Psychology Research Exercises

Multiple Choice Questions

Using one sentence per goal, briefly describe the four goals of science.  

The description of phenomena of interest, of observable behaviour methodically and the records of the results. The explanation of what causes these phenomena, this behaviour, and sometimes the suggestion of a theory. Making prediction for our results, which often are built from theories. Controlling or affecting the phenomenon of interest, attitudes and behaviour. (Heath, 2017).

Word count: 55

State three ways in which you could modify previously published research to create a ‘new’ research idea.

You can vary an independent variable or measure the variable of interest in a different way than previous researchers. Extend the external validity, the ability of generalising results of a research to other situations and to other people. (Heath, 2017)

Name the four levels (scales) of measurement and give an example of each (make sure that your example is described in sufficient detail to demonstrate that it belongs to the level of measurement that you have used it to illustrate (for example, age could be measured in a variety of different ways, so giving age as your example would be insufficient).

 Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, Ratio.

An example of nominal scale is gender, which has two or more labeled categories: Male, Female, Transgender. These categories are just named, without having any kind of natural order or numeric value.

An example of ordinal scale is satisfaction, which is a non-numeric concept and has named and ordered variables. The distance between variables is not necessarily equal, it can’t be calculated and known and the zero point is chosen arbitrarily.  

An example of interval scale is temperature, because the difference between each value is equal. The interval between 10 and 20 degrees is the same as the interval between 40 and 50 degrees, but a temperature of 100 degrees is not twice as hot as 50 degrees.

An example of ratio scale is weight. A ratio scale has all the qualities of an interval scale but has an absolute zero. The useful point about having an absolute zero is that we can form ratios using such scales, so a weight of 10 grams is twice a weight of 5 grams.

Word count: 175 words

Describe or create a table or graphic to show the difference between reliability and validity in terms of measurement of constructs in psychology. You may use note form rather than full sentences. (max 80 words)

Reliability	Validity
It is the extend to which a research yields a consistent outcome when the researcher does measurements many times according to LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, (2014)	Refers to the degree to which the instrument the researcher uses in establishing measures measures what the researcher intends it to measure.
It does not require a valid instrument to measure.	The researcher always considers the reliability of the instrument.
It is mainly used in ontology which refers to the study of nature of human beings.	It is mainly applied in epistemology which refers to the part of philosophy that aims at acquiring knowledge.

Levels of Measurement and Example Constructs

Week 2 – Data description with SPSS 

Exercise 1: Data Description

(Taken from Dancey and Reidy (2017) Chapter 3):

1) The Independent Variable (IV) in the given study is the type of lighting that is used in the office which is altered by the researcher.

2) The Dependent Variable (DV) in the given study is the number of daily errors made by the inputters.

3) For the given data, the box plot obtained using SPSS is indicated as follows.

1. a) The given data is clearly not normally distributed which is apparent from the box plot is not symmetric. It is evident from the box plot that the difference between Q2-Q1 is not equal to Q3 –Q2. Also, the maximum value is significantly greater owing to which there is presence of positive skew as indicated from the box plot (Flick, 2015).
2. b) From the box plot above, it is evident that there are five outliers in the given data as indicated by circles and asterisk, so the outliers are from scores 3, 4, 5, 13 and 14.
3. c) The mean and standard deviation of the given data is indicated as follows:

Descriptive Statistics
	N	Mean
Error	20	21.40
Valid N (listwise)	20

Descriptive Statistics
	N	Std. Deviation
Error	20	6.61
Valid N (listwise)	20

Exercise 2: Data Description

(Taken from Dancey and Reidy (2017) Chapter 3)

1) The IV in this study is if the students took or not hallucinogenic drugs while they were     attending Dr Boering’s lectures.

2) The DV in this study is the marks obtained by students in the exam at the end of the term since the marks are supposed to be dependent on the decision taken by the students to consume or avoid consumption of hallucinogenic drug.

3) The histogram for the marks of those students who took hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures has been derived using SPSS as shown below:

The histogram for the marks of those students who did not take hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures has been derived using SPSS as shown below:

Based on the histograms of the scores for two sets of students shown above, it is apparent that they can be assumed to be roughly normally distributed. This is on account of the middle value in the distribution having the highest frequency and lower frequencies are to the left and right (Ericsson & Kovalainen, 2015).

1. b) The corresponding outputs indicating the mean and standard deviation of marks of those students who took hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures has been derived using SPSS as shown below:

The corresponding outputs indicating the mean and standard deviation of marks of those students who did not take hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures has been derived using SPSS as shown below:

On the basis of the above outputs, it can be concluded that highest mean is exhibited by the group of students who did not take hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures. Variability is captured by standard deviation which is higher for the group of students who did take hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures (Hastie, Tibshirani & Friedman, 2016).

Week 3: Reporting Quantitative Research

Multiple Choice Questions

The introduction of a report discusses the importance of the problem and why it needs research  describes in detail how the study was conducted describes the sample adequately includes information essential to comprehend and replicate the study

Data Description

A reference list cites all works supportive of or contradictory to the text. Is a synonym for bibliography should include only the references cited in the article should never be used in short articles.

A good title should include terms such as A Study of or An Experimental Investigation of  includes abbreviations to keep it concise be fully explanatory when standing alone

b and c

When quoting provide the author’s name in the text provide the year in the text provide the page citation in the text, or another locator such as paragraph number include a complete reference in the reference list

1. do all of the above

The abstract of a report should be a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the report.  about75to100wordslong/ an evaluation of the research report.

All of the above.

The introduction section of a research report should

include a thorough historical review of the literature define all of the terms that would be unintelligible to a reader with no previous exposure to the field. present the importance of the problem to be explored and specific hypotheses and objectives. d. Be clearly labelled.

Results are sometimes difficult to read and understand; therefore, it is useful to   summarise the collected data and the analysis performed on those data relevant to the discourse that is to follow. introduce the reader to statistical theory before you report he results of even basic statistical analyses.

let the statistics drive the logic of your Results section, not the logic you developed in your introduction (i.e., your hypotheses). report raw data, descriptive statistics, and the results of inferential analyses.

Speculation is permitted in the Discussion section if it is faithful to the intuition of the authors. related closely and logically to empirical data or theory. expressed verbosely and eloquently.

None of the above.

In a research report, past tense is usually appropriate for describing

previous experiments

the literature review

a procedure if the discussion is of past events

all of the above

10.Tables should be integral to the text but understandable in isolation referred to but not duplicated in the text referred to in the text by their numbers

11.Identify tabular presentation errors in the following:

Table 3 should be T able III.

Centimetres should be spelled out in the table title.

12.Which part of a research report should not always begin on a new page? abstract references method

13.When describing participants in your research, you should

1. give specific demographic characteristics such as age; sex; ethnic and / or racial group; level of education; ad socioeconomic, generation, or immigrant status. b. describe the procedures for selecting participants, including sampling method.
2. report whether the participants were provided incentives used to increase compliance.
3. Do all of the above.

Reporting Quantitative Research

14.The Discussion section is a part of the report in which you can discuss theory independent of your results. interpret your results and discuss their implications. discuss relevant related literature.

Reformulate and repeat pints already made.

15.Figure captions (titles) serve as the explanation of the figure. should describe the contents of the figure in a brief sentence or phrase. should include explanations of units of measurement, symbols, and abbreviations not included in the legend. d. All of the above

16.The Method section should be described in enough detail to permit a reader to evaluate the plausibility of your hypotheses. permit an experienced investigator to replicate your study. allow a perfect duplication of your investigation.

Allow an editor to judge the external validity of your study.

17.In the Results section, you should summarise collected data. 

Discuss the analytic treatment of data. discuss the implications of the findings.

Do all of the above. a and b.

18.The Discussion section generally includes a statement of support or non-support of all original hypotheses. a discussion of similarities and differences between your results and the results of others. an interpretation of the results that takes into account sources of potential bias.

Does all of the above.

19.Which of the following must identify the variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship between them?

The first sentence of the introduction section.

The conclusion of the Discussion section. the title of the report. the first table that is cited.

20.A good abstract needs to be dense with information. should include information that does not appear in the body of the manuscript. should be written in the present tense.

All of the above.

21.Before writing the introduction, questions to bear in mind include the following:

Why is this problem important?

How does the study relate to previous work in the area?

What are the theoretical and practical implications of the study?

How do the study’s hypotheses and research design relate to one another?

All of the above.

22.In the Method section, the procedure section often includes descriptions of sampling procedures and sample size. experimental manipulations or interventions used and how they were delivered. a summary of the collected data and analysis performed on that data.

all of the above a and b.

23.In the Discussion section, an interpretation of the results would take into account sources of potential bias and other threats to internal validity. theimprecisionofmeasures. the overall number of tests or overlap among tests. other limitations or weaknesses of the study.

All of the above. 

1. Edit the following for the punctuation of a reference citation in text:Basu and Jones, 2007, considered several models of legal regulation in cyberspace. a. leave as is

Basu and Jones, in 2007, considered several models of legal regulation in cyberspace.

Basu and Jones [2007], considered several models of legal regulation in cyberspace.

Basu and Jones (2007), considered several models of legal regulation in cyberspace.

25.Order the citations of two or more works within the same parentheses in order of their appearance in the reference list.  importance. dates of publication. status as printed or electronically published works.

All types of descriptive research methods have something in common: we are observing and describing what we see. They have something else in common too. What is it?

all of these research methods are carried out in university laboratories.

In each case we must observe from a great distance.

1. they are all experimental methods.
2. we cannot establish cause and effect.

It is important to having clear definitions of the behaviors of interest when you are observing study participants. Having clear definitions can help you avoid  which can occur when the observer has a preconceived notion of how the person being observed is likely to act.

1. observer bias participatory predisposition preconception bias predetermination partiality

1.  Why were university students in Young, Mizzau, Mai, Sirisegaram, and Wilson’s (2009) cafeteria study observed from at least 32 feet away?
2. to avoid familiarization
3. to avoid reactivity to encourage familiarization to encourage reactivity

Festinger and his colleagues decided to join a group that believed the world was going to end. “Marian Keech,” the leader of this group, said she was relaying these messages from planet Clarion. Keech and her followers believed they would be safe from this disaster because flying saucers would be arriving to rescue them. Festinger and his colleagues joined the group to see what Keech and her followers would do when the world didn’t end. What form of research method were Festinger and his colleagues using and why?

They used reactivity because this allowed them to summarize the content of what they saw.

They used habituation because this allowed the study participants to get used to the presence of Festinger and his colleagues.

They used naturalistic observation because being undercover was the only way to be privy to the thoughts and actions of this group.

They used participant observation because being undercover was the only way to be privy to the thoughts and actions of this group.

To identify whether a particular study is an experiment or a correlational study, look at the steps the researchers completed when conducting their research. Which of the following steps indicates that the researchers conducted a correlational study?

The researchers varied what was presented to the participants.

The researchers used random assignment.

The variables are only measured.

The variables are both manipulated and measured.

Ballard, Gray, Reilly, and Noggle (2009) found that those who spent more time playing video games exercised less frequently. What kind of correlation is this?

1.  Ickes, Park and Robinson (2012) were interested in “predicting the propensity to verbally abuse strangers” (p. 75). They conducted an online survey asking people to respond to personality measures and indicate on a Rudeness Scale how they would respond to a series of situations. They found, for example, that the tendency to be verbally rude was positively correlated with impulsivity. Which of the following is a description of this finding?

Those who were more verbally rude tended to be less impulsive.

Those who were less verbally rude tended to be less impulsive.

Those who were less verbally rude tended to be more aggressive.

Those who were more verbally rude tended to be more aggressive.

1.  When deciding whether to admit an applicant to graduate school, many schools consider scores on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Researchers have questioned how well GRE scores predict success in graduate school. Some researchers have suggested that the obtained correlation is reduced because researchers are only using the GRE scores of those who had been accepted into graduate school and these people likely have mostly high GRE scores. In other words, the strength of this correlation is likely reduced due to a. curvilinearity.

linearity.

range restriction.

the zero-order nature of the relationship.

Klein Murdock (2013) found that the number of daily texts that students sent was positively correlated with sleep problems. What can we conclude from this?

The excess texting was causing the students to miss out on sleep

The inability to sleep was causing the students to spend a lot of time texting.

The more students texted, the more problems they had sleeping.

One of these variables is causing the other, but we can’t know which variable is the cause and which is the effect.

Take a look at the following question. What type of question is this?

1. semantic differential
2.  Sharon is answering a questionnaire on binge drinking. When asked how many alcoholic drinks she had the previous Saturday night, she answered that she had had only one drink—she was afraid to tell the truth because she was worried what the researcher would think if he found out she had really had 5 drinks. What is the term that refers to what is occurring here?
3. the social desirability effect
4. nay saying
5.  Let’s say you divide your population of interest into segments. Each of the segments represents a group of people who have one or more characteristics of interest. Once you divide the population, then you choose a random sample from each of the segments. What is this type of sampling called?
6. stratified sampling
7.  To establish cause and effect, your experiment needs to have at least two groups. have at least two theoretically equivalent groups. have at least three theoretically equivalent groups. have at least four theoretically equivalent groups.

different group design; same group design

random design; non-random design

within-subjects; between-subjects

1.   Guéguen, Jacob and Lamy (2010) found that participants randomly assigned to hear romantic versus neutral music were almost twice as likely to provide their phone number when requested. Now pretend for a moment that the confederate who asked for phone numbers sometimes dressed nicely when romantic music was playing and sometimes not. He also sometimes dressed nicely when neutral music was playing and sometimes not. This was not deliberate. The confederate’s clothing in this case would be considered a(n)
2. confound
3. extraneous variable

matched variable

superfluous variable

1.  Sometimes researchers will match participants to each other on some variable and then randomly assign the matched participants to groups. When you use this “matched-groups design,” you should match on variables you think might affec

carryover effects; counterbalancing those without a control group and those without independent variables those with nonequivalent groups and those without independent variables those with posttests only and those with pretests only

Rahman and Zeglin (2014) were interested in whether students would benefit from using comic book characters when diagnosing psychological disorders. They tested undergraduates enrolled in two sections of an abnormal psychology course. Both sections received the standard lecture on how to diagnose psychological disorders. Students in only one of the sections were told to diagnose a comic book character. Rahman and Zeglin found that those who had diagnosed the comic book character performed significantly better on the quiz than those who had not. Could Rahman and Zeglin conclude that the comic book activity caused the better quiz outcome?

1. no, because the researchers had no control over who was in each section of the course no, because diagnosing a comic book character can’t likely have that sort of impact yes, because there was an adequate control group yes, because the diagnosis of a comic book character (present, absent) was the independent variable

1.  When researchers use a they study a single group of participants over a long period of time. When researchers use athey test people of different ages, and they test each age group only once. enduring design; concise design extended design; condensed design long-term design; short-term design

1. longitudinal design; cross-sectional design
2. Following study participants over the course of many years can often become difficult. People sometimes cannot be tracked down and thus, they do not end up finishing the study. What is a term to describe this?
3. attrition instrumentation history regression toward the mean

Qualitative Methods Short Answer Question – Methods and Tools

Qualitative research involves getting knowledge about a social phenomenon when they are in their natural settings. As opposed to quantitative analysis, qualitative research aims at knowing why the situation is the way it is rather than what is happening in the case according to Kendall, (2014). When conducting qualitative research, the questions that the researcher ask are crucial. Designing the items needs the researcher to consider some critical aspects to get precisely what he or she needs in the research. The first factor in devising the interview question in qualitative analysis is that the issues need to be specific rather than being general. The research involves many interviewees and to gain the best information from all of them, the researcher needs to be precise. Secondly, the interview questions should not be biased on a particular matter such as gender, political class or specific class of people. However, the problems should cut across everybody. When the questions are biased, the interviewee may not be in a position to give the accurate result thus the researcher may end up making decisions from a wrong conclusion. Apart from the above issues, the research questions should be of a different variety. For example, there are general questions, there are yes or no problem and there are others that the interviewee can pick the answers from the list. Mixing the issues is a critical methodology to promote user involvement. Lastly, the researcher should evaluate his or her question to ensure it is researchable question.

References

Eriksson, P. & Kovalainen, A. (2015). Quantitative methods in business research (3^rd Ed.).  London: Sage Publications.

Heath, W. (2018). Psychology Research Methods: Connecting Research to Students’ Lives.  Cambridge  University

Hastie, T., Tibshirani, R. & Friedman, J. (2016) The Elements of Statistical Learning (4^th ed.). New York: Springer Publications.

Kendall, L. (2014). The conduct of qualitative interviews: Research 

questions, methodological issues, and researching online. In Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 151-168). Routledge.

LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2014). Reliability and validity. Nursing research-ebook: Methods and critical appraisal for evidencebased practice. Missouri: Elsevier Mosby, 289-309.