Psychology Research Approach

Dr. White noticed something odd happening to the behavior of his students as midterm exams neared. He decided to take notes about this behavior to find out exactly what was happening and the circumstances surrounding the behavior. His goal is clearly

• description

• explanation

• prediction

• control

Which of the following is an example of observer bias?

• You ask your fellow students to be participants in a study of adult memory.

• You ask people from your church to participate in a study of family values.

• You develop an opinion of what you expect to see in an experiment.

• You allow a student to quit an experiment simply because he or she is bored.

The main advantage of a survey is that

• only a small number of subjects need to be accessed.

• a large amount of data can be gathered.

• the chance of experimenter error is removed.

• subjects will not know if they are part of a control or experimental group.

Which of the following would indicate the weakest relationship and thus be close to complete randomness?

• +1.04

• -0.89

• +0.01

• -0.98

Answer explanation

The greater the absolute value of a correlation coefficient, the stronger the linear relationship. The strongest linear relationship is indicated by a correlation coefficient of -1 or 1. The weakest linear relationship is indicated by a correlation coefficient equal to 0.

In an experiment to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on completion of a puzzle, one group is allowed to sleep 8 hours while another group is made to stay awake. In this experiment, the control group is

• The group that gets to sleep.

• The Group that remains awake.

• The puzzle.

• The difference in time for each group to complete the puzzle.

Answer explanation

a comparison group in a study whose members receive either no intervention at all or some established intervention. The responses of those in the control group are compared with the responses of participants in one or more experimental groups that are given the new treatment being evaluated.

In a __________ study, the participants do not know if they are part of the control group or the experiment.

• placebo

• single-blind

• double-blind

• triple-blind

Answer explanation

In a single-blind study, only the participants are blinded. In a double-blind study, both participants and experimenters are blinded. In a triple-blind study, the assignment is hidden not only from participants and experimenters, but also from the researchers analyzing the data.