5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology, 2010-2011 Edition (17 page)

Figure 6.2 (a) Scattergram for perfect positive correlation (
r
= +1.0). (b) Scattergram for perfect negative correlation (
r
= –1.0). (c) Scattergram for no relationship between two sets of data (
r
= 0)
.

Whether involved in research or practice, psychologists need to act responsibly and morally. Studies conducted by Harry Harlow involving rhesus monkeys separated from their mothers and subjected to frightening conditions, studies by Phil Zimbardo involving students role-playing prisoners and guards, and studies conducted by Stanley Milgram in which participants believed they were delivering painful electric shocks to another person were highly publicized in the 1960s and 1970s. Following Milgram’s experiments, members of the American Psychological Association strengthened their ethical guidelines regarding research design, implementation, and practice; and other groups adopted similar guidelines. The guidelines prevent unnecessary deception and pain to humans and other animals, and protect confidentiality.

All public and most private institutions have Institutional Review Boards (IRB) that must approve of all research conducted within their institutions. Boards specifically protect participants by requiring researchers to obtain signed informed consent agreements from all participants. These statements describe procedures, risks, benefits, and the right of the participant not to participate or to withdraw from the research study without penalty at any time. Research participants cannot be deceived about significant aspects that would affect their willingness to participate. After the participant finishes his or her part or research is completed, participants are debriefed about the research (i.e., the nature, results, and conclusions of the research are revealed).

Psychologists who conduct research involving other animals must treat them humanely; acquire, care for, use and dispose of animals properly; and make efforts to minimize their discomfort, infection, illness, and pain.

Directions
: For each question, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1
. Organized sets of concepts that explain phenomena are

(A) independent variables

(B) dependent variables

(C) hypotheses

(D) theories

(E) statistics

Refer to the following and your knowledge of psychology to answer questions 2 and 3
: Students will be able to read a statement printed in the Comic Sans font faster than the same statement written in the Lucida Calligraphy font.

2
. This statement is a(n)

(A) hypothesis

(B) theory

(C) replication

(D) operational definition

(E) correlation

3
. The dependent variable in an experiment based on the statement would be

(A) the statement written in the Comic Sans font

(B) the statement written in the Lucida Calligraphy font

(C) the length of time it takes students to read the statements

(D) the students who read the statements written in the Comic Sans font

(E) the number of students who participate in the experiment

4
. A quasi-experiment cannot be considered a controlled experiment because

(A) subjects cannot be randomly selected

(B) subjects cannot be randomly assigned

(C) experimenter bias is unavoidable

(D) demand characteristics are unavoidable

(E) too few subjects participate in the procedure

Refer to the following and your knowledge of psychology to answer questions 5 and 6
: When subjects in the experimental group put a puzzle piece in the wrong place, the experimenter unconsciously winced. The experimenter did not wince when subjects in the control group put a piece in the wrong place.

5
. The wincing of the experimenter must be eliminated because it is

(A) fraudulent

(B) a demand characteristic

(C) a placebo effect

(D) a confabulation

(E) a confounding variable

6
. One method to eliminate the wincing of the experimenter is by instituting

(A) the experimenter expectancy effect

(B) the single-blind procedure

(C) the double-blind procedure

(D) the placebo effect

(E) counterbalancing

7
. Of the following, which research method is most effective for studying unusually complex or rare phenomena?

(A) controlled experiment

(B) quasi-experiment

(C) test

(D) survey

(E) case study

8
. Of the following, which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between political party membership and attitude toward the death penalty?

(A) controlled experiment

(B) quasi-experiment

(C) test

(D) survey

(E) case study

9.
Of the following, the strongest positive correlation would most likely be shown between

(A) an adult’s weight and running speed

(B) close friendships and happiness

(C) sense of humor and years of education

(D) poverty and good health

(E) visual acuity and salary

10.
John wants to study the effects of alcohol on the behavior of college students. For his study, he spends 5 hours every night for 2 weeks at a bar near a college watching how the patrons act before and after drinking alcoholic beverages. The research method John is employing is a

(A) controlled experiment

(B) quasi-experiment

(C) test

(D) naturalistic observation

(E) case study

11.
Of the following, which can establish a cause and effect relationship?

I. controlled experiment

II. quasi-experiment

III. correlational research

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) I and II only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II, and III

Refer to the following and your knowledge of psychology to answer questions 12–14:

Ms. Costas owns a business with nine other employees. Ms. Costas’s annual salary is $90,000. Her manager’s salary is $60,000. Of her other employees, three earn $25,000 each and five earn $15,000 each.

12.
The range of this distribution is

(A) $ 75,000

(B) $ 50,000

(C) $ 25,000

(D) $ 20,000

(E) $ 15,000

13.
For this distribution, the mean is

(A) lower than both the median and the mode

(B) lower than the median, but higher than the mode

(C) lower than the mode, but higher than the median

(D) higher than both the median and the mode

(E) the same as the median

14.
The frequency polygon for this distribution resembles a

(A) normal curve

(B) positively skewed line graph

(C) negatively skewed line graph

(D) bar graph

(E) scatterplot

1. D
—This is the definition of theory.

2. A
—A hypothesis predicts how two or more factors are related. This statement relates the appearance of a font with the speed at which it can be read.

3. C
—The dependent variable in an experiment is the factor that is measured. In this experiment, the type of font is the factor the experimenter is manipulating or the independent variable. The speed at which it is read is the factor that is measured or the dependent variable.

4. B
—Quasi-experiments deal with groups that have preexisting differences, such as males and females, young and old, etc. Since the study is examining differences associated with those preexisting differences, participants are assigned on the basis of sex, age, etc. Thus, random assignment is not possible.

5. E
—The wincing behavior of the experimenter is an unintentional difference between the treatment of the experimental group and the treatment of the control group. An additional difference between the experimental and control groups is a confounding variable. If the wincing is deliberate, then it is considered dishonest, possibly even fraudulent.

6. C
—The double-blind procedure, in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group, would probably eliminate the wincing behavior. A single-blind procedure in which only the subjects do not know in which treatment group they have been placed would not affect the experimenter’s behavior.

7. E
—An in-depth examination, usually over an extended period of time, characterizes the case study method.

8. D
—Correlational research examines the relationship between two variables. Questionnaires or interviews that ask questions about political party membership and attitude toward the death penalty distributed to a large representative sample of the population could gather appropriate data for the study. Questionnaires and interviews are kinds of surveys.

9. B
—People who have close friendships tend to be happy. Lonely people tend to be unhappy. The presence of close friendships predicts happiness. An adult’s weight and running speed (A), sense of humor and years of education (C), and visual acuity and salary (E) are unrelated pairs of factors. Impoverished people are less likely to be healthy than people who have more money, so (D) indicates an inverse relationship or negative correlation.

10. D
—He is gathering information in the field about typical behavior of people without manipulating any variables, which characterizes naturalistic observation.

11. A
—Only controlled experiments can establish cause and effect relationships.

12. A
—The range is $90,000 to $15,000, or $75,000. To find the range, deduct the lowest score from the highest score.

13. D
—The mean is determined by adding all of the scores, then dividing by the number of scores. $300,000 ÷ 10 = $30,000. The median is the middle score in the ordered distribution. Since there is an even number of scores in the distribution, the median is halfway between the 5th and 6th scores, or $20,000. The most frequent score or mode is $15,000, so the mean is higher than both the median and the mode.

14. B
—A frequency polygon is a line graph. A positively skewed distribution has scores clustered toward the low end of the range and a small number of unusually high scores. If you draw the graph with the value of scores on the
X
axis and the frequency of scores on the
Y
axis, you can see that the tail is on the right or more positive side of the graph.

Theories
—organized sets of concepts that explain phenomena.

Hypothesis
—prediction of how two or more factors are likely to be related.

Replication
—repetition of the methods used in a previous experiment to see whether the same methods will yield the same results.

Independent variable (IV)
—the factor the researcher manipulates in a controlled experiment (the cause).

Dependent variable (DV)
—the behavior or mental process that is measured in an experiment or quasi-experiment (the effect).

Population
—all of the individuals in the group to which the study applies.

Sample
—the subgroup of the population that participates in the study.

Random selection
—choosing of members of a population so that every individual has an equal chance of being chosen.

Experimental group
—the subgroup of the sample that receives the treatment or independent variable.

Control group
—the comparison group; the subgroup of the sample that is similar to the experimental group in every way except for the presence of the independent variable.

Table 6.1 Overview of Research Methods