PSY100 MIDTERM #1 UOFT UPDATED ACTUAL
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. Empiricism
Answer:
The view that knowledge comes from observed/sensory experience
Question:
2. Empirical evidence
Answer:
Refers to the data that has been collected (or the knowledge that has been gained) by scientific observation
Question:
3. What is the role of theories?
Answer:
Scientific theories typically explain the relationship between two or more variables.
Question:
4. What must scientific theories be?
Answer:
Testable, falsifiable, parsimonious
Question:
5. What is the intergroup contact theory by Pettigrew?
Answer:
That under certain circumstances, positive intergroup contact can reduce prejudice toward the outgroup
Question:
6. What is the social comparison theory by Festinger?
Answer:
When more objective measures are unavailable, people will evaluate their own abilities/qualities by
comparing themselves to similar ones
Question:
7. What is an Operational definition
Answer:
Definition of theoretical constructs that are stated in terms of concrete, observable procedures
Question:
8. What is a construct?
Answer:
Internal attributes or characteristics that cannot be directly observed but are useful for describing and
explaining behaviour such as intelligence and anxiety
,Question:
9. What are the different types of research?
Answer:
Descriptive research - involves observations and case studies, and may result in claims regarding the
frequency of some behavior.
Correlational research - May lead to claims regarding the association between two variables and looking at
the relationships between two things
Experimental research - May lead to claims regarding the causal relationship between two variables and
finding out what causes what
Question:
10. What is a confound?
Answer:
Anything that may unintentionally vary along with the independent variable, they limit our ability to make
causal claims. For example if the independent variable is amount of caffeine and the dependent variable is
how well students perform on test, a confound could be amount of time preparing for test, or amount of
classes attended that would affect the results.
Question:
11. What is Random assignment?
Answer:
Each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to each experimental condition. It ensures groups
are equivalent on average.
Question:
12. What is a random sample?
Answer:
Each member of the population you are interested in has an equal chance of being chosen to participate
Question:
13. What is a population?
Answer:
The group that you want to be able to generalize your findings to
Question:
14. What is a sample?
Answer:
The group of individuals from this population who are actually a part of your study
Question:
15. Discuss Quasi-Experiments
Answer:
Look a lot like "real" experiments, but they have no random assignments to conditions and the risk of
potential confounds limits the claims that a researcher can make. However they can be very useful for
studying variables where manipulation isn't possible or ethical.
, Question:
16. Discuss correlational studies
Answer:
They tell us about relationships between variables. For example " There is a relationship between academic
success and self esteem" or " There is a relationship between outdoor temperatures and ice cream sales".
These are positive examples meaning both variables change in the same direction. However remember that
Correlation is not causation. There could be a third variable problem or a directionality problem.
Question:
17. What are the different types of data collection methods?
Answer:
Observational technique, Self report method, Response performance.
Question:
18. What are the different types of observation?
Answer:
Naturalistic observation: Passive, observers do not change or alter anything intentionally.
Participant observation: Active observation. The researcher is actively involved in the situation.
Laboratory observation: Systematic observations are made within a laboratory setting rather than in the
real world.
Question:
19. Discuss Self-Report bias
Answer:
People will respond in a socially desirable way, what they think others would want to hear instead of how
they actually feel. People will also rate their abilities to do something if asked, better than average.
Question:
20. Discuss response performance.
Answer:
Things are tested like reaction time, response accuracy and stimulus judgements. These things are used to
quantify perceptual or cognitive processes in response to a specific stimulus.
For example how long does it take you to name the colour of a word?
Question:
21. What is the stoop effect?
Answer:
Words that spell out a different colour than the colour of the font are presented and you are asked to name
the colour of the font. However your responses are delayed because we automatically read the words and
this causes a mismatch of information in our brains.
Question:
22. How do we know that we have good data?
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. Empiricism
Answer:
The view that knowledge comes from observed/sensory experience
Question:
2. Empirical evidence
Answer:
Refers to the data that has been collected (or the knowledge that has been gained) by scientific observation
Question:
3. What is the role of theories?
Answer:
Scientific theories typically explain the relationship between two or more variables.
Question:
4. What must scientific theories be?
Answer:
Testable, falsifiable, parsimonious
Question:
5. What is the intergroup contact theory by Pettigrew?
Answer:
That under certain circumstances, positive intergroup contact can reduce prejudice toward the outgroup
Question:
6. What is the social comparison theory by Festinger?
Answer:
When more objective measures are unavailable, people will evaluate their own abilities/qualities by
comparing themselves to similar ones
Question:
7. What is an Operational definition
Answer:
Definition of theoretical constructs that are stated in terms of concrete, observable procedures
Question:
8. What is a construct?
Answer:
Internal attributes or characteristics that cannot be directly observed but are useful for describing and
explaining behaviour such as intelligence and anxiety
,Question:
9. What are the different types of research?
Answer:
Descriptive research - involves observations and case studies, and may result in claims regarding the
frequency of some behavior.
Correlational research - May lead to claims regarding the association between two variables and looking at
the relationships between two things
Experimental research - May lead to claims regarding the causal relationship between two variables and
finding out what causes what
Question:
10. What is a confound?
Answer:
Anything that may unintentionally vary along with the independent variable, they limit our ability to make
causal claims. For example if the independent variable is amount of caffeine and the dependent variable is
how well students perform on test, a confound could be amount of time preparing for test, or amount of
classes attended that would affect the results.
Question:
11. What is Random assignment?
Answer:
Each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to each experimental condition. It ensures groups
are equivalent on average.
Question:
12. What is a random sample?
Answer:
Each member of the population you are interested in has an equal chance of being chosen to participate
Question:
13. What is a population?
Answer:
The group that you want to be able to generalize your findings to
Question:
14. What is a sample?
Answer:
The group of individuals from this population who are actually a part of your study
Question:
15. Discuss Quasi-Experiments
Answer:
Look a lot like "real" experiments, but they have no random assignments to conditions and the risk of
potential confounds limits the claims that a researcher can make. However they can be very useful for
studying variables where manipulation isn't possible or ethical.
, Question:
16. Discuss correlational studies
Answer:
They tell us about relationships between variables. For example " There is a relationship between academic
success and self esteem" or " There is a relationship between outdoor temperatures and ice cream sales".
These are positive examples meaning both variables change in the same direction. However remember that
Correlation is not causation. There could be a third variable problem or a directionality problem.
Question:
17. What are the different types of data collection methods?
Answer:
Observational technique, Self report method, Response performance.
Question:
18. What are the different types of observation?
Answer:
Naturalistic observation: Passive, observers do not change or alter anything intentionally.
Participant observation: Active observation. The researcher is actively involved in the situation.
Laboratory observation: Systematic observations are made within a laboratory setting rather than in the
real world.
Question:
19. Discuss Self-Report bias
Answer:
People will respond in a socially desirable way, what they think others would want to hear instead of how
they actually feel. People will also rate their abilities to do something if asked, better than average.
Question:
20. Discuss response performance.
Answer:
Things are tested like reaction time, response accuracy and stimulus judgements. These things are used to
quantify perceptual or cognitive processes in response to a specific stimulus.
For example how long does it take you to name the colour of a word?
Question:
21. What is the stoop effect?
Answer:
Words that spell out a different colour than the colour of the font are presented and you are asked to name
the colour of the font. However your responses are delayed because we automatically read the words and
this causes a mismatch of information in our brains.
Question:
22. How do we know that we have good data?
