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Variables and Scales of Measurement
Practice Study
Ethics and Experimental Design
Reliability and Validity
Wildcard
100
What is being measured in an experiment?
What is the dependent variable
100
A researcher conducts a study to examine the effect of eating chocolate on happiness. Come up with a hypothesis that could be tested using an experiment.
Answers will vary. An example is, the more chocolate a person eats, the happier they will be.
100
In what type of study will informed consent not be obtained?
A naturalistic or observational study
100
What is external validity?
How well your study can be generalized to the overall larger population.
100
What is the desired number an experimenter aims to obtain when testing reliability of a scale of measurement?
Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) must reach .70
200
What is being manipulated in an experiment?
What is the independent variable
200
Identify the IV and DV
IV: amount of chocolate eaten DV: happiness
200
What is the change that the researcher makes in an experiment?
Experimental manipulation.
200
What is criterion validity?
The degree to which your measure correlates with pre-existing measures of the same concept. 1. Predictive validity: take your measure and the extent to which it correlates to something that is measured later. Example: take the SAT now to predict grades in college 2. Concurrent validity: when you're taking two measures at the same time and see how closely measured they are.
200
What are qualities of a normal distribution?
1. Symmetrical 2. Mean = Median = Mode 3. End points never reach the x-axis
300
What is the dependent variable in the following study: A psychologist is testing to see if wearing name tags makes people happier with their work
What is the happiness of the workers
300
How could you operationally define the levels of the IV and the DV?
Answers will vary. IV: High Amounts: a person who eats 6 pieces of chocolate a day Low Amounts: a person who eats 2 pieces of chocolate a day No Amounts: a person who eats no chocolate a day DV: How frequently a person smiles in a day
300
What is the process of sorting participants into different groups? It establishes validity.
Random assignment.
300
What is test-retest reliability?
Giving people the same test on different occasions and seeing if the results are the same. * Unless you have done anything to manipulate or change the participants, you would want the results to be the same.
300
What are qualities of a skewed distribution?
1. Scores are clumped at one end of the distribution a. Positively skewed distributions is where the tail is pointing towards the high end. b. Negatively skewed distributions is where the tail is pointing towards the low end. 2. When a distribution is skewed enough, instead of the mean and SD, you report the mean and the min/max
400
Write items for a paper and pencil survey on the topic of how safe it is to talk on a cell phone while driving that represent the following two scales of measurement: Ordinal and Nominal. Write them as a participant would see them.
Answers will vary. Ordinal: Rank in order, 1-4 (1= least safe, 2= moderately unsafe, 3= moderately safe, 4=most safe) how safe you feel these items are: 1. No distraction while driving 2. Talking on a cell phone while driving 3. Talking to a passenger while driving 4. Eating while driving Nominal: Do you think it is safe to talk on a cell phone while driving? Yes or No
400
You decide you need to get some information about how many ounces of chocolate, on average, participants consume daily. You collect the following data: 0, .5, .5, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 8. What type of measurement scale is this? Explain the characteristics of the scale that helped you to identify the measurement scale.
Ratio, because it has variables that are on a scale with equal intervals between each but it also has a true zero.
400
Choose one on the following ethical procedures: informed consent, debriefing or maintaining confidentiality. Of the one you choose, explain what it means and why it is important.
Answers will vary.
400
What is the relationship between validity and reliability?
1. You can have reliability without validity. Example: Want to do an intelligence test so measure height of participants; this is reliable but it lacks construct validity 2. You cannot have validity without reliability.
400
Write the reference for this article in APA format: 1. Passenger and Cell Phone Conversations in Simulated Driving 2. Frank A. Drews, Monisha Pasipathi and David L. Strayer 3. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 4. 2008, Vol. 14, No. 4, 392-400 5. Copyright 2008 by the American Psychological Association 6. DOI: 10.1037/a0013119
Drews, F., Pasupathy, M., & Strayer, D. (2008). Passenger and cell phone conversations in simulated driving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 14, 392- 400. DOI: 10.1037/a0013119 *Journal Name and the 14 are in italics
500
Write items for a paper and pencil survey on the topic of how safe it is to talk on a cell phone while driving that represent the following two scales of measurement: Interval and Ratio. Write them as a participant would see them.
Answers will vary. Interval: One a scale from 1-5, rate if you think it is safe to talk on a cell phone while driving 1 2 3 4 5 Ratio: On average, how frequently do you talk on the phone while driving each day? 0 1 2 3 4 5
500
Graph this distribution. Include labels for each axis and title the graph.
Graph must be positively skewed and appropriately labeled.
500
The Milgram Study included in it many components that would be considered ethical issues today. Identify at least two of these issues and provide one purpose or rationale for the study.
1.Ethical Issues: a. Did not state that participants could leave at any time b. Deception 2. Rationale: After WWII and how many people listened to Hitler despite his harsh commands, psychologists were very interested in concepts of command and obedience and compliance with authority.
500
A woman is at a party. For the first hour, she is wearing red lipstick and for the second hour, she is wearing pink lipstick. The independent variable is the color lipstick and the dependent variable is how many men flirt with her. Two different researchers are observing the woman and keeping track of the number of men who flirt with her. What type of reliability would have to be high to obtain consistent results in terms of the number of men?
Inter-rater Reliability: relevant when doing a study that utilizes some type of observation and those who are collecting/recording the data are doing it the same way. *Increase the operational definition, in this case, of flirting, to increase reliability of observed numbers.
500
What is the difference between random selection (or random sampling) and random assignment?
1. Random sampling: The process in which you use to obtain your participants, whether it be random stratified sampling, etc. 2. Random assignment: Placing your participants into subgroups in your study after they are recruited and ensuring they all have equal chance of being in each subgroup.