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

Obtain a waiver of consent from the IRB.

Answer

Pay the participant an agreed-upon amount for their time.

Answer

Ensure all collected data remains anonymous.

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

External validity

Answer

Inter-rater reliability

Answer

Construct validity

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

Having more books in the home causes children to become better readers.

Answer

Children who are better readers cause their parents to buy more books.

Answer

A third factor, such as parental socioeconomic status, causes both the number of books and the high reading scores.

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

Mean

Answer

Mode

Answer

Range

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 type of pill administered (drug or placebo).

Answer

The participants' pre-existing memory ability.

Answer

The difficulty of the word list.

Question 6

What is the primary purpose of using a double-blind research design in a clinical trial for a new medication?

Accepted Answer

To minimize the effects of both participant expectations and experimenter bias.

Answer

To ensure the sample is representative of the general population.

Answer

To satisfy the ethical requirement of informed consent before the study begins.

Answer

To increase the statistical power of the data analysis.