Question 1

Two researchers are studying chronic worrying. One researcher measures worrying as the number of times per day that clients report worrying. The other researcher measures worrying by asking clients how much worrying interferes with daily life. In this example, what differs between the two researchers' ways of looking at worrying?

Accepted Answer

The researchers differ in their operational definition of worrying. One researcher is measuring it as the frequency of worrying, while the other is measuring it as the extent to which it interferes with daily life.

Question 2

Harm resulting from the mere expectation of harm refers to the

Accepted Answer

The nocebo effect refers to harm or negative side effects that result from the mere expectation of harm, such as when a person experiences negative symptoms from a placebo drug because they believe that it is the real medication.

Question 3

A medical doctor believes that the presence of aromatherapy will reduce anxiety during childbirth and will increase parents' reported satisfaction with their care at the hospital. She randomly assigns parents to birthing rooms either with or without aromatherapy. What is the independent variable in this example?

Accepted Answer

The independent variable in this example is the presence or absence of aromatherapy in the birthing rooms.

Question 4

What term is used to describe participants who don't know whether they are in an experimental group or a placebo group?

Accepted Answer

Participants who don't know whether they are in an experimental group or a placebo group are referred to as "blind." This helps to prevent bias in the results of the study, as participants who know they are in the experimental group may behave differently than those who know they are in the placebo group.

Question 5

The placebo and Rosenthal effects are examples of __________ in experimental research.

Accepted Answer

The placebo and Rosenthal effects are both examples of confounding variables in experimental research because they can affect the results of the study without being explicitly manipulated by the researcher. The placebo effect refers to the phenomenon where participants in a study show improvement simply because they believe they are receiving a treatment, while the Rosenthal effect (or experimenter expectancy effect) occurs when the researcher's expectations influence the behavior or performance of the participants. Both of these effects can confound the results of a study by introducing extraneous variability into the data, making it difficult to determine the true effect of the independent variable.

Question 6

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. All aspects of the exam are the same, except for the location. Which of the following is a potential confound for this study?

Accepted Answer

Memory cues linked to the regular classroom setting could potentially affect the performance of students who are writing the exam as a group, leading to a confounding variable. This variable could make it difficult to determine whether it is the group process or the classroom setting that positively or negatively influences exam performance.

Question 7

In an experiment, children watched an adult display physical violence toward a clown doll in a room full of other toys. In some cases the aggressive adult was scolded for the behaviour, and in other cases the aggressive adult was praised. Each child is then left in the room of toys, and the researchers watch to see if the child copies any of the aggressive behaviour. What is the dependent variable?

Accepted Answer

The dependent variable is the variable being measured, which is the aggressive behaviour of the children. This is what is being observed and recorded by the researchers. The independent variable is the variable being manipulated, which is whether the model was praised or punished.

Question 8

How does conducting a double-blind study attempt to remedy the experimenter expectancy effect?

Accepted Answer

Double-blind studies help reduce the experimenter expectancy effect by preventing both the participants and the experimenters from knowing who receives the treatment and who receives the placebo, thus reducing confirmation bias where researchers might unconsciously influence outcomes based on their expectations.

Question 9

A trainer at the gym notices that his clients are more likely to work out regularly and not skip days at the gym, compared to people who don't use a personal trainer. He has also noticed that people who have a trainer are less likely to get injured. The trainer believes that he helps people to stay motivated and accountable, and that's why they go to the gym more regularly. What is the confounding variable in this example?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A trainer at the gym notices that...

Question 10

Tanya is a therapist who sells subliminal message tapes to help people stop smoking. She designs a study where one group gets a tape with subliminal messages, a second group gets a tape without subliminal messages, and the third group gets nothing. She finds that both groups with tapes had about an equal success rate in quitting smoking, compared to the group that got nothing. Which of the following explains her results?

Accepted Answer

Tanya's study shows the placebo effect, as both groups with tapes had about an equal success rate in quitting smoking, compared to the group that got nothing. This suggests that the subliminal messages on the tapes may not have had an actual effect, but rather the belief in the efficacy of the tapes led to the success in quitting smoking.

Question 11

One difficulty in conducting medical research is that participants often assume that any treatment will be effective in alleviating their symptoms. Therefore, a researcher has to design an experiment that measures the influence of

Accepted Answer

The placebo effect is when a participant experiences a psychological benefit from receiving a treatment even if that treatment has no actual physical or medical effect. It is important to measure the placebo effect in medical research because it can skew the results, making it seem like a treatment is effective when it is not. By measuring the placebo effect, researchers can determine whether the treatment is actually effective or if the improvement in symptoms is due to the placebo effect.

Question 12

In order to avoid the __________, experiments should be conducted in a double-blind fashion.

Accepted Answer

Double-blind experiments are designed to prevent the experimenter expectancy effect, where the researcher's expectations could unintentionally influence the participants' behavior or the interpretation of results.

Question 13

In an experiment, a researcher wants to avoid the presence of

Accepted Answer

Confounding variables can affect the results of the experiment and lead to inaccurate conclusions, so the researcher should avoid their presence. Dependent variables and independent variables are necessary components of an experiment, and random assignment can be a useful technique for eliminating bias in participant selection.

Question 14

Any difference between experimental and control groups other than the independent variable is called a __________ variable.

Accepted Answer

Confounding variables are factors that could affect the outcome of the experiment but are not being specifically studied. They can lead to inaccurate conclusions about the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. Dependent variables are the outcome variables that are being measured in the experiment. Placebo and nocebo variables refer to the effects of a fake treatment or negative expectations, respectively, and are not relevant to this question.

Question 15

In an experiment, children watched an adult display physical violence toward a clown doll in a room full of other toys. In some cases the aggressive adult was scolded for the behaviour, and in other cases the aggressive adult was praised. Each child is then left in the room of toys, and the researchers watch to see if the child copies any of the aggressive behaviour. What is the independent variable?

Accepted Answer

The independent variable is the variable that is being manipulated, in this case whether the model was praised or punished. The researchers want to see if this manipulation affects the child's behavior. Therefore, C is the correct answer. A, B, and D are not the independent variables as they are not being directly manipulated.

Question 16

The practice of voodoo capitalizes on which psychological effect?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The practice of voodoo capitalizes on which...

Question 17

Suppose a researcher wants to determine if the size of the crowd affects how bystanders treat an accident victim. The researcher randomly assigns participants to one of three groups: no other bystanders, one other bystander, or four other bystanders. When an emergency is then staged, the researcher measures how long it takes the participant to help the victim. In this study, what is the independent variable?

Accepted Answer

The independent variable is the variable that is manipulated and tested by the researcher. In this case, the researcher is manipulating the number of bystanders present, so the number of bystanders is the independent variable.

Question 18

The __________ refers to the phenomenon in which researchers' hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study.

Accepted Answer

The experimenter expectancy effect, also known as the observer-expectancy effect, refers to the phenomenon in which researchers' hypotheses, expectations, or biases influence or unintentionally bias the outcome of a study. This can occur through subtle cues, body language, or unintentional communication with study participants. It can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which the researcher's expectations influence the participants' behavior or responses. The nocebo effect refers to the phenomenon in which negative expectations or beliefs can also influence outcomes, while the placebo effect refers to the phenomenon in which positive expectations or belief in a treatment can lead to improvements, and the hindsight effect refers to the tendency to overestimate one's ability to predict an outcome after the fact.

Question 19

Suppose a researcher wants to see if those students who highlight their textbook as they read will perform better on the psychology mid-term compared to those students who do not highlight. What is the dependent variable?

Accepted Answer

The dependent variable is the outcome that is being measured or affected by the independent variable, which in this case is whether or not students highlight their textbook while reading. The outcome being measured is the Psychology mid-term score.

Question 20

One researcher defines aggressive behaviour in kids as instances of punching and kicking or other physical acts. Another researcher defines aggressive behaviour in kids as any instance of physical aggression and verbal acts like name-calling or teasing. Both researchers conduct observational studies of kids on the playground at recess. These two researchers may find different results in their studies because of

Accepted Answer

The researchers may find different results because they are using different definitions of aggressive behaviour, with one including both physical and verbal acts, while the other only including physical acts. This difference in operational definitions could lead to different observations and interpretations of behaviour on the playground.

Quiz 2: Research Methods