Experimental Methods - Exam 1

Ch. 1 Philosophies of Science

100

A researchers wishes to understand the minimum effective “dose” of mindfulness meditation needed for positive psychological effects. In her experiment, she first measures participants baseline depression scores before randomly assigning them to 3 groups: 10-minutes of meditation per day, 1 hour of meditation per day, and a control group that just sits silently. She then measures their depression scores after 2 weeks and again at one month. Identify the independent variable and the dependent variable of this study.

IV: Meditation-time DV: Depression scores

200

Dr. A is a cognitive psychologist studying human memory and problem-solving in her laboratory. Dr. B, an educational psychologist, draws on A's work in his research to improve academic outcomes for students with learning disabilities. Dr. B’s research can be described as more __________ than Dr. A’s.

Applied

300

Your textbook discusses several terms that characterize strong scientific theories. Name one and explain what it means.

Precision: a scientific theory avoids ambiguity, carefully defines terms, and accounts for alternative explanations Testability: The phenomenon could possibly be disproven Accuracy: hypotheses from the theory have been supported by evidence

400

Define deductive and inductive reasoning (hint: they are opposites)

DEDUCTIVE: Theory → hypothesis → gather evidence to assess support INDUCTIVE: Observations made first → formulate theory

500

Define the three essential characteristics of science.

(1) Systematic Empiricism: Developing knowledge by systematically making observations and conducting experiments. (2) Scientific Knowledge is Publicly Verifiable: scientific findings can be replicated and open to scrutiny (peer review) (3) Science Addresses Solvable Problems. Science can deal only with ideas that can be tested. Questions that can’t be answered using the scientific method are rejected as unscientific.

Ch. 2 Ethics

100

What is the Institutional Review Board (IRB)

A committee that reviews proposals for research with human participants and assess the ethicality of research and potential for risk to the participants

200

Name at least two safeguards against ethical violations in research

IRB, Informed Consent, Debriefing, Peer Review, Institutions, Individuals in institution

300

What ethical guidelines were violated when cancer researchers used Henrietta Lacks’ cells after she died?

Consent and privacy (for both her and her family); Respect as a Belmont Principle is also an acceptable answer, as this includes both consent and privacy

400

A psychiatrist is interested in how opiate prescriptions lead to severe addiction. In order to maximize internal validity, he wishes to randomly assign healthy participants to take low, medium, and high doses of opiates twice a day for a year. The IRB denies his proposal on the grounds of which of the three Belmont Principles? Name and define it.

Beneficence (Minimize harms and risks; maximize benefits)

500

2-Part Question: (1) How is anonymous data different than confidential data? (2) What is the major benefit of anonymous data and what is the major drawback?

(1) ANONYMOUS: Personally identifying information is not linked to participants’ responses/the researcher does not know who participant is. CONFIDENTIAL: Data that is potentially identifiable is secured and access is limited. (2) Keeping data anonymous minimizes ethical risks (+), but limits researchers from collecting variables that may yield important findings (-).

Ch. 3

100

Give an example of a negative correlation (doesn’t have to be real)

Shows understanding that a negative correlation is a covarying relationship between a variable the increases as the other decreases

200

Name and define a common confound

Experimenter effect (e.g., differences in how multiple experimenters implement tasks) Experimenter bias (confound caused by experimenter’s expectations) Demand characteristics (cues inadvertently provided by the researcher, research materials, or research setting that give participants information about purpose of study)

300

Two-part Q: (1) What is the strongest kind of research claim? (2) What kind of study/method is required to make one of these claims?

(1) Causal (2) Experiment (or IV manipulation)

400

Provide a conceptual definition for homophobia OR happiness (pick one) and then operationalize it for a hypothetical research study.

CONCEPTUAL: Disdain for /prejudice against homosexual people. OPERATIONAL: e.g., scores on a homophobia questionnaire, eye-contact with a homosexual confederate, scores on an IAT, found guilty of committing a homophobic hate crime,...etc.

500

We know that the majority of individuals diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are diagnosed with an additional disorder (e.g., anxiety). However, antidepressant research tends to recruit patients with depression only. How might this decision maximize internal validity and minimize external validity?

Shows understanding that recruiting a sample with uniform psychopathology allows researchers to test that the medication (IV) works on depression as a singular disorder (DV). External validity is compromised because the degree to which the findings are generalizable to “real-world” depressed individuals (i.e., people with comorbidities) is unknown.