Review for Unit II Test

Dr. Patel is conducting a study to test a hair-growth shampoo she is developing. She instructs fifty participants to use the hair-growth shampoo once daily for a month and another fifty to use a regular shampoo once a day for a month. Dr. Patel measures the participants’ hair length at the beginning and the end of the thirty days. Which of the following is the dependent variable?

• type of shampoo

• change in length of hair

• thirty days

• placebo

• participants

Dr. Patel is conducting a study to test a hair-growth shampoo she is developing. She instructs fifty participants to use the hair-growth shampoo once daily for a month and another fifty to use a regular shampoo once a day for a month. Dr. Patel measures the participants’ hair length at the beginning and the end of the thirty days. Which of the following is the independent variable?

• type of shampoo

• change in length of hair

• placebo

• thirty days

• participants

Dr. Patel is conducting a study to test a hair-growth shampoo she is developing. She instructs fifty participants to use the hair-growth shampoo once daily for a month and another fifty to use a regular shampoo once a day for a month. Dr. Patel measures the participants’ hair length at the beginning and the end of the thirty days. Which of the following is the control group?

• change in length of hair

• fifty participants who use the new shampoo

• fifty participants who use regular shampoo

• thirty days

• placebo

Which of the following is a term for a variable that researchers do not control and that can affect the results of a study?

• extraneous variable

• independent variable

• dependent variable

• control group

• confounding variable

In experimental psychology, a significant difference refers to a

• difference not likely due to faulty design

• difference not likely due to chance

• result that indicates a correlation equal to 1.0

• result that departs from previous findings

• result that proves a new theory

Which of the following is NOT a part of the APAs ethical guidelines for psychology experiments?

• informed consent

• deception cannot be used

The mean will be higher than the median in any distribution that

• is negatively skewed.

• is positively skewed.

• is normal.

• is not normal.

• represents a biased sample.

The most distinctive characteristic of the experimental method is that it

• studies a few people in great depth

• studies subjects in their natural environment

• is an efficient way to discover how people feel

• seeks to establish cause-effect relationships

• provides a chronological basis for reaching conclusions

The most important reason to use operational definitions in psychological research is it

• helps everyone involved with the research understand and collect data in the same manner.

• assures that the data will be approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

• allows the researchers to turn a single-blind study into a double-blind study.

• makes sure that the data is collected in an ethical manner.

• allows the researchers to infer causation.

Researchers find that there is a significant, positive correlation between the number of hours students sleep and their grades. The researchers would be justified in concluding that

• earning good grades causes people to sleep more

• sleeping more causes students to perform better in school

• students who earn good grades tend to sleep more than those who do not

• more sleep has a beneficial impact on students’ grades

• sleep deprivation has no impact on school performance