamin B12 on schizophrenic patients in addition to psychiatric medications. 140 schizophrenic patients who were already taking antipsychotic medications were placed into two groups by chance. In one group they received folate and vitamin B12 with their regular medications while the other group received a placebo pill for a period of 16 weeks. The patients who received the folate and vitamin B12 showed improvement in the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (withdrawal, lack of emotional expression, apathy, etc.) while the patients receiving the placebo did not. (JAMA Psychiatry, online March 6, 2013)

Experiment

Psychologists selected 100 physically and psychologically healthy college students and placed them into one of two conditions by chance. In one condition they were allowed 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night and in the other condition they were only allowed 4 hours of sleep per night. All subjects took the same tests of cognitive ability for each day of the ten day study. The group that received 8 hours of sleep each night did not experience any decline in cognitive function but the group that received only 4 hours showed cognitive declines.

Experiment

Researchers at Cornell University had 98 college students eat potato chips from tubes while watching a movie. Students were placed into one of two groups by chance. One group ate chips from a tube that were all identical. The other group ate from tubes that had colored chips inserted at regular intervals (i.e. every fifth chip was red). The results showed that participants in the red chip group ate on average 50% fewer chips. (Health Psychology, online February, 2012)

Experiment

Researchers at the University of Utah and the University of Kansas conducted a study on creativity. In the study, 30 men and 26 women participated in four- to six-day wilderness hiking trips without any electronic devices. Of the 56 subjects, 24 were randomly selected to take a 10-item creativity test the morning before they began their trip, and 32 were randomly selected to take the test on the morning of the trip's fourth day. The researchers found that people who had been backpacking four days answered an average of 6.08 of the 10 questions correctly, compared with an average score of 4.14 for people who had not yet begun the trip. (PLoS One, Dec. 12, 2012)

Experiment

Researchers split 49 caregivers into two groups by chance — a meditation group, who performed a 12-minute yoga practice that included an ancient chanting meditation every day, and another group, who relaxed quietly with their eyes closed while listening to soothing music for 12 minutes a day. After eight weeks, the researchers found that caregivers in the yoga and meditation group showed a 50 percent improvement on a mental health score, compared with a 19 percent mental health improvement for the relaxation group. (International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, online March 11).

Experiment

Researchers studied 593 junior high students and the families to determine the effectiveness of a program to reduce behavioral problems. Half of the families were selected to attend a program called Family Check Up which encouraged parents to enforce rules and talk to their children about risky behaviors and half were not exposed to the program. After the end of the program teens whose parents attended the program had reduced behavioral problems and reported less family conflict. (Journal of Adolescent Health, Online Jan. 2012)

Experiment

Even a little exercise can go a long way toward extending life, regardless of weight according to research from the National Cancer Institute. They analyzed data on more than 650,000 adults age 40 and older that were followed for about 10 years. They found that people who walked briskly or engaged in some other physical activity for 45 minutes a week — half the recommended amount — gained nearly two years in life expectancy compared with inactive people. Those who exercised even more gained up to four and a half years of life. (PLoS Medicine, November, 2012)

GROUP CASE STUDY (this is not an experiment because participants were not randomly selected or randomly assigned to a control or experimental groups)

NFL retirees are more likely to have depression and cognitive problems due to brain injury, suggests research led by University of Texas at Dallas. In the study, 34 retired NFL players submitted to neurological, neuropsychological tests, interviews, and detailed brain scans. These results were then compared to brain scans of healthy individuals. While 58% of the players had cognitively normal results, 24% had mild cognitive impairments, 12% had cognitive deficits and 6% had dementia. 24% of the athletes were also diagnosed with depression. The brain scans showed that the athletes with cognitive impairment and depression had "significant differences" in their brain's white matter compared with that of healthy individuals. (JAMA Neurology, online Jan. 7, 2013

Group Case Study

Researchers at the University of Kent in England conducted research with approximately 150 students. The students reported to researchers the biggest failure they experienced each day and stated what they did to cope with the stress. Findings showed that strategies such as using social support and venting actually made students feel worse instead of better. The most effective way to deal with a setback: acceptance, humor and positive reframing, the researchers found (Anxiety, Stress & Coping, Aug. 2011).

Group Case Study

Researchers tracked the same 569 men and women from age 7 to their mid-30s by meeting with them annually. The results were that participants who as children had superior attention spans and more positive outlooks reported better general health and fewer illnesses 30 years later. (Health Psychology Vol. 13, No. 1)

Group Case Study

A clinical psychologist is interested in doing research into a very rare mental illness, Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities) to determine the potential causes and best methods of treatment. Due to the rare nature of the condition there are only 3 patients in the study and she does extensive interviews, and tests on these individuals for every year for a period of twenty years.

Individual Case Study (Longitudinal)

Researchers gave 20 toddlers Goldfish crackers and asked each of the children to give one cracker away to a puppet. Later they gave each child another cracker and asked them to give it to the puppet. Based on the reactions of the children (studied on videotape) it was found that the children exhibited more happiness when they gave their own crackers away than when they gave away the cracker provide by the researcher. The results indicate children experience happiness from giving. (PLoS ONE, online June 14, 2012)

Lab Observation

Psychologists who are interested in differences in play styles by gender observe preschoolers at a daycare center. The daycare center has a set up which allows researchers to view children playing through two-way glass.

Laboratory Observation

In a study researchers set up a controlled environment at a university and observed and compared the motor skills of groups of children who were 12 months-olds, 14 month-olds, and 15 month-olds to make generalizations about how motor development occurs over time. The researchers had a sample of twenty children in each group.

Laboratory Observation/ Cross Sectional

A summary of the data from 50 studies and greater than 50,000 students indicates that providing middle school students with instruction in study strategies improves their grades more than giving homework help. (Developmental Psychology Vol. 45, No. 3)

Meta-Analysis

Researchers at King's College in London reviewed 12 separate studies with participants who were 55 or older and had received cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders. The results of all of the combined studies showed that while cognitive behavioral therapy slightly more effective than other approaches, it did not work as well for these patients as it does for younger adults. (Journal of the American Geriatrics Association, online Jan. 27th, 2012)

Meta-Analysis

Researchers at the University of Oslo in Norway examined working-memory treatments across 23 different studies. They found that working-memory training improved performance on tasks related to the training itself, but did not affect more general cognitive performance, such as verbal skills, attention, reading or arithmetic. The findings suggest that working-memory training does not improve cognition, boost IQ or improve attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or dyslexia.

Meta-Analysis

Researchers found that working-memory training does not improve cognition, raise IQ levels, or reduce problems associated with ADHD or dyslexia by analyzing data from 30 different groups across 23 different studies. In fact the only thing that improved was tasks related to the training itself. (Developmental Psychology, online May, 2012)

Meta-Analysis

Researchers from the University of Erangen-Nuremburg in Germany examined data on current and future life satisfaction collected over a ten-year period from 400,000 individuals in a variety of different studies. The results showed that individuals who have low expectations about their future happiness levels end up living longer and having fewer health problems than those who have high expectations for their future levels of happiness. The findings may indicate that pessimism about one's own future may motivate individuals to take more health and safety precautions. (Psychology and Aging, online February 18, 2013)

Meta-Analysis

Noreen and her classmates are conducting research to determine how other respond when a norm is violated for their social psychology course. The students have Noreen wear a prom dress to classes all day on campus her classmates record the facial expressions of individuals who she comes into contact with on forms to be analyzed later.

Naturalistic Observation

Scientists watched chimps at the Blair Drummond Safari Park in Scotland gather around a dying, elderly female of the group. Moments after she died, the other chimps tried to jostle her awake and continued testing for signs of life for a few minutes. They then cleaned her body. Her daughter slept next to the body all night. For several days after the death, the chimps avoided that particular spot. These behaviors in many ways recall humans' response to death, the researchers say. (Current Biology- 2010)

Naturalistic Observation

Researchers selected 100 depressed individuals to be participants in a study to determine whether or not Botox treatments had any impact on the treatment of depression. Researchers randomly selected half of the participants to be given Botox and half to be given a placebo but the participants did not know if they were receiving the treatment or not. In addition both groups received traditional therapy and biomedical treatment. After the end of the 16 week study the group given Botox had a much greater reduction in depressive symptoms compared to the group who received the placebo injections.

Single Blind Experiment

Married women appear to suffer less partner abuse, substance abuse and postpartum depression than women who are cohabitating or do not have a partner, according to a study led by researchers in Toronto. Data came from asking 6,421 Canadian women a series of prepared questions. The results show that about 10% of married women experienced partner or substance abuse or postpartum depression and 20% of women who were cohabitating had at least one of these three psychosocial conditions. The figure rose to 35% for single women who had never married and to 67% for those who separated or divorced less than 12 months before their child was born. (American Journal of Public Health, February, 2013)

Survey

The Fenton family as well as thousands of other households are selected by the Neilson Company to answer questions about the television shows they watch for one week.

Survey

The New York Times calls 500 randomly selected people on the phone and asks them a series of questions about who they plan to vote for in the upcoming elections as well as what issues they value the most.

Survey

The United States Census, which attempts to contact every person in the nation and ask him or her questions, is an example of which research method?

Survey

While surfing the web Orlando notices a pop up which asks him to answer a series of questions about the best rock bands of all time and he chooses to participate

Survey