Practice exam questions Flashcards
Dr Zumbahlen is conducting a research study in which she is interested in the effects of aerobic activity on weight loss. Aerobic activity is defined as 30 minutes of exercise on the treadmill three times a week. This specific way of defining aerobic activity is referred to as a(n) __________ definition.
- experimental
- construct
- operational
- empirical
Operational
A noted psychologist and environmentalist, Dr Pigeon, has received a grant to study older persons’ bird-feeding behaviour in public parks. Dr Pigeon has research assistants sit in public parks to unobtrusively collect the data. Dr Pigeon has chosen a __________ research method.
- Controlled experiment
- Naturalistic observation
- Case study
- Survey
Naturalistic observation
Surveys are able to address the problems associated with __________, which are inherent in case studies.
- small sampling sizes
- the lack of control groups
- the lack of experimental groups
- confounds
Small sampling sizes
A psychologist is looking for a link between aggressive behaviour and television violence. She measures the frequency of fighting and television-viewing habits of many 12-year-old children. The psychologist concludes that children who watch more violent programming also get into fights more often.
This is an example of:
- case study
- a survey
- correlational research
- experimental research
Correlational research
A researcher was interested in determining whether test performance of students could be improved by providing them with individual tutoring. The researcher randomly divided 50 first-year university students into two groups. In Group A the instructor lectured to them for three hours per week. Group B received an equal amount of lecturing, but their instructor also met with each student for 30 minutes every week. Each group took the same final exam. The test performance of students in Group B was about the same as that of students in Group A. This study is an example of a(n):
- correlational study
- case study
- experiment
- survey
Experiment
An experimenter who conducts a study under highly controlled conditions often reduces the:
- scientific value of the results
- extent to which conclusions drawn from the results can be applied to populations or situations outside of the experimental conditions
- likelihood that the research hypothesis will be confirmed by the results
- strength of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables
Extent to which conclusions drawn from the results can be applied to populations or situations outside of the experimental conditions
Franz is conducting an experiment to study the effects of wearing heavy clothing on weight-lifting performance. He gives Group A heavy sweatshirts and lets Group B wear whatever they wish. He measures the amount of weight they can lift after the workout. Group B is the __________ group.
- experimental
- control
- dependent
- independent
Control
Dr Dalbey is studying the effects of fatigue on aggression. He hypothesises that the more fatigue a person is experiencing, the more aggressively the person will behave. Unbeknownst to Dr Dalbey, the participants’ level of hunger also had an impact on their aggression. Hunger could thus be a(n) __________ variable.
- Independent
- dependent
- confounding
- intervening
Confounding
The best shading to use to distinguish two sets of bars is:
- No shading (open) and black (solid)
- light grey and dark grey
- red and blue
- vertical and horizontal stripes
No shading (open) and black (solid)
Which of the following is the conventional layout of independent and dependent variables on a figure?
- The independent variable on the horizontal (x) axis and the dependent variable on the vertical (y) axis.
- The independent variable on the vertical (y) axis and the dependent variable on the horizontal (x) axis
- The independent variable on the vertical (y) axis and the dependent variable as separate lines or bars.
- The dependent variable is usually on the vertical (y) axis and the independent variable is represented by different colours.
The independent variable on the horizontal (x) axis and the dependent variable on the vertical (y) axis.
Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky viewed the human mind as a product of:
- genetic influence
- cultural history
- self-awareness
- physical maturation
Cultural history
Jean Piaget explained that people form generalisations as they experience the world, which help them to organise past experiences and provide a framework for understanding future experiences. These generalisations are called:
- scripts
- periods
- schemas
- stages
schemas
