CORRELATIVE ANALYSIS OF SELF ESTEEM TOWARDS THE ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS, Schemes and Mind Maps of
Research Methods in Psychology
-.30 - ANSA recent study with 3,000 participants reported a fairly powerful negative correlation
between the number of class absences by college students and their GPAs. According to
recent guidelines for interpreting the magnitude of effect sizes, what r value was most likely
to have been reported in this study?
0.44, positive, greater, IQ - ANSThe beta of _______ suggests that the relationship between the
number of absences and grades is _______ in that a(n) _______ number of absences is associated
with higher grades when the study controls for _______.
A third-variable problem - ANSWan notices that more graffiti appears when there are more ice
cream trucks in town. She does a study that measures the frequency of new graffiti being
reported and ice cream truck sales for each week over a year. She finds a positive association
between ice cream truck sales and new graffiti, and she concludes that the ice cream trucks
are encouraging graffiti. Her friend, Zizi, points out that both ice cream sales and graffiti might
be influenced by rising temperatures during the summer.
What kind of problem has Zizi identified?
Applicable: negative
unusually large
categorical
statistically significant
Not applicable: positive
moderate
not statistically significant - ANSLeonor recently collected survey data and was curious about
the association claim between gender and symptoms of mental illness. She found the
following correlation between the two variables: r = −.47, 95% CI [−.59, −.35].
Identify the terms as either applicable or not applicable to this correlation.
Applicable: positive
not statistically significant
weak
Not applicable: negative
statistically significant
categorical
moderate - ANSRecently, researchers wanted to test the relationship between hours of
exposure to violent video games and the number of real-life criminal behaviors. They found the
following correlation between the two variables: r = .11, 95% CI [−.04, .26].
Identify the terms as either applicable or not applicable to this correlation.
Autocorrelation
Cross-lag correlation
Cross-sectional correlation - ANSIva is studying whether eating meals in the cafeteria is linked
to weight gain during the first year of college. She asks all the incoming first-year students
about their weights and the number of cafeteria meals they eat each week in the fall, and then
she collects the weights and number of cafeteria meals per week from them again at the end
of the spring term.
Identify the type of correlation that Iva should examine for each goal.
Iva wants to find out whether weight in the fall is correlated with weight in the spring.
,CORRELATIVE ANALYSIS OF SELF ESTEEM TOWARDS THE ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS, Schemes and Mind Maps of
Research Methods in Psychology
Iva wants to find out whether weight in the fall is correlated with the number of cafeteria uses
in the spring.
Iva wants to find out whether the number of cafeteria uses in the spring is correlated with
weight in the spring.
Correct: Self-esteem is a significant predictor of mental distress.
Body dissatisfaction is a significant predictor of mental distress.
Incorrect: The measurement of self-esteem comes before the measurement of body
dissatisfaction.
Body dissatisfaction and mental distress are correlated with each other only because each
one is correlated separately with self-esteem. - ANSJoão is investigating the relationship
between body dissatisfaction as a predictor variable and mental distress as the criterion
variable. He suspects that self-esteem may mediate the relationship between these two
variables.
Which of the following statements would need to be true in order to establish that self-esteem
is a mediator in the relationship between body dissatisfaction and mental distress?
Correct: The amount of time spent with friends presents a third-variable problem.
The beta for social media use will have a 95% CI containing zero.
Incorrect: The amount of time spent with friends is not associated with social media use.
The amount of time spent with friends predicts social media use after DeAndre controls for
the other variables. - ANSDeAndre is studying whether social media use predicts feelings of
loneliness, and he finds that there is a positive relationship between the two variables.
However, he finds after controlling for the amount of time spent with friends that social media
use is no longer associated with feelings of loneliness.
Identify the correct and incorrect interpretations of DeAndre's finding.
Could outliers be affecting the relationship? - ANSFor her psychology class, Ezra is making a
scatterplot of the digit spans (how many numbers you can remember and repeat back), with
participants' memory for digits they read on the x-axis and participants' memory for digits they
hear on the y-axis. The association is strong, but Ezra notices that one participant has a visual
digit memory that is twice as long as anyone else's.
What question about statistical validity is Ezra raising?
Covariance - ANSWhich of the three causal criteria is usually established in a bivariate
correlational study with a statistically significant association?
Cross-sectional correlation
Autocorrelation
Cross-lag correlation - ANSProfessor Horvat designs a study to assess the work satisfaction
and home-life satisfaction of a group of graduate students. She administers the same
measures of work and home-life satisfaction on two occasions, 1 year apart.
Label each correlation that Professor Horvat discovers with the type of correlation it
represents.
-At the first time point there is a strong correlation between work satisfaction and home-life
satisfaction.
-Job satisfaction at the first time point is correlated with job satisfaction at the second time
point.
, CORRELATIVE ANALYSIS OF SELF ESTEEM TOWARDS THE ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS, Schemes and Mind Maps of
Research Methods in Psychology
-Home-life satisfaction at the first time point is strongly correlated with job satisfaction at the
second time point.
Cross-sectional correlation, autocorrelation, cross-lag correlation, longitudinal - ANSIn a(n)
_______, two variables measured at the same time are associated. If an earlier measure of a
variable is associated with a later measure of the same variable, a(n) _______ occurs. In a(n)
_______, an earlier measure of one variable is associated with a later measure of a different
variable. These three types of correlations are usually found in _______ designs.
Curvilinear - ANSThe Yerkes-Dodson law (1908) shows that performance increases with
arousal up to a point, but beyond that, performance decreases as arousal increases. Which
type of association is this?
Curvilinear association - ANSJosé is investigating the relationship between exam anxiety and
exam grades. He collects students' ratings of their own anxiety before an exam, and then he
collects their exam scores afterward. When he calculates the correlation, he finds no
relationship.
José plots his data on this scatterplot and sees that both students who had no anxiety and
students who had lots of anxiety performed poorly on exams—but students who reported
moderate anxiety did very well.
What issue is most likely affecting José's results?
Effect size, r value, 95% CI - ANSThe term _______ describes the strength of an association
between variables, and in correlations it is typically captured by a(n) _______. The precision of
the correlation estimate is captured by a(n) _______.
Established: construct validity
statistical validity
external validity
Not established: internal validity - ANSFabiola wants to examine whether exercise leads to
greater satisfaction in life among senior citizens in Alabama. She randomly selects five
retirement homes in Alabama and recruits all of the seniors living in the five homes. In May,
she measures participants' hours of exercise per week and gives them a validated scale
assessing satisfaction in life. The next year, she measures their hours of exercise per week
and satisfaction with life again. This figure depicts the results of Fabiola's study.
Identify the validities that are reasonably established in this study.
Established: covariance
temporal precedence
Not established: internal validity - ANSProfessor Horvat designs a study to assess the work
satisfaction and home-life satisfaction of a group of graduate students. She administers the
same measures of work and home-life satisfaction on two occasions, 1 year apart.
Suppose she finds that home-life satisfaction at the first time point is strongly correlated with
job satisfaction at the second time point, but there is no correlation between job satisfaction
at the first time point and home-life satisfaction at the second time point.
Which of the following three criteria for causation are established in Professor Horvat's study?
Established: covariance
temporal precedence
ENGAGEMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS, Schemes and Mind Maps of
Research Methods in Psychology
-.30 - ANSA recent study with 3,000 participants reported a fairly powerful negative correlation
between the number of class absences by college students and their GPAs. According to
recent guidelines for interpreting the magnitude of effect sizes, what r value was most likely
to have been reported in this study?
0.44, positive, greater, IQ - ANSThe beta of _______ suggests that the relationship between the
number of absences and grades is _______ in that a(n) _______ number of absences is associated
with higher grades when the study controls for _______.
A third-variable problem - ANSWan notices that more graffiti appears when there are more ice
cream trucks in town. She does a study that measures the frequency of new graffiti being
reported and ice cream truck sales for each week over a year. She finds a positive association
between ice cream truck sales and new graffiti, and she concludes that the ice cream trucks
are encouraging graffiti. Her friend, Zizi, points out that both ice cream sales and graffiti might
be influenced by rising temperatures during the summer.
What kind of problem has Zizi identified?
Applicable: negative
unusually large
categorical
statistically significant
Not applicable: positive
moderate
not statistically significant - ANSLeonor recently collected survey data and was curious about
the association claim between gender and symptoms of mental illness. She found the
following correlation between the two variables: r = −.47, 95% CI [−.59, −.35].
Identify the terms as either applicable or not applicable to this correlation.
Applicable: positive
not statistically significant
weak
Not applicable: negative
statistically significant
categorical
moderate - ANSRecently, researchers wanted to test the relationship between hours of
exposure to violent video games and the number of real-life criminal behaviors. They found the
following correlation between the two variables: r = .11, 95% CI [−.04, .26].
Identify the terms as either applicable or not applicable to this correlation.
Autocorrelation
Cross-lag correlation
Cross-sectional correlation - ANSIva is studying whether eating meals in the cafeteria is linked
to weight gain during the first year of college. She asks all the incoming first-year students
about their weights and the number of cafeteria meals they eat each week in the fall, and then
she collects the weights and number of cafeteria meals per week from them again at the end
of the spring term.
Identify the type of correlation that Iva should examine for each goal.
Iva wants to find out whether weight in the fall is correlated with weight in the spring.
,CORRELATIVE ANALYSIS OF SELF ESTEEM TOWARDS THE ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS, Schemes and Mind Maps of
Research Methods in Psychology
Iva wants to find out whether weight in the fall is correlated with the number of cafeteria uses
in the spring.
Iva wants to find out whether the number of cafeteria uses in the spring is correlated with
weight in the spring.
Correct: Self-esteem is a significant predictor of mental distress.
Body dissatisfaction is a significant predictor of mental distress.
Incorrect: The measurement of self-esteem comes before the measurement of body
dissatisfaction.
Body dissatisfaction and mental distress are correlated with each other only because each
one is correlated separately with self-esteem. - ANSJoão is investigating the relationship
between body dissatisfaction as a predictor variable and mental distress as the criterion
variable. He suspects that self-esteem may mediate the relationship between these two
variables.
Which of the following statements would need to be true in order to establish that self-esteem
is a mediator in the relationship between body dissatisfaction and mental distress?
Correct: The amount of time spent with friends presents a third-variable problem.
The beta for social media use will have a 95% CI containing zero.
Incorrect: The amount of time spent with friends is not associated with social media use.
The amount of time spent with friends predicts social media use after DeAndre controls for
the other variables. - ANSDeAndre is studying whether social media use predicts feelings of
loneliness, and he finds that there is a positive relationship between the two variables.
However, he finds after controlling for the amount of time spent with friends that social media
use is no longer associated with feelings of loneliness.
Identify the correct and incorrect interpretations of DeAndre's finding.
Could outliers be affecting the relationship? - ANSFor her psychology class, Ezra is making a
scatterplot of the digit spans (how many numbers you can remember and repeat back), with
participants' memory for digits they read on the x-axis and participants' memory for digits they
hear on the y-axis. The association is strong, but Ezra notices that one participant has a visual
digit memory that is twice as long as anyone else's.
What question about statistical validity is Ezra raising?
Covariance - ANSWhich of the three causal criteria is usually established in a bivariate
correlational study with a statistically significant association?
Cross-sectional correlation
Autocorrelation
Cross-lag correlation - ANSProfessor Horvat designs a study to assess the work satisfaction
and home-life satisfaction of a group of graduate students. She administers the same
measures of work and home-life satisfaction on two occasions, 1 year apart.
Label each correlation that Professor Horvat discovers with the type of correlation it
represents.
-At the first time point there is a strong correlation between work satisfaction and home-life
satisfaction.
-Job satisfaction at the first time point is correlated with job satisfaction at the second time
point.
, CORRELATIVE ANALYSIS OF SELF ESTEEM TOWARDS THE ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS, Schemes and Mind Maps of
Research Methods in Psychology
-Home-life satisfaction at the first time point is strongly correlated with job satisfaction at the
second time point.
Cross-sectional correlation, autocorrelation, cross-lag correlation, longitudinal - ANSIn a(n)
_______, two variables measured at the same time are associated. If an earlier measure of a
variable is associated with a later measure of the same variable, a(n) _______ occurs. In a(n)
_______, an earlier measure of one variable is associated with a later measure of a different
variable. These three types of correlations are usually found in _______ designs.
Curvilinear - ANSThe Yerkes-Dodson law (1908) shows that performance increases with
arousal up to a point, but beyond that, performance decreases as arousal increases. Which
type of association is this?
Curvilinear association - ANSJosé is investigating the relationship between exam anxiety and
exam grades. He collects students' ratings of their own anxiety before an exam, and then he
collects their exam scores afterward. When he calculates the correlation, he finds no
relationship.
José plots his data on this scatterplot and sees that both students who had no anxiety and
students who had lots of anxiety performed poorly on exams—but students who reported
moderate anxiety did very well.
What issue is most likely affecting José's results?
Effect size, r value, 95% CI - ANSThe term _______ describes the strength of an association
between variables, and in correlations it is typically captured by a(n) _______. The precision of
the correlation estimate is captured by a(n) _______.
Established: construct validity
statistical validity
external validity
Not established: internal validity - ANSFabiola wants to examine whether exercise leads to
greater satisfaction in life among senior citizens in Alabama. She randomly selects five
retirement homes in Alabama and recruits all of the seniors living in the five homes. In May,
she measures participants' hours of exercise per week and gives them a validated scale
assessing satisfaction in life. The next year, she measures their hours of exercise per week
and satisfaction with life again. This figure depicts the results of Fabiola's study.
Identify the validities that are reasonably established in this study.
Established: covariance
temporal precedence
Not established: internal validity - ANSProfessor Horvat designs a study to assess the work
satisfaction and home-life satisfaction of a group of graduate students. She administers the
same measures of work and home-life satisfaction on two occasions, 1 year apart.
Suppose she finds that home-life satisfaction at the first time point is strongly correlated with
job satisfaction at the second time point, but there is no correlation between job satisfaction
at the first time point and home-life satisfaction at the second time point.
Which of the following three criteria for causation are established in Professor Horvat's study?
Established: covariance
temporal precedence
