Question 1

Which method does NOT use random assignment to assign participants to groups?

Accepted Answer

Assigning participants to groups based on the order in which they arrive is not a random assignment method, and therefore may lead to biased group composition. Random assignment methods, such as coin flipping or using a random number generator, ensure that all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to any group, which increases the chances of balanced group composition and reduces the effects of individual differences or biases.

Question 2

Researchers wanted to see if adults were actually afraid of the dark by exposing them to different levels of light in a room while measuring their heart rates.In this experiment,what are the different levels of light?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Researchers wanted to see if adults were...

Question 3

Researchers wanted to see if listening to calm music would reduce heart rates.Half of the research participants sat quietly and listened to calm music,and the other half sat quietly and listened to no music at all.The group that did NOT listen to the music is called the:

Accepted Answer

The control group is the group in an experiment that does not receive the intervention or treatment being tested. In this case, the group that did not listen to any music is the control group as they are not receiving the intervention of listening to calm music.

Question 4

Random assignment to groups helps ensure that:

Accepted Answer

Random assignment to groups helps ensure that groups do not differ on variables not of interest. This means that any differences observed between the groups can be attributed to the independent variable being manipulated, rather than other factors that might influence the outcome.

Question 5

Wally wants to see if room temperature affects happiness.He invites participants to the laboratory,where half are seated for 20 minutes in a booth held at a constant 68 degrees,and the other half are seated in an identical booth for 20 minutes at a constant 88 degrees.Wally then asks members of each group to rate their level of happiness.What is the dependent variable in this experiment?

Accepted Answer

The dependent variable in this experiment is the rating of happiness, as it is what is being measured and expected to potentially change due to the independent variable (temperature of the booths). The other options (number of participants and elapsed time) are not relevant to the hypothesis being tested. While temperature of the booths is the independent variable, it is not the dependent variable being measured.

Question 6

A researcher wants to assess the effects of varying amounts of alcohol on ratings of perception of friendliness.Three groups of people are given either one,two,or three beers to drink.Three more groups of people are given either one,two,or three nonalcoholic beers to drink.Then,all participants are shown a series of pictures of people's faces and are asked to rank the perceived friendliness of each face on a scale from 1 to 10.In this experiment,the independent variable is:

Accepted Answer

The independent variable in this experiment is the amount of alcohol consumed, which is being manipulated by the researcher. Therefore, the best choice is B.

Question 7

_____ occurs when participants decide if they wish to be studied in the experimental or control group.

Accepted Answer

Self-selection occurs when participants voluntarily choose which group they wish to be in, either in the experimental or the control group. This can introduce bias into the study as there may be differences between the two groups that are not related to the intervention being studied. Random assignment helps to reduce the impact of self-selection bias by randomly assigning participants to either group. Informed consent refers to the process of obtaining permission from participants before they participate in a study, while random sampling refers to the process of selecting a random sample from a larger population.

Question 8

In an experiment,researchers exposed half of the participants to loud noise during a memory-encoding task.The room was quiet for the other half of the participants.Later,all participants were given a memory test and the number of correct items recalled was obtained for each participant.The participants who encoded information in the noisy room constitute the:

Accepted Answer

The participants who encoded information in the noisy room constitute the experimental group, which is the group that receives the manipulation of the independent variable (noise exposure) in an experiment.

Question 9

Jennifer wants to see if the color of the testing room causes test anxiety.She asks 100 participants to come to a modified classroom,and as they walk in,she asks each person to choose either a testing cubicle painted bright red or a testing cubicle painted off white.On the basis of their choices,participants spend 20 minutes in one or the other cubicle solving challenging math problems.Then,they complete a survey asking them questions about how anxious they were during the math test.What's wrong with Jennifer's experiment?

Accepted Answer

The experiment lacks random assignment of participants to the two different cubicles, which means that the groups could differ on some relevant variable that might cause differences in anxiety levels. Without randomization, it is hard to establish causality between the variable manipulated (color of the cubicles) and the dependent variable (test anxiety).

Question 10

When one manipulates an independent variable,at least how many groups are created?

Accepted Answer

When manipulating an independent variable, at least two groups are created: a group that receives the manipulated independent variable (experimental group) and a group that does not receive the manipulated independent variable (control group). This comparison between the two groups allows researchers to determine the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Question 11

A researcher wants to assess the effects of varying amounts of alcohol on ratings of perception of friendliness.Three groups of people are given either one,two,or three beers to drink.Three more groups of people are given either one,two,or three nonalcoholic beers to drink.Then,all participants are shown a series of pictures of people's faces and are asked to rank the perceived friendliness of each face on a scale from 1 to 10.Each face was presented for 5 seconds.In this experiment,the dependent variable is:

Accepted Answer

The dependent variable in this experiment is the rating of perceived friendliness as it is being measured and influenced by the independent variable of the amount of alcohol consumed. The other factors mentioned (number of groups, presence of alcohol in the beer, and duration of face presentation) are independent variables or experimental manipulations.

Question 12

In an experiment,researchers exposed half of the participants to loud noise during a memory-encoding task.The room was quiet for the other half of the participants.Later,all participants were given a memory test and the number of correct items recalled was obtained for each participant.The participants who encoded information in the quiet room constitute the:

Accepted Answer

The participants who encoded information in the quiet room constitute the control group because they were not exposed to the experimental condition (loud noise) and serve as a baseline for comparison.

Question 13

When the _____ variable is manipulated,at least _____ group(s)is/are created.

Accepted Answer

When the independent variable is manipulated, at least two groups (experimental and control) are typically created to compare the effects of the manipulation. The dependent variable is the variable that is measured and not manipulated.

Question 14

What is the major problem associated with self-selection as a way to assign participants to the experimental and control groups?

Accepted Answer

Self-selection can result in systematic differences between the experimental and control groups, making it difficult to determine if the treatment caused any observed differences. The groups may differ in important ways (e.g. age, gender, socioeconomic status, motivation) that are unrelated to the treatment being tested. This confounding of variables can make it difficult to isolate the effect of the treatment itself.

Question 15

_____ occurs when participants are assigned to the experimental or control group by coin flip.

Accepted Answer

Random assignment involves randomly assigning participants to either the experimental or control group. This helps to ensure that any differences between the groups are not due to pre-existing differences in the participants, but rather the manipulation of the independent variable.

Question 16

Wally wants to see if room temperature affects happiness.He invites participants to the laboratory,where half are seated for 20 minutes in a booth held at a constant 68 degrees,and the other half are seated in an identical booth for 20 minutes at a constant 88 degrees.Wally then asks members of each group to rate their level of happiness.What is the independent variable in this experiment?

Accepted Answer

The independent variable is the variable that is being manipulated, in this case the temperature of the booths. The researcher is trying to see if different room temperatures affect happiness levels. Therefore, C is the correct answer. The other options are not the independent variable being manipulated in the experiment.

Question 17

Researchers wanted to see if listening to calm music would reduce heart rates.Half of the research participants sat quietly and listened to calm music,and the other half sat quietly and listened to no music at all.The group that listened to the music is called the:

Accepted Answer

The group that listened to the calm music is the group that is being experimented on and is therefore the experimental group. The independent variable, in this case, is the calm music that they listened to, which is controlled by the researchers. The dependent variable, on the other hand, is the heart rate, which is being measured and is expected to change based on the experimental manipulation. The control group, in this case, would have sat quietly without any music but they are not the group being experimented on.

Question 18

Diana wants to see if heat causes happiness.She asks 100 participants to come to the laboratory,and as they walk in,she asks each person to choose a warm booth or a cool booth.On the basis of their choices,participants spend 20 minutes in one or the other booth before rating their levels of general happiness.What's wrong with Diana's experiment?

Accepted Answer

Random assignment of participants to either the warm or cool booth is necessary for a valid experiment. Without random assignment, there could be preexisting differences between the two groups that could affect the results. This would render any conclusions drawn from the study less reliable.

Question 19

Researchers wanted to see if adults were actually afraid of the dark by exposing them to different levels of light in a room while measuring their heart rates.In this experiment,what are the heart rates of the participants?

Accepted Answer

The heart rates of the participants are being measured in response to different levels of light, making it the dependent variable.

Question 20

Random assignment involves randomly:

Accepted Answer

Random assignment involves placing participants into the different groups of the experiment in a random manner to ensure that each group has similar characteristics and that any underlying differences in group outcomes are not due to participant characteristics. Options A, B, and C are not related to random assignment.

Quiz 2: Methods in Psychology-Part A

Which method does NOT use random assignment to assign participants to groups?

Researchers wanted to see if adults were actually afraid of the dark by exposing them to different levels of light in a room while measuring their heart rates.In this experiment,what are the different levels of light?

Researchers wanted to see if listening to calm music would reduce heart rates.Half of the research participants sat quietly and listened to calm music,and the other half sat quietly and listened to no music at all.The group that did NOT listen to the music is called the:

Random assignment to groups helps ensure that:

_____ occurs when participants decide if they wish to be studied in the experimental or control group.

When one manipulates an independent variable,at least how many groups are created?

When the _ variable is manipulated,at least _ group(s) is/are created.

What is the major problem associated with self-selection as a way to assign participants to the experimental and control groups?

_____ occurs when participants are assigned to the experimental or control group by coin flip.

Researchers wanted to see if listening to calm music would reduce heart rates.Half of the research participants sat quietly and listened to calm music,and the other half sat quietly and listened to no music at all.The group that listened to the music is called the:

Researchers wanted to see if adults were actually afraid of the dark by exposing them to different levels of light in a room while measuring their heart rates.In this experiment,what are the heart rates of the participants?

Random assignment involves randomly:

Quiz 2: Methods in Psychology-Part A

Which method does NOT use random assignment to assign participants to groups?

Researchers wanted to see if adults were actually afraid of the dark by exposing them to different levels of light in a room while measuring their heart rates.In this experiment,what are the different levels of light?

Researchers wanted to see if listening to calm music would reduce heart rates.Half of the research participants sat quietly and listened to calm music,and the other half sat quietly and listened to no music at all.The group that did NOT listen to the music is called the:

Random assignment to groups helps ensure that:

_____ occurs when participants decide if they wish to be studied in the experimental or control group.

When one manipulates an independent variable,at least how many groups are created?

When the _____ variable is manipulated,at least _____ group(s) is/are created.

What is the major problem associated with self-selection as a way to assign participants to the experimental and control groups?

_____ occurs when participants are assigned to the experimental or control group by coin flip.

Researchers wanted to see if listening to calm music would reduce heart rates.Half of the research participants sat quietly and listened to calm music,and the other half sat quietly and listened to no music at all.The group that listened to the music is called the:

Researchers wanted to see if adults were actually afraid of the dark by exposing them to different levels of light in a room while measuring their heart rates.In this experiment,what are the heart rates of the participants?

Random assignment involves randomly:

When the _ variable is manipulated,at least _ group(s) is/are created.