Question 1

There is an illusory correlation between joint pain and rainy weather.According to the Great Fourfold Table of Life,which of the following experiences do we pay too much attention to?

Accepted Answer

The illusory correlation between joint pain and rainy weather leads us to pay too much attention to instances where it is raining and there is joint pain. We may overlook instances where there is no joint pain despite the rain, or where there is joint pain despite no rain. This phenomenon illustrates a cognitive bias known as confirmation bias, where we tend to seek out information that confirms our beliefs or expectations, and overlook information that contradicts them. Therefore, option A is the best choice as it reflects the bias that clouds our thinking in this situation.

Question 2

A professor wants to determine whether her students perform better on mid-term examinations if they write their exam alone or in a group.To experimentally investigate this possibility,she randomly assigns half of her students to write their mid-term in the regular class setting (as a group)and randomly assigns the other half of her students to write their mid-term individually in private cubicles in the university's testing centre.Which of these conditions is the experimental group?

Accepted Answer

The experimental group is the one that receives the treatment or condition being tested, which in this case is writing the exam individually in private cubicles.

Question 3

Correlational research designs are NOT appropriate for purposes of

Accepted Answer

Correlational research designs cannot establish causation, as they only measure the relationship between variables and cannot manipulate them. Therefore, causation is not an appropriate purpose for this type of research design. However, prediction and description are valid purposes for correlational research, as it can identify patterns and trends between variables to make predictions about future behavior or describe the nature of their relationship. Association is also a valid purpose, as correlational research quantifies the extent to which variables vary and covary together.

Question 4

Using the Great Fourfold Table of Life,we tend to fall prey to believing in illusory correlations because of the

Accepted Answer

The Great Fourfold Table of Life is a tool used in statistics to analyze relationships between two variables. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. When using this tool, individuals with confirmation bias may only pay attention to correlations that confirm their beliefs and ignore those that do not. This can lead to believing in illusory correlations, which are perceived but nonexistent relationships between two variables.

Question 5

The group that receives the manipulation is called the

Accepted Answer

The experimental group is the group that receives the manipulation or treatment being tested in an experiment. This group is compared to the control group, which does not receive the manipulation, in order to determine the effect of the manipulation on the outcome being measured. Choice B) dependent group is not a commonly used term in experimental research. Choice C) independent group refers to groups that are not related to each other in any way, and is not relevant to experimental research. Choice D) control group is the group that does not receive the manipulation or treatment being tested, and is compared to the experimental group.

Question 6

Dr.Trawma wants to study whether psychotherapy,cognitive-behavioural therapy,or systematic desensitization is better at reducing his patients' anxiety due to post-traumatic stress disorder.The dependent variable in this study is

Accepted Answer

The dependent variable in this study is what is being measured and compared among the different types of therapy. In this case, it is the patients' levels of anxiety. Therefore, the correct answer is C. Options A, B, and D are independent variables, as they are different types of therapy being studied.

Question 7

For many years,newspapers often mentioned the race of criminal suspects who were not white in articles detailing crimes.This often led people who were not obviously biased or prejudiced to conclude that more non-whites committed crimes than whites.This is one example of

Accepted Answer

This is an example of an illusory correlation, which refers to the perceived association between two things that are actually unrelated or have only a weak association. In this case, the mention of race in news articles about crimes created a false impression that non-whites were more likely to commit crimes, even though there was no actual correlation between race and criminal behavior.

Question 8

Dr.Black wants to study how caffeine consumption affects memory.He gives his sample a memory test to establish their baseline abilities and then has them drink several caffeinated beverages,followed by another memory test.What type of research design is Dr.Black using?

Accepted Answer

Dr. Black is using a within-subject design as he is testing the same group of individuals twice, once before the caffeine consumption and once after the consumption. This type of design ensures that any changes observed in the memory test are due to caffeine consumption and not individual differences between the participants.

Question 9

In correlational designs,the differences among participants are __________,whereas in experimental designs,the differences among participants are __________.

Accepted Answer

In correlational designs, differences among participants are measured because researchers are looking for associations between variables. In experimental designs, differences among participants are created through manipulation of an independent variable, in order to test for cause-and-effect relationships.

Question 10

A news article reports a negative correlation between brain size and self-esteem,which leads some people to conclude that larger brains lead to lower self-esteem.The main problem with this conclusion is that

Accepted Answer

The main problem with concluding that larger brains lead to lower self-esteem is that there may be a third variable, such as alcohol use or genetics, that is actually causing both larger brains and lower self-esteem. It is important to consider other variables and conduct further research before making any causal inferences.

Question 11

A key aspect of an experiment that is missing in other research designs is

Accepted Answer

Random assignment is a key aspect of an experiment that is missing in other research designs. Random assignment helps to control for extraneous variables and ensures that the groups being compared are as similar as possible except for the manipulated variable. This allows for a causal inference to be made about the relationship between the manipulated variable and the outcome variable.

Question 12

A researcher wants to see whether she can make the typical administrative assistant job more motivating at Acme,Inc.To experimentally investigate this possibility,she randomly assigns administrative assistants to one of the following conditions: doing the job as it has always been done,having a computer performance monitoring device installed,receiving feedback about their performance on a weekly basis,or being given a say in how one's workload is structured and done.Which of the preceding conditions is an example of a control group?

Accepted Answer

The control group is the group that receives no treatment or intervention and serves as a baseline measure to compare the other groups to. In this case, the control group is the group that does the job as it has always been done.

Question 13

There is an illusory correlation between psychiatric hospital admissions and the full moon.According to the Great Fourfold Table of Life,which of the following experiences do we pay too much attention to?

Accepted Answer

The illusory correlation between full moons and psychiatric hospital admissions may cause us to pay too much attention to instances where there is a full moon and there are many psychiatric admissions. This is because we may selectively remember and focus on these instances while dismissing or forgetting about instances where there is no full moon and there are still many psychiatric admissions. Option A is not relevant to the illusory correlation phenomenon, option B is not consistent with the illusory correlation, and option D is not informative.

Question 14

The variable that an experimenter assesses or measures is called the

Accepted Answer

The dependent variable is the variable that is being assessed or measured based on changes in the independent variable.

Question 15

Besides random assignment,what other component is necessary for a study to be considered an experiment?

Accepted Answer

Manipulation of an independent variable is necessary for a study to be considered an experiment. This involves changing or controlling an aspect of the environment or treatment to see its effect on the dependent variable. Random assignment refers to the process of randomly assigning participants to different groups in the study, but it alone does not make it an experiment. Random selection is a separate process used to select a representative sample from a larger population. Cause-and-effect relationships are also a key component of experiments, but they are a result of the manipulation of the independent variable and the measurement of its effect on the dependent variable.

Question 16

What type of research design involves one group of participants being assigned to the experimental condition and another group of different participants assigned to the control condition?

Accepted Answer

A between-subject design involves assigning different groups of participants to either an experimental or control condition. This allows for comparisons to be made between the two groups and reduces the risk of potential confounding variables that may arise in within-subject designs.

Question 17

Perceiving a correlation between two variables when none exists refers to

Accepted Answer

An illusory correlation refers to the perception of a correlation between two variables when none actually exists. This can happen due to various reasons such as relying on limited or biased information, applying stereotypes or expectations, or being influenced by personal beliefs or experiences. It is a common cognitive error that can lead to incorrect assumptions and judgments.

Question 18

Pretend that you are a peer reviewer for a study on exposure therapy and arachnophobia (fear of spiders).The researcher chooses a group of patients who he thinks can handle the treatment (administered by a colleague)and has another group of patients as a control that he talks to about their fears weekly.He reports that,following exposure therapy,those in the experimental group showed less fear of spiders than those in the control group.As a reviewer,what is the hidden flaw with this study that limits its claims?

Accepted Answer

The study does not have random assignment, meaning that the participants were not randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. This limits the study's ability to make causal claims and makes it weaker as an experiment.

Question 19

The only research design that allows one to make cause-and-effect inferences is the __________ design.

Accepted Answer

Experimental design allows for manipulation of an independent variable to observe its effect on a dependent variable, which enables researchers to make cause-and-effect inferences. Naturalistic observation and case studies are observational research designs, while correlational research allows for the investigation of associations between variables but does not establish causality.

Question 20

Superstitions are often based on

Accepted Answer

The answer of Superstitions are often based on
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Quiz 2: D: Research Methods