Psychology Degree Research Methods and Ethics Questions and Answers

Question 1

A psychologist tells participants they are taking part in a study on visual perception. In reality, the study is measuring conformity by observing how participants react to a group of confederates giving obviously incorrect answers. According to APA ethical guidelines, what is the most critical procedure the psychologist must perform after the participant completes the task?

Accepted Answer

Provide a detailed debriefing explaining the deception.

Answer

When deception is used in research, it is an ethical mandate to conduct a debriefing as soon as is feasible. The debriefing involves explaining the true purpose of the study, revealing the nature of the deception, and correcting any misconceptions the participant may have.

Question 2

A researcher is concerned that the observed effects in their experiment might be due to a factor other than the independent variable, such as the time of day the experiment was run. This concern relates directly to the study's:

Accepted Answer

Internal validity

Answer

Internal validity refers to the degree of confidence that the causal relationship being tested is trustworthy and not influenced by other factors or variables. A threat to internal validity exists if an extraneous factor (a confounding variable), like the time of day, could plausibly explain the results instead of the manipulated independent variable.

Question 3

A study finds a strong positive correlation (r = +0.85) between the number of books in a child's home and their scores on a standardized reading test. Based solely on this result, which of the following is the only scientifically justified conclusion?

Accepted Answer

As the number of books in the home increases, reading test scores tend to increase.

Answer

A correlation describes a statistical association between variables, but it does not prove causation. The only valid conclusion from the correlation is that the two variables tend to change together in the same direction. Inferring a cause-and-effect relationship (options A and B) or assuming a specific third variable (option D) without further experimental evidence is not justified.

Question 4

A market researcher is analyzing the annual income of 100 residents in a small town. The data includes one billionaire who recently moved in. In this situation, which of the following would be the most appropriate measure of central tendency to describe the 'typical' resident's income?

Accepted Answer

Median

Answer

The mean (average) is highly sensitive to extreme outliers, and the billionaire's income would drastically inflate it, providing a misleading picture of the typical income. The median, which is the middle value in a sorted dataset, is robust against outliers and would provide a more accurate representation of the central tendency of the majority of residents.

Question 5

A cognitive psychologist designs an experiment to test the effect of a new memory-enhancing drug on recall ability. One group receives the drug, while a control group receives a placebo. The psychologist then measures the number of words each participant correctly recalls from a list. In this experiment, what is the dependent variable?

Accepted Answer

The number of words correctly recalled.

Answer

The dependent variable is the outcome that the researcher measures to see if it is affected by the independent variable. In this case, the psychologist is measuring the recall scores, which are believed to *depend* on whether the participant took the drug or the placebo.

Psychology Degree Practice Test

Psychology Degree Practice Test

Psychology Degree Research Methods and Ethics Questions and Answers