AP Psych 1.2 Correlational & Experimental Research Methods

The condition that exists when the probability that the findings are not due to chance

• statistical significance
• experimenter bias
• confounding variables
• illusory correlation

This research method is a measure of the extent to which two variables change together, and thus of how well either variable predicts the other

• Correlational
• Experiments
• Case Study
• Survey
• Observational

This is a method of research where an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable).

• Experiments
• Case Study
• Survey
• Observational
• Correlational

Which of the following methods best limits the influence of unknown variables in an experiment?

• Random assignment

• Debriefing

• Stratified Sampling

• Correlational study

Dr. Lee is interested in the effect of lighting on people's ability to concentrate. Dr. Lee studies this by manipulating the amount of lighting while participants read and then measuring their scores on a reading comprehension test. Which of the following research methods is Dr. Lee using?

• Case study

• Survey

• Correlational study

• Experiment

• Simulation

Which of the following measures can be precisely located on the graph of a skewed distribution without doing any calculations?

• Mode

• Median

• Mean

• Standard deviation

It is important for researchers to use precise operational definitions when...

• They want to ensure that conditions are assigned randomly

• They want to be able to replicate the experiment

• They are conducting experimental research but not correlational research

• They are conducting an experiment with no independent and dependent variables

Research participants are randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group listens to a list of words, another group reads a list of words, and the third group hears and reads the words. The researcher then tests the participants' memories to see how many words the members of each group can recall. The way the words are presented is which type of variable?

• Confounding

• Dependent

• Independent

• Extraneous

A teacher finds the distribution of scores on a final exam to be positively skewed with low variability. On the basis of this information, the teacher would be most justified in concluding that...

• A small number of students in the class did poorly on the exam

• The exam was too difficult

• The exam is not a reliable assessment tool

• The exam was too easy

Research finds that, in general, the higher an incoming college student scores on a given test, the higher the student's college GPA. Which of the following best describes this relationship?

• No correlation

• A skewed distribution

• A positive correlation

• A negative correlation