MODULE 4 – RESEARCH STRATEGIES
1. Brett believes that taking on a cell phone and driving is likely to lead to an accident. Brett makes note of any accident when the driver is on
the phone, but tends to ignore accidents when the driver is not. This is an example of:
a. dependent variable
b. participation bias
c. confirmation bias
d. independent variable
2. Ally is a subject in an experiment. She purposely tries harder since she knows she is being watched. This is an example of:
a. a biased sample.
b. replication.
c. participant bias.
d. confirmation bias.
3. Amber is researching possible causes of suicide. For each committed suicide in the county, Amber does an in-depth study of the person’s life
and behaviors prior to their suicide. Amber is conducting what type of study?
a. naturalistic observation
b. correlational study
c. cross sectional study
d. case study
4. A correlation indicates:
a. the degree to which one variable is influenced or caused by another.
b. how random a sample is of the population.
c. whether the experiment can be replicated or not.
d. the degree of relationship between two variables.
5. Throughout childhood a person’s height increases as their age increases. This relationship between age and height would be called a(n):
a. positive correlation.
b. negative correction.
c. open correlation.
d. cause effect relationship.
6. Which of the following might create a biased survey?
a. taking a random sample of the population
b. taking too large of a sample
c. social desirability
d. designing the survey’s questions carefully to avoid any bias
7. A developmental psychologist wants to study the effects of poverty on one’s self concept. To do this, a group of subjects from the central
city are interviewed once every five years over the period of 30 years. The same subjects are interviewed throughout the 30 years. This
study is an example of what type of research?
a. cross sectional study
b. longitudinal study
c. correlational study
d. naturalistic observation
8. Which of the following research methods can a researcher draw a cause and effect conclusion?
a. experiment
b. naturalistic observation
c. survey
d. correlational study
9. The measurement of school spirit based on how many people participate in homecoming activities is an example of a(n):
a. confirmation bias.
b. independent variable.
c. confounding variable.
d. operational definition.
10. Consider the following experiment: Children are divided into two groups. One group watches episodes of Sesame Street. The other group
watches cartoon episodes. Both are then given a test that measures activity in children. In this study, the independent variable is:
a. what the child watches on TV.
b. how the child scores on the activity test.
c. what type of family the child comes from.
d. the child’s economic class.
11. In an experiment, which receives the independent variable?
a. the confounding variable
b. the population
c. the control group
d. the experimental group
12. Random sample is to random assignment as _____ are to _____.
a. surveys; experiments
b. dependent variables; independent variables
c. case studies; interviews
d. single blind procedures; double blind procedures
13. In an experiment, which group would be given a placebo?
a. the population
b. the random sample
c. the control group
d. the experimental group
14. For an experiment’s results to be defined as statistically significant, the differences between the groups must be no more than ___ percent
due to chance.
a. 2
b. 3
c. 5
d. 10
15. Which of the following is NOT considered one of the four basic principles for human participation in an experiment?
a. informed consent
b. confidentiality
c. debriefing
d. replication
MODULE 5 – STATISTICS
1. The overall purpose of psychological statistics is to:
a. provide a means to explain experiments.
b. make psychology more scientific.
c. help explain surveys.
d. make data more meaningful.
2. Simply listing a set of scores from the highest to lowest is a(n):
a. inferential statistic.
b. frequency distribution.
c. measure of central tendency.
d. correlation coefficient.
3. Of the following data, what is the mode? 1,1,1,2,3,3,4,5,7
a. 1
b. 3
c. 6
d. 27
4. Of the following data, what is the mean? 1,1,1,2,3,3,4,5,7
a. 1
b. 3
c. 6
d. 27
5. Of the following data, what is the median? 1,1,1,2,3,3,4,5,7
a. 1
b. 3
c. 6
d. 27
6. Of the following data, what is the range? 1,1,1,2,3,3,4,5,7
a. 1
b. 3
c. 6
d. 27
7. Mr. Jones gave a unit test in his psychology class. The next day he said how surprised he was that the standard deviation on the test was 0.
Based on this comment, which of the following is true about the test scores?
a. Everyone failed the exam.
b. The mean, median, and mode for the test were also 0.
c. The range for the test was 0.
d. The scores fit into a perfect normal distribution.
8. If the mean, median, and mode are all equal, that signifies:
a. that the range is zero.
b. that the standard deviation must be 1.
c. that the data is statistically significant.
d. that the frequency distribution is a normal distribution.
9. About what percent of a sample falls within three standard deviations of the mean?
a. 50%
b. 99.7%
c. 68%
d. 96%
10. Claire scored in the 97th percentile on an intelligence test. This means that:
a. Claire got 97% of the questions correct.
b. the standard deviation of the test was 97.
c. Claire’s scored divided by the mean score times 100 equals 97.
d. Claire scored better than 97% of the other people taking the test.
11. If there is a high correlation (.96) between height and intelligence, then the tallest people would generally be:
a. average in intelligence.
b. below average in intelligence.
c. the highest in intelligence.
d. normally distributed in intelligence.
12. One can assume that there is no relationship between two sets of variables if the correlation between them is:
a. +1.0.
b. -1.0.
c. 0.
d. -1.5.
13. You are a swimming coach and wish to select team members who have never been in the water but will make good swimmers. The following are
predictors of success in swimming for people who have never been swimming. Which test would you select as the best predictor given these
correlations?
a. Peterson Push Up Test: correlation of .90
b. Maas Back Test: correlation of -.48
c. Smelbecker Snorkey Scale: correlation of -.97
d. Macklin Mussel Index: correlation of -.86
14. A statistical statement of how likely it is that a result occurred by chance alone is a definition of:
a. statistical significance.
b. standard deviation.
c. measures of variation.
d. descriptive statistics.
15. Which of the following are important with regards to inferential statistics?
a. the difference between the two group’s means
b. the number of participants
c. the standard deviation of the group
d. all of the above