Do Now AP Psychology Experimental Method

The next question(s) are based on this scenario:

A researcher randomly assigned boys and girls to each of two groups. One group watched a violent television program while the other group watched a nonviolent program. The children were then observed during a period of free play, and the incidence of aggressive behavior was recorded for each group.

What is the dependent variable in this study?

• Sex of the children

• Duration of free play

• Type of television program

• Level of televised violence

• Incidence of aggressive behavior

The next question(s) are based on this scenario:

A researcher randomly assigned boys and girls to each of two groups. One group watched a violent television program while the other group watched a nonviolent program. The children were then observed during a period of free play, and the incidence of aggressive behavior was recorded for each group.

What is the independent variable in this study?

• Incidence of aggressive behavior

• Type of television program

• Sex of the children

• Number of groups

• Duration of free play

A survey shows that children who have encyclopedias in their homes earn better grades in school than children whose homes lack encyclopedias. The researcher concludes that having encyclopedias at home improves grades. This conclusion is erroneous primarily because the researcher has incorrectly

• failed to allow for experimenter bias

• identified the independent variable

• identified the dependent variable

• inferred correlation from causation

• inferred causation from correlation

Drawing a random sample of people from a town for an interview study of social attitudes ensures that

• each person in the town has the same probability of being chosen for the study

• an equal number of males and females are selected for interviews

• the study includes at least some respondents from every social class in town

• the study will uncover widely differing social attitudes among the respondents

• the sample will be large enough even though some people may refuse to be interviewed

Marjorie’s little brother tends to bother her when he is bored. Marjorie wants to figure out which toy will keep her brother occupied the longest so he will not bother her. She conducts a study where each day at 6 P.M. for a week she gives her brother a different toy and on one of the days she gives him no toys to play with. She measures the amount of time he spends playing with each toy before he comes to bother her. Which of the following is the independent variable in this example?

• Time of day

• Amount of time playing

• Type of toy

• No toys

• The little brother