PSY 201 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS
AND 100% CORRECT ANSWERS 2025-
2026 UPDATED.
Describe the Theory-Data Cycle - Answer theory leads researchers to pose particular
research questions which lead to an appropriate research design to test a specific hypothesis.
The hypothesis is ideally pre-registered before they collect and analyze data which feed back
into the cycle.
Why do scientists pretty much never use the word "prove" in the context of a scientist theory? -
Answer Nothing is ever proven--researchers are empiricists.
Describe the indicators of a "good" scientific theory. - Answer Observation, experimentation
and measurement
Explain why scientific reasoning is superior to intuition/common sense and experience - Answer
intuitions can be wrong because they are driven by cognitive and motivational biases rather
than logical reasoning or scientific evidence
What does it mean for a variable to have "levels" and for a variable to be measured vs
manipulated? - Answer variable that has multiple aspects or ratings to it
Why does correlation not imply causation? - Answer does not necessarily mean we know
whether one variable causes the other to occur
Describe the three necessary criteria for causal claims - Answer 1. temporal precedence (the
cause precedes the effect)
2. covariance (the cause and effect are related) 3. disqualification of alternative explanations (no
third variable accounts for the observed relationship)
Why can't researchers meet all four types of validity at once? - Answer each validity has a
unique purpose and can be tested in different ways
Primary measures of central tendency - Answer Mean, median, mode
, What are informed consent and debriefing, and why are they important? - Answer Informed
consent: an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to
choose whether they wish to participate
Debriefing: the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any
deceptions, to its participants
What is an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and why is an IRB important? - Answer a
committee responsible for ethical principles
What are some examples of types of research misconduct? - Answer fabrication, falsification,
plagiarism
What is construct validity? - Answer direct product of how closely our operational definition
matches our construct
Describe nominal/categorical, ordinal, interval, and ratio variables. Give an example of each. -
Answer Nominal: categories: sex (male vs female), freshman vs soph vs jr vs sr
Ordinal: easy to understand, not always clear (ex: ranking competitors by how quickly they did a
1-legged race)
Interval: continuous with equal distance between values but NO TRUE ZERO (ex: IQ, 1-7 likert
scale)
Ratio: continuous with equal distance between values WITH A TRUE ZERO (ex: body weight,
grade in a class)
What is reliability? What are the three kinds of reliability? - Answer Test-retest: how likely
are you to get a similar result as last time
Interrater: how similar is one observer's score to anothers
Interval: within a single measure, how similar one item responses to one another
What are the five types of validity? - Answer Face: face value of a measure (looks like what
you think it should)
Content: measures aligns with the theory of interest
Criterion: does it correlate with key behaviors (need an outcome or some other behavioral
indicator)
AND 100% CORRECT ANSWERS 2025-
2026 UPDATED.
Describe the Theory-Data Cycle - Answer theory leads researchers to pose particular
research questions which lead to an appropriate research design to test a specific hypothesis.
The hypothesis is ideally pre-registered before they collect and analyze data which feed back
into the cycle.
Why do scientists pretty much never use the word "prove" in the context of a scientist theory? -
Answer Nothing is ever proven--researchers are empiricists.
Describe the indicators of a "good" scientific theory. - Answer Observation, experimentation
and measurement
Explain why scientific reasoning is superior to intuition/common sense and experience - Answer
intuitions can be wrong because they are driven by cognitive and motivational biases rather
than logical reasoning or scientific evidence
What does it mean for a variable to have "levels" and for a variable to be measured vs
manipulated? - Answer variable that has multiple aspects or ratings to it
Why does correlation not imply causation? - Answer does not necessarily mean we know
whether one variable causes the other to occur
Describe the three necessary criteria for causal claims - Answer 1. temporal precedence (the
cause precedes the effect)
2. covariance (the cause and effect are related) 3. disqualification of alternative explanations (no
third variable accounts for the observed relationship)
Why can't researchers meet all four types of validity at once? - Answer each validity has a
unique purpose and can be tested in different ways
Primary measures of central tendency - Answer Mean, median, mode
, What are informed consent and debriefing, and why are they important? - Answer Informed
consent: an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to
choose whether they wish to participate
Debriefing: the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any
deceptions, to its participants
What is an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and why is an IRB important? - Answer a
committee responsible for ethical principles
What are some examples of types of research misconduct? - Answer fabrication, falsification,
plagiarism
What is construct validity? - Answer direct product of how closely our operational definition
matches our construct
Describe nominal/categorical, ordinal, interval, and ratio variables. Give an example of each. -
Answer Nominal: categories: sex (male vs female), freshman vs soph vs jr vs sr
Ordinal: easy to understand, not always clear (ex: ranking competitors by how quickly they did a
1-legged race)
Interval: continuous with equal distance between values but NO TRUE ZERO (ex: IQ, 1-7 likert
scale)
Ratio: continuous with equal distance between values WITH A TRUE ZERO (ex: body weight,
grade in a class)
What is reliability? What are the three kinds of reliability? - Answer Test-retest: how likely
are you to get a similar result as last time
Interrater: how similar is one observer's score to anothers
Interval: within a single measure, how similar one item responses to one another
What are the five types of validity? - Answer Face: face value of a measure (looks like what
you think it should)
Content: measures aligns with the theory of interest
Criterion: does it correlate with key behaviors (need an outcome or some other behavioral
indicator)
