How Science Works - Cognitive

The measurement obtained by adding up all the scores and dividing by the number of scores is known as the
1. mean
2. median
3. mode
4. range
Counterbalancing is used with the _________ __________ design to help overcome order effects.
1. independent groups.
2. repeated measures
3. matched pairs
4. unrelated groups
Which of the following terms refers to the consistency of a test – a test that produces the same results on different occasions?
1. Validity
2. Counterbalancing
3. Reliability
4. Objectivity
In which one of the following examples would you be using an independent groups
design?
1. You compare 20 boys with 20 girls on a reading test.
2. You test 10 participants on two different IQ tests and compare the results.
3. You investigate whether there is a link between a student’s days off from
  college and their achievement in exams.
4. You give 20 A level students a personality test and then re-test them the following week.
You are conducting an experiment testing memory but some of your participants
have to cope with more noise than others. These ____________variables may affect your results.
1. participant
2. dependent
3. situation
4. experimenter
Which two of the following five statements would be examples of non-directional
(two-tailed) hypotheses?
1. Older people are more forgetful than younger people.
2. People will treat members of their in-group differently from members of an
  out-group.
3. Boys are more aggressive than girls.
4. There will be a difference in levels of obedience between men and women.
5. Recall of a list of words will improve if the list of words is rehearsed.
Which experimental design uses two groups of participants chosen to be similar?
1. Independent measures
2. Repeated measures
3. Matched pairs
4. Correlation
How well a study represents a natural situation is known as
1. demand characteristics
2. experimenter effects
3. ecological validity
4. reliability
Hassan does not want his participants to guess the purpose of his investigation. What feature is Hassan trying to avoid?
1. Demand characteristics
2. Order effects
3. Counterbalancing
4. Randomisation
Situational variables are present in most experiments. Which one of the following
statements is about a situational variable?
1. Zeeshan is affected by noise in the classroom.
2. Sahir is feeling tired and cannot concentrate.
3. Alison is angry as she has had no coffee this morning.
4. Tom feels he is too old for the study.
Zubair is behaving badly in his Psychology class because he is distracted by the two boys he sits with. His psychology teacher wants to test whether moving Zubair onto another table would have an effect.
Identify the independent variable (IV) in the teacher’s experiment.
1. Behaving badly in his Psychology class.
2. Behaving well in his Psychology class.
3. The psychology teacher’s influence.
4. Whether he is on a different table or not.
Which one of the following statements would be an example of a directional
(one-tailed) hypothesis?
1. Smoking affects the chances of getting lung cancer.
2. Individuals are more likely to conform when in groups of five than in pairs.
3. There is a difference in map reading skills between parents and their children.
4. Students’ concentration levels are different on a Monday and a Friday.
The measurement that has as many scores above it as below it is known as the
1. mean
2. mode
3. median
4. range
Practice and _______ effects are examples of order effect
1. demand
2. fatigue
3. experimenter
4. interview
When you are writing a hypothesis for a study your teacher asks you to define your variables so they can be precisely measured. What is this process known as?
1. Experimenter effects
2. Randomisation
3. Operationalisation
4. Order effects
In ______ _______ designs the same participants are used in both conditions.
1. cross-sectional
2. independent groups
3. matched pairs
4. repeated measures
The hypothesis which states there is no effect except that which occurs by chance is the __________ hypothesis.
1. experimental
2. alternate (alternative)
3. null
4. directional
One measure of dispersion is the range. The usual way to calculate this is by
1. adding up all the scores and dividing by the number of scores
2. taking away the lowest score from the highest score.
3. putting all the scores in order and picking the middle one.
4. looking for the most frequent score.
Two researchers wanted to find out how hosting the Olympics would affect the
country. One of the researchers is a large, muscular man and the other is a small, softly spoken woman. These ________ effects may influence how the participants respond.
1. experimenter/investigator
2. order
3. participant/subject
4. situational
Which one of the following statements best illustrates validity?
1. Jade thinks she is very intelligent but her teachers disagree.
2. Simon took a personality test and his family agreed with the results.
3. Rose finds that she revises best with music playing.
4. Rachel took her personality test twice and got the same score both times.
Experiments can have an experimental condition and a control condition. Why is a control condition needed?
1. To rule out the influence of confounding variables.
2. To practise the experiment on.
3. To use as a comparison with the experimental condition.
4. To balance the conditions so they are equal.
Lizzie believes that her colleague Somaya does not have the training to deal
professionally with her research. Which ethical guideline is most likely to concern
Lizzie?
1. Informed consent
2. Deception
3. Right to withdraw
4. Competence