AP Psychology - Unit 0 - Research Methods

Ms. Walker wants to describe the average score on your first psychology test. Which measure of central tendency is she most likely to use?

• mean

• median

• mode

• harmonic mean

Mrs. Baumann gives an exam where most of the students receive failing grades and only a few students receive high scores. When the exam scores are plotted, the distribution will be

• positively skewed

• negatively skewed

• symmetrical

• impossible to predict without more information

The standard deviation

• indicates the average difference between each score in a group and the mean for that group of scores

• reveals the degree of skew for a group of scores

• is sensitive to scores at the extremes of a distribution of scores

• is used to determine whether a data set is positively or negatively skewed

A study is said to have _______________ if it yields consistent results each time it is repeated.

• validity

• reliability

• sample

• correlation

Factors that cause differences between the experimental group and control group other than the independent variable are _____________________.

• control group

• dependent variables

• confounding variables

• experimental group

The factor the researcher manipulates in a controlled experiment is the _________________.

• dependent variable

• independent variable

• confounding variable

• participant bias

The subgroup of the population that participates in the study is referred to as the _________.

• sample

• assignment

• group

• population

When a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results, ____________ bias has occurred.

• social desirability

• self-serving

• experimenter

• hindsight

A psychological or physical treatment given to the control group that resembles the treatment given to the experimental group, but that contains no active ingredient, is known as the ______________.

• independent variable

• placebo

• dependent variable

• confounding variable

A(n) _______________research design happens when only participants don't know whether they are in experimental or control group, but the researchers do know who is assigned to which group.

• double blind

• naturalistic observation

• single blind

• correlational