PSY 699 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

PSY 699 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE CH 9 According to the text, when researchers conduct longitudinal research, the type of correlation they are most interested in is which of the following? 1. Answers: 1. Cross-lag correlation 2. Cross-sectional correlation 3. Autocorrelation 4. Multivariate correlation Dr. Farah is an educational psychologist who is interested in studying the potential causal relationship between doing homework and academic achievement. In January, Dr. Farah has her students report their fall GPA (a measure of academic achievement) and estimate how many hours they spent doing homework during a typical week in the fall semester. In May, Dr. Farah measures the same variables again (the estimated number of hours spent doing homework during a typical week in the spring semester and their spring GPA). She finds the following correlations. Variable A Correlation 1 Correlation 2 Correlation 3 Correlation 4 Fall number of hours of homework Fall number of hours of homework Fall number of hours of homework Fall semester GPA Correlation 5 Variable B Fall semester GPA.83* Spring number of hours of homework.36* Spring semester GPA.69* Spring number of hours of homework Spring semester GPA Fall semester GPA Spring number of Correlation 6 Spring semester GPA hours of homework * Indicates a statistically significant relationship. 2. Correlation Coefficient .18 .45* .80* In considering the three causal rules, which of the following rules/questions will Dr. Farah’s study NOT be able to address? Answers: 1. Rule of parsimony 2. Rule of covariance: Is there covariance? 3. Are there third variables that could explain the relationship? 4. Rule of temporal precedence: Is there temporal precedence?3. Of the correlations listed in the table, how many are autocorrelations? Answers: 1. Two 2. Five 3. Three 4. Four 4. What type of study design is Dr. Farah using? Answers: 1. Quasi-experimental design 2. Longitudinal design 3. Multiple regression design 4. Bivariate correlational design 5. Which of the correlations is an autocorrelation? Answers: 1. Correlation 4 2. Correlation2 3. Correlation 1 4. Correlation 6 6. Based on her pattern of correlations, which of the following can Dr. Farah safely conclude? Answers: 1. Because Correlation 4 is stronger than Correlation 5, Dr. Farah has no evidence that increased homework comes before academic achievement. 2. Because Correlation 3 is significant but Correlation 4 is not, Dr. Farah has evidence that increased homework comes before academic achievement. 3. Because Correlations 2 and 3 are significant, Dr. Farah has evidence that increased homework comes before academic achievement.4. Because not all the correlations are significant, Dr. Farah has no evidence that increased homework comes before academic achievement. 7. For Dr. Farah to make the claim that homework causes academic achievement, which correlation does she predict will NOT be significant? Answers: 1. Correlation 1 2. Correlation 4 3. Correlation 3 4. Correlation 2 8. A colleague of Dr. Farah’s questions the internal validity of her causal claim. He is curious as to whether the relationship between homework and academic achievement could be explained by interest in one’s classes. Specifically, he thinks that students who are interested in their classes will both do more homework and have higher GPAs. Which of the following is a solution to this possible threat to internal validity? Answers: 1. Dr. Farah should study a different sample. 2. Dr. Farah should measure students’ interest in their class instead of GPA. 3. Dr. Farah should also measure students’ interest in their class. 4. Dr. Farah should measure students’ interest in their class instead of time spent doing homework. 9. Imagine that Dr. Farah noted a cyclical, reinforcing relationship between homework and academic achievement. For this to be case, which of the following correlations would need to be significant? Answers: 1. Correlations 2 and 3 2. Correlations 2 and 5 3. Correlations 1 and 6 4. Correlations 3 and 4