Research Methods

425611-1
1. In what sense is psychology both a science and a profession?
2. Distinguish between basic and applied research. In what ways are basic and applied research interdependent?
3. In what way is the study of research methods valuable to student like you?
4. What are the properties of a good theory?
5. Distinguish among descriptive, correlational, experimental, and quasi-experimental research.
6. Tell what researchers study on each of the following fields:
a. Developmental psychology
b. Experimental psychology
c. Organizational psychology
d. Social psychology
e. Cognitive psychology
f. Personality psychology
g. Family studies
h. Interpersonal communication
i. Psychophysiology
j. School psychology
1-2
1. Why do researchers care how much variability exists in a set of date?
2. Distinguish between descriptive and inferential statistics.
3. Conceptually, what does the variance tell us about a set of data?
4. The total variance in a set of scores can be partitioned into two components. What are they and how do they differ?
5. What would the proportion of total variance that is systematic variance indicate if it were .25? 00? .98?
6. If the proportion of systematic variance to total variance is .08, would you characterize the relationship as small, medium, or large? What if the proportion were .72? .00?
1-3
1. Distinguish among observational, physiological, and self-report measures.
2. Distinguish among nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales of measurement. Why do researchers prefer to use measures that are on interval and ratio scales when possible?
3. What does the reliability of a measure indicated if it is .40? .00? 1.00? .70?
4. For each measurement procedure be valid but not reliable? Reliable but not valid? Explain.
5. For each measure in the following list, indicate whether it is measured and on a nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio scale of measurement.
a. Body temperature
b. Sexual orientation
c. The number of times that a baby smiles in 5 minutes
d. The order in which 160 runners finish a race
e. The number of books on a professor’s shelf
f. Ratings of happiness on a scale from 1 to 7
g. Religious preference
6. Some scientists in the physical sciences (such as physics and chemistry) argue that hypothetical constructs are not scientific constructs are not scientific because they cannot be observed directly. Do you agree or disagree with this position? Why?
1-4
1. What is the right of informed consent?
2. Distinguish among the four types of temporal measures-reaction time, task completion time, interbehavior latency, and duration-and give three examples of when each might be used in research.
3. What are some ways that you can increase the interrater reliability of observational methods?
4. Which of the three response formats would be most useful in obtaining the following information?
a. To ask whether the respondent’s maternal grandfather is still living
b. To measure the degree to which participants like another person with whom they had just interacted
c. Find out whether the participant was single, married, divorced, or widowed
d. To find out how happy the participants felt
e. To ask participants to describe why a recent romantic breakup had occurred