FREE Psychology Degree Psychological Research Methods Questions and Answers

Question 1

A researcher wants to test the effect of a new mindfulness app on anxiety levels.
They randomly assign participants to two groups: one uses the app for 15 minutes daily, and the other does not.
They measure anxiety levels before and after the two-week period.
What is the independent variable in this study?

Accepted Answer

The use of the mindfulness app.

Answer

The final anxiety levels of the participants.

Answer

The two-week duration of the study.

Answer

The initial anxiety levels of the participants.

Question 2

Which of the following is the most significant threat to the internal validity of a quasi-experimental design?

Accepted Answer

The absence of random assignment to conditions.

Answer

The difficulty in operationalizing the dependent variable.

Answer

Low statistical power to detect an effect.

Answer

The inability to generalize findings to a larger population.

Question 3

A psychologist develops a new 10-item questionnaire to measure self-esteem. They administer it to the same group of individuals on two separate occasions, one month apart, and then calculate the correlation between the two sets of scores. This procedure is an example of assessing which type of reliability?

Accepted Answer

Test-retest reliability

Answer

Inter-rater reliability

Answer

Internal consistency

Answer

Split-half reliability

Question 4

In inferential statistics, what does a p-value represent?

Accepted Answer

The probability of obtaining the observed results, or more extreme results, if the null hypothesis were true.

Answer

The probability that the research hypothesis is true.

Answer

The size of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Answer

The probability that the results were obtained due to random sampling error.

Question 5

A researcher is conducting a study on the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance. Participants are required to stay awake for 36 hours in a controlled lab setting. According to APA ethical guidelines, what is the MOST crucial step the researcher must take before the study begins?

Accepted Answer

Obtain informed consent from all participants.

Answer

Provide a full debriefing of the study's true purpose.

Answer

Obtain approval from the university's financial department.

Answer

Securely store the data using encryption.

Question 6

An investigator observes children on a playground and records the frequency of aggressive behaviors. To prevent their own expectations from influencing how they interpret and record the behaviors, they use a detailed checklist of specific actions (e.g., 'pushes another child,' 'takes a toy without asking'). This strategy is primarily intended to minimize which type of bias?

Accepted Answer

Observer bias

Answer

Sampling bias

Answer

The placebo effect

Answer

Demand characteristics