Question 1

Which of the following best illustrates the importance of good research design in psychology, as demonstrated by the case of facilitated communication?

Accepted Answer

It reveals that without controlled studies, people may accept ineffective or harmful practices.

Question 2

A researcher wants to study the effect of a new therapy on anxiety. She randomly assigns participants to receive either the therapy or no treatment, then measures anxiety levels after two months. What type of research design is this?

Accepted Answer

Experimental design

Question 3

Which of the following is a confounding variable in an experiment testing the effect of a drug, if the experimental group also receives therapy while the control group does not?

Accepted Answer

The therapy received only by the experimental group

Question 4

What is the main difference between random selection and random assignment in psychological research?

Accepted Answer

Random selection refers to how participants are chosen from the population, while random assignment refers to how participants are placed into groups within the study.

Question 5

A psychologist finds a correlation coefficient of $$r = -0.85$$ between stress and sleep quality. What does this indicate?

Accepted Answer

There is a strong negative relationship: as stress increases, sleep quality decreases.

Question 6

Which of the following is a limitation of naturalistic observation?

Accepted Answer

It does not allow researchers to infer causation.

Question 7

A researcher uses a self-report survey to measure attitudes toward exercise. Which of the following is a potential disadvantage of this method?

Accepted Answer

Participants may not answer honestly, leading to skewed data.

Question 8

Which of the following best describes the placebo effect?

Accepted Answer

Improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement, not the treatment itself.

Question 9

In a dataset: 2, 2, 2, 2, 12, what is the mean, median, and mode?

Accepted Answer

Mean: $$4$$, Median: $$2$$, Mode: $$2$$

Question 10

Which of the following is necessary for a measure to be valid?

Accepted Answer

It must be reliable.

Question 11

A researcher finds that ice cream sales and drowning incidents are positively correlated. What is the most accurate interpretation?

Accepted Answer

A third variable, such as temperature, may be responsible for both.

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of a heuristic in psychological research?

Accepted Answer

A mental shortcut that helps reduce cognitive effort but may oversimplify reality.

Question 13

Why is replicability important in psychological research?

Accepted Answer

It allows findings to be duplicated and increases confidence in results.

Question 14

Which ethical principle requires researchers to inform participants about what is involved in a study and ask for their agreement to participate?

Accepted Answer

Informed consent

Question 15

A study finds a statistically significant result with $$p \u003c 0.05. $$What does this mean?

Accepted Answer

The result is unlikely to have occurred by chance alone.

Question 16

Which of the following is a disadvantage of case studies in psychological research?

Accepted Answer

They are usually anecdotal and may not generalize.

Question 17

A researcher wants to know if personality traits influence political voting. What is the independent variable in this study?

Accepted Answer

Personality traits

Question 18

Which of the following best describes the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics?

Accepted Answer

Descriptive statistics summarize data; inferential statistics allow us to generalize findings to a larger population.

Question 19

Which of the following is an example of the expectancy effect in psychological research?

Accepted Answer

Participants improve simply because they expect to do so.

Question 20

Why is it important for psychological research to undergo peer review before publication?

Accepted Answer

Peer review helps identify and correct flaws, improving the quality and reliability of research.

Research Methods in Psychology: Safeguards Against Error

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