Exam 1

Question 1

What are the different ways of knowing? What are the characteristics of each?

Answer 1

Intuition which is a subjective, gut feeling way of knowing based on our personal feelings and knowledge which emerges without using reason. Superstition is a subjective belief which goes against known laws of reason/nature. Authority lets us know things through reputation and credibility. Rational-inductive argument is reason-based, where people come to a logical conclusion using the available info.

Example: Intuition can sometimes lead to quick decision-making without logical reasoning.

Question 2

What are the objectives of the scientific method? How do we go about fulfilling them?

Answer 2

Description, Explanation, Prediction, and Control. Description can be done by putting words and descriptions to events, explanations can be done by asking/explaining why something happened, predictions are fulfilled by considering the “therefore” as we want to predict how things turn out, and control is fulfilled by changing something and enacting change to improve livelihood.

No additional information provided.

Question 3

What are theories? What things are used to support theories? Which of these are better/worse supporters of a theory?

Answer 3

Theories are a set of related statements offering the general idea behind a hypothesis with explanations and predictions. Laws, principles, and beliefs are used to support theories. Laws are the best supporters of a theory as they are accepted as true, principles are less supportive as they describe probabilities and not certainties, and beliefs are the least supportive of a theory as they aren’t scientifically testable and often unsupported by facts.

No additional information provided.

Question 4

What are the characteristics of good/bad theories?

Answer 4

A good theory should be simple but not too vague, it should be testable, and it should constantly yield the same results. A bad theory would be either way too vague or way too complex, it would likely struggle to best tested, and would most likely prompt inconsistent results.

No additional information provided.

Question 5

Why is it important to be an educated consumer of scientific information?

Answer 5

It is important to be an educated consumer of scientific information as scientific journals can provide misinformation and confounds that harm the experimentation process, revoking the credibility of the information. By spotting untrustworthy information, you can avoid it and gain a more educated understanding.

Example: Being able to critically evaluate scientific information can help in making informed decisions.

Question 6

What are some of the groups/documents that have arisen to deal with issues of ethics in human subjects research?

Answer 6

The Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki, National Research Act, National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Belmont Report, Code of Federal Regulations, American Psychological Association, and Institutional Review Boards.

Example: These groups and documents provide guidelines and regulations for conducting ethical human subjects research.

Question 7

What is an IRB? What is its purpose? How does it operate/make decisions?

Answer 7

An IRB is an Institutional Review Board that assesses the risks, benefits, and confidentiality of a research study. IRBs operate by having members with diverse perspectives come together to make decisions on the quality of a study.

Example: IRBs play a crucial role in ensuring the protection of human subjects in research.

Question 8

What is risk in regards to human subjects research? What is minimal risk?

Answer 8

Risk in human subjects research refers to the potential for physical or psychological harm in a study. Minimal risk is defined as risk no worse than those of everyday life.

Example: Researchers must carefully consider and minimize risks to participants in human subjects research.

Question 9

What are the different forms of consent that should be obtained in human subjects research? How are they different?

Answer 9

Free Consent and Informed Consent should be obtained in research. Free Consent is free of pressure and authority, given by someone due to complete willingness to participate. Informed Consent means that participants are given information before the start of the experiment to give them an idea of what the study will entail and any possible risks it may contain. Free Consent must be free of any pressure, and although and consent should be, Informed Consent could be somewhat swayed by authority.

Example sentence: Participants must provide free and informed consent before participating in the study.

Question 10

What special ethical considerations are there associated with doing research using the internet?

Answer 10

The main ethical considerations associated with online research include privacy and how it will be ensured, how to make sure people truly understand the study/are giving lawful consent, and it makes the debrief much less impactful as someone may not be able to ask questions or even receive the debrief.

Additional information: Online research presents unique challenges in ensuring ethical standards are met.

Question 11

What is deception in research? How do participants generally feel when they are deceived in a study?

Answer 11

Deception in research happens when people are made to believe something is true about the study that isn’t. As far as research shows, participants often don’t mind when they are deceived and even tend to report greater educational benefits/enjoyment from the deception.

Example sentence: Researchers sometimes use deception to study human behavior in more naturalistic settings.

Question 12

What are the various ways that publishing a journal article could be done unethically?

Answer 12

Journal articles can be done unethically through scientific misconduct such as plagiarism, data fabrication/alteration, the process of mass-publishing for status, lying about authorship, etc..

Additional information: Ethical publishing practices are crucial to maintaining the integrity of scientific research.

Question 13

What ethical considerations need to be observed when dealing with animals in research?

Answer 13

When dealing with animals in research they must face humane treatment, have well-trained staff, they must only face pain/suffering/stress if NECESSARY, the surgical procedures must minimize pain infection, and must obey federal/local laws.

Example sentence: Researchers must ensure that animals are treated humanely and that all staff are well-trained to minimize any potential pain or stress during research procedures.

Question 14

What are the ethical considerations associated with how research is funded?

Answer 14

Research costs money, so it must be considered who is funding the research, and what they will expect for that funding. Another question within that is how will that research be used depending on who is funding/publishing it. The main ethical consideration is that oftentimes, research mustn’t include funding and ads as it takes away from the credibility of the research, so funding must be done in other ways.

Additional information: Ethical considerations in research funding also involve ensuring that the research remains independent and unbiased, free from any external influence that may compromise the integrity of the study.

Question 15

What is an operational definition? Why are they necessary in research?

Answer 15

An operational definition is a clear, specific definition that tells the reader exactly what was done to produce an outcome/to measure some variable. They are necessary as it allows people to understand your research and what you are genuinely trying to measure and produce.

Example sentence: Researchers must provide an operational definition to clearly outline the methods used to measure a variable in their study.

Question 16

What are reliability and validity? How are they different? Why is each important?

Answer 16

Reliability is consistency, which means if something is measured it will consistently stay the same across multiple measurements + individuals. Validity is the question of if your measurement is accurately measuring what you mean to measure, therefore if you are using the correct units/means of measurement.

Additional information: Reliability ensures that measurements are consistent and reproducible, while validity ensures that the measurement accurately represents the intended concept or construct being studied.

Question 17

What is the experimenter effect?

Answer 17

The impact the way an experimenter looks/acts has on the outcome of results (body language, clothing, language, etc.)

Example sentence: The experimenter effect can influence participant responses in a study.

Question 18

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 18

Changes in behavior participants exhibit based on what they think the study is about/what the study is trying to measure

Example sentence: Demand characteristics can lead to biased results if not controlled for.

Question 19

What are other confounds that need to be considered when designing/carrying out research?

Answer 19

Factors such as the population being sampled, diversity/similarity, participant’s mood, recent events, etc.

Example sentence: Researchers must carefully consider potential confounding variables in their study design.

Question 20

What are internal and external validity?

Answer 20

Internal validity is the degree to which an independent variable is responsible for results, whereas external validity is the degree to which results can be generalized

How they differ: Internal validity focuses on causality within the study, while external validity focuses on generalizability to other settings or populations.

Question 21

How are internal and external validity related to each other?

Answer 21

Internal and external validity must be balanced to ensure that the study is both specific enough to draw meaningful conclusions and general enough to be applicable to a broader population

Example sentence: Researchers need to consider both internal and external validity when designing experiments.

Question 22

What is a population?

Answer 22

The group of individuals to whom the research results should apply

Example sentence: The population of interest in this study includes all adults aged 18-65.

Question 23

What is a sample?

Answer 23

A subset of the population used as the research group

Example sentence: The sample size for this study was 100 participants randomly selected from the population.

Question 24

How are a population and a sample related?

Answer 24

A sample is a smaller group selected from the larger population to represent the characteristics of the population as a whole

Example sentence: Researchers aim to ensure that the sample is representative of the population of interest.

Question 25

In hypothesis testing, is it technically the null or alternative hypothesis that is being tested?

Answer 25

We test the null hypothesis as it will tell us if there is or isn’t a significant difference between the groups.

Question 26

What are Type I and Type II errors? Which is considered a more serious issue?

Answer 26

Type 1 Errors occur when you reject the null hypothesis even though it is true, which means that the researcher is concluding there is a significant difference between groups when there is no difference. A Type II Error occurs when you fail to reject the null hypothesis even though it is false, which means the researcher says there is no effect when there is one. Type I Errors should be avoided and are a more serious issue as they could make something worse by concluding something exists despite not being there.

Question 27

What is alpha? What is beta? What do they mean in regards to hypothesis testing?

Answer 27

Alpha is the probability of making a Type I Error and it is traditionally 5%. Beta is the probability of making a Type II Error. In regards to hypothesis testing,

Question 28

What is the proper format for an APA style journal article reference in a reference list?

Answer 28

The proper format for a reference includes the authors last name and their initials, the year of the publication, the title of the work, the journal from which it was published, the volume number (followed by issue number if present), and the page numbers. The reference list should be alphabetized by the first author’s last name.

Question 29

What is the review process for getting a journal article published? Who is involved? What does each person do?

Answer 29

When getting a journal article published it goes from the Editor who is the gatekeeper that ensures the article is appropriate for the subject, to the blind review which includes a panel of judges who judge to see if research is up to par regardless of who published it by checking logic/credibility/quality and offering critique, and then it goes to peer review which is conducted by several experts in the field who make recommendations to the editor to accept/revise/reject the journal (this step takes 3 months-over a year and is unpaid).

Question 30

What are the different parts of an APA style scientific paper? What should be written in each part?

Answer 30

APA style features a title page, an abstract, the introduction, methods, results, the discussion, and the references The title page shows the name of the article, the author, and gives insight into where/why the article was published. The abstract offers a brief summary, giving a snapshot of the entire paper including discussion/conclusion, and this section isn’t indented. The introduction offers background/context for the subject, offering isn’t into past research and justifying why you are researching the topic. Methods inform you about the participants, the materials used to produce the study, and the procedures of the study, all in great detail. Results tell you what was found and analyzes data, however this section features no discussion/opinion. The discussion session tells you what the study means, tying the intro and results into a discussion on future directions to take with the information. The reference section shouldn’t be undervalued, and it shouldn’t include any articles that aren’t cited within your paper.

Question 31

When searching for literature, what is the process? How do you search effectively?

Answer 31

When searching for literature you can either do a physical search by checking through different printed journals, or as is much more common today, you can use an online search platform such as Google Scholar, your university library, or those of different organizations like APA. To search effectively, you can you the word OR to broaden results by searching for one of many topics, or you can the word AND to reduce results by searching for many topics in one journal or the word NOT to exclude certain topics from the search results.

Question 32

What are some considerations when citing and referencing other peoples’ work? How should this be done? What should be avoided?

Answer 32

When citing and referencing others work, we must consider the means for plagiarism, which includes paraphrasing. If someone would wonder how we know something, we should cite our source. You should not only cite within the text but also in the reference list, and you should always avoid directly copying others, paraphrasing, and doing anything that you believe could be considered plagiarism.