Question 1

What is one of the most important differences between correlational and experimental research designs?

Accepted Answer

One of the most important differences between correlational and experimental research designs is that experiments use random assignment, while correlations do not. This means that in an experiment, participants are randomly assigned to different groups, allowing researchers to make causal claims about the relationship between the independent variable (the one being manipulated or observed) and the dependent variable (the one being measured). In contrast, correlational studies only examine the relationship between two variables, without being able to establish causality.

Question 2

Which of the following research methods is the best way to identify a causal relationship between two variables?

Accepted Answer

The experimental method is the best way to identify a causal relationship between two variables because it involves manipulating one variable (independent variable) and observing the effect on another variable (dependent variable) while controlling for extraneous variables. The goal is to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the independent and dependent variable by demonstrating that changes in the independent variable produce changes in the dependent variable, thereby ruling out alternative explanations. Observational, archival, and correlational methods are useful for identifying associations between variables, but they do not establish causality.

Question 3

Interviews and written questionnaires are forms of which type of research method?

Accepted Answer

Interviews and written questionnaires are both forms of survey research method, which involves collecting data through self-reporting or questioning individuals about their attitudes, behaviors, and opinions.

Question 4

A social psychologist finds a relationship between socioeconomic status and relationship satisfaction in married couples. This study most likely describes which type of research method?

Accepted Answer

The study describes correlational research method because it examines the relationship between two variables, socioeconomic status and relationship satisfaction, without manipulating either variable.

Question 5

When random sampling is used, it means that

Accepted Answer

Random sampling is a method of selecting participants from a population in which every member of that population has an equal chance of being selected. This helps to ensure that the sample is representative of the population and reduces the risk of bias in the sample selection process.

Question 6

Which of the following correlations indicates the weakest relationship between two variables?

Accepted Answer

A correlation of 0.2 indicates a weak relationship between two variables. The closer the correlation is to 0, the weaker the relationship. A correlation of 1.0 indicates a perfect positive relationship, a correlation of -0.6 indicates a moderate negative relationship, and a correlation of 0.8 indicates a strong positive relationship.

Question 7

The primary difference between natural experiments and standard experiments is that natural experiments

Accepted Answer

The best choice is D. The primary difference between natural experiments and standard experiments is that natural experiments typically do not involve random assignment of individuals, while standard experiments do. Additionally, natural experiments occur under natural conditions, without manipulation of an independent variable by the experimenter, while standard experiments involve intentional manipulation of an independent variable to observe its effects on a dependent variable.

Question 8

Which of the following best describes a research study that randomly assigns people to different conditions and carefully controls all of the other circumstances so that they will be the same across the two conditions?

Accepted Answer

A research study that randomly assigns people to different conditions and carefully controls all of the other circumstances so that they will be the same across the two conditions is an experiment. Correlation studies measure the relationship between two variables, but do not involve manipulation. Surveys involve asking questions to a sample of individuals. Observation involves watching and recording behavior in natural settings without manipulation.

Question 9

A researcher measures the galvanic skin response (GSR), or degree of sweating, of people holding a clear plastic jar containing a spider. She compares the GSRs of people with spider phobias with the GSRs of people without spider phobias. In this experiment, the galvanic skin response functions as the

Accepted Answer

The GSR is being measured to compare the responses of people with spider phobias and people without spider phobias. Therefore, the GSR is the dependent variable in this experiment.

Question 10

Which of the following scatterplot graphs displays the strongest relationship between two variables?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following scatterplot graphs displays...

Question 11

Dr. Samanta is interested in how personality changes over adolescence. She enrolls a sample of ten-year-olds and follows them through age seventeen. This kind of study is known as a(n) ________ study.

Accepted Answer

A longitudinal study involves following the same group of individuals over time, which is what Dr. Samanta is doing by enrolling the ten-year-olds and following them through age seventeen. Observational studies involve simply observing and describing behaviors, while cross-sectional studies compare different age groups at one point in time. Mixed design studies use a combination of different study designs.

Question 12

In her social psychology course, Maria learns that the more one is exposed to something, such as a song on the radio, the more one tends to like it. Maria thinks this so obvious and questions why she signed up for the class. What might Maria be displaying?

Accepted Answer

Maria is displaying the hindsight bias, also known as the "I-knew-it-all-along" phenomenon. She feels that the information presented in class is so obvious that she doesn't need to learn it, and therefore may overestimate her ability to have predicted it beforehand.

Question 13

Dr. Goldstein hopes to reveal that although some of the findings presented in her class may seem obvious, students would not have predicted them accurately. To do so, she asked her students to take a guess about the results of a study before describing the outcome. Many of the students' predictions were wrong. Dr. Goldstein is demonstrating what to her students?

Accepted Answer

Dr. Goldstein is demonstrating the hindsight bias, which is the tendency for people to believe, after an event has occurred, that they would have predicted or expected the outcome.

Question 14

Experiments are different from other research methods in that they encompass which of the following components?

Accepted Answer

Experiments are unique in their use of random assignment to place participants into experimental and control groups, which helps establish causality by ensuring that any differences observed between groups are due to the manipulation of the independent variable rather than pre-existing differences between the participants.

Question 15

An experiment by Darley and Batson (1973) looked at seminary students' willingness to help. In one condition, participants were made to hurry from one building to another by being told they were late to give a speech, which was part of the study requirements. In the other condition, participants were only told to go over to another building in order to give the speech. Both groups encountered a person lying on the ground on their way to the other building. The experimenter observed the participants from both groups and counted the number of people who stopped to check on the person lying on the ground. It was found that the participants who were in a hurry stopped much less frequently than the participants who were not in a hurry. In this experiment, what was the independent variable?

Accepted Answer

The independent variable in this experiment was being made to hurry from one building to another or not. This was manipulated by the experimenter in order to see how it affected the participants' willingness to stop and check on the person lying on the ground.

Question 16

Which of the following is the best example of observational research?

Accepted Answer

Observational research involves observing and recording behavior in the natural environment. Living with a group of people and observing their behavior is a clear example of observational research because it involves direct observation of behavior in a natural setting. The other options involve more structured and controlled methods of data collection, such as reviewing historical records, examining relationships between variables, and recording participants' responses on questionnaires.

Question 17

All of the following are examples of resources used in archival research EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

Firsthand observations of behavior are not considered archival resources as they are typically collected in real-time and not preserved for future use. The other options are commonly used resources in archival research.

Question 18

Which of the following would be an example of random sampling in a survey study designed to learn more about the student body at a particular college?

Accepted Answer

Tossing a coin to determine who will be surveyed from a list of all students enrolled is an example of random sampling, as each student has an equal chance of being selected. Option A is not random sampling, as only students who read the campus magazine and fill out the survey will be included, potentially introducing bias. Option C is convenience sampling, as only customers who visit a particular coffee shop are surveyed, while Option D is purposive sampling, as only members of fraternities and sororities are surveyed.

Question 19

In an experiment, the control condition

Accepted Answer

The control condition is used as a benchmark to compare the outcomes of the experimental condition, helping to understand the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Question 20

The independent variable in an experiment is

Accepted Answer

The independent variable is the variable that is manipulated by the researcher and is thought to be the cause of a particular outcome. It is independent because it is not influenced by any other variables in the experiment.

Quiz 2: The Methods of Social Psychology