PYC3704 Psychological Research (2021 - Semester 1 and Semester 2 - Assignment 1)

PYC3704 – Psychological Research 2021 - Semester 1 and Semester 2 - Assignment 1 Question 1: The goal of qualitative research in psychology is best described as aiming to ... 1. Develop appropriate statistical tests which can be used to determine the relationships among psychological variables that occur at a level greater than chance. 2. develop theories that helps us to explain human experience and behaviour. 3. formulate clear hypotheses based on insights about human experience and behaviour 4. convert theoretical construct into measurable variables through operationalisation Question 2: The aim of psychological research is to ... a) establish relationship among constructs for the purpose of developing a theory. b) draw definite conclusions about a population of interest based on same statistics. c) test an existing theory d) predict how constructs are likely to interact in general using relevant theoretical underpinnings. 1. (a)(b) and (c) 2. (a)(c) and (d) 3. (b)(c) and (d) 4. All of the above Question 3: Empirical knowledge is defined as ... 1. theories which explain why facts appear as they are observed to be 2. knowledge based on creative insights 3. direct experiences as they are caught in the moment of conscious awareness 4. information derived from careful observation and description of objects and events Question 4: Operationalizing a construct means to ... 1. find an explanation for the construct to explain why it appears as it is 2. make an educated guess on how it relates to other constructs 3. determine the correct level at which it should be measured 4. devise a systematic procedure to make the construct observable, in such a way that we can measure it Question 5: Which one of the definitions below is FALSE? 1. The term construct is used to refer to an aspect of human behaviour or experience which is abstracted from observation for study in psychological research. 2. Measurement is a process whereby numbers are allocated to a construct according to a rule. 3. When a psychological variable is measured, the result is referred to as a statistic. 4. When a construct is measured, the resulting quantity is referred to as a variable. Question 6: A statistician studying measurement theory would assume that a measurement x is made up of the ‘true’ measurement x_0 and an error term e. Which of the following assumptions are usually made regarding the error component (e)? (a) it has a mean value of 0 (b) it has a standard deviation of 1 (c) it is normally distributed 1. (a) and (b) are true 2. (a) and (c) are true 3. Only (c) is true 4. (b) and (c) are true Question 7: A measurement that summarizes an aspect of a population is called a ... while a measurement that describes the same aspect of a sample is called ... 1. construct; variable 2. parameter; statistic 3. statistic; parameter 4. variable; construct Question 8: A variable that we may not be aware of during an experiment or research process that may influence the outcome is called a ... 1. manifest variable 2. hidden variable 3. latent variable 4. random variable Question 9: A ball is drawn at random from a box containing 6 red balls, 4 white ball and 5 blue balls. What is the probability that it is red? 1. 0.333 2. 0.400 3. 0.500 4. 0.667 Question 10: Suppose the height of military recruits is distributed normally with a mean of 1750 mm and a standard deviation of 50 mm. drawing repeated sample of 25 recruits each we expect the standard deviation of the sample means to be about ... mm 1. 2 2. 10 3. 50 4. 25 Question 11: Which of the following statement are true of sampling methods? a) Random sampling is also referred to as convenience sampling and is the most commonly used sampling method in the social science. b) Random sampling is not very efficient when dealing with large populations. c) Systematic sampling involves selecting individuals at fixed intervals. d) Stratified sampling involves dividing the population into homogenous subgroups and drawing random sample from the subgroups. 1. (a) and (b) 2. (b) and (c) 3. (a)(b) and (c) 4. (b)(c) and (d) Question 12: The probability that Jaime will pass his research methodology examination is 0.53. Find the probability that he will fail this examination. 1. 0.57 2. 0.35 3. 0.054 4. 0.47 Question 13: Danny flips four well-balanced coins. What are the odds that two of the coins will land ‘heads’ up? 1. 0.125 2. 0.25 3. 0.375 4. 0.5 Question 14: Consider the probability experiments below: (a) Choose any number at random from in the range 1 to 100 (b) Draw one marble with a specific color (red, yellow or blue) from a bowl containing 5 red, 4 blue and 1 yellow marble c) Choose a letter at random from the word ‘ALPHABET’ In which of these experiments are the different possible outcomes NOT equally likely? 1. Only (b) 2. (b) and (c) 3. Only (c) 4. (a) and (c) Use the following summary of marks to answer Question 15 and 16. The marks in different subjects of Patrick, a high school pupil, are represented in the table below. His marks for different subjects are given along with the mean and standard deviation for each of these subjects, for all the learners in his class. Subject Patrick’s mark Mean of class Standard deviation of class Mathematics Science Geography History 56% 54% 62% 68% 42% 54% 50% 75% 6% 4% 8% 5% Use the information in this table to answer the questions below. Question 15: In which subject did Patrick do best, relative to his class? 1. Mathematics 2. Science 3. Geography 4. Science Question 16: Find the subject where Patrick did worst relative to the rest of his class. What is the probability of any other one of Patrick’s classmates getting a mark equal to this or better for this particular subject? Choose the option closest to the correct answer. 1. 0.1 2. 0.3 3. 0.6 4. 0.9 Question 17: Suppose that we stated H_0: μ=10 and H_1: μ<10, and find that the sample mean corresponds to a z- score of -3. This means that the corresponding p- value ... 1. need not to be found to reach a decision 2. is 0.0026 3. is 0.0013 4. is 0.9987 Question 18: The standard error is a measurement of ... 1. how well a sample mean approximates a population mean 2. the extent to which a variable varies around its mean 3. the extent to which one variable changes as another one changes 4. the size of the error being made when you fail to reject a null hypothesis which is actually false Question 19: Look at the graph based on the frequency distribution of a measurement of a variable x from normally distributed date which is reproduced below. Using the information provided in the graph, calculate the probability that a measurement made at random on this particular scale will fall in the area under the curve coloured grey. Select the answer closest to the calculated probability from the options given below: 1. 0.933 2. 0.775 3. 0.159 4. 0.5 Use the scenario below to answer Question 20 and 21. An educational psychologist measures the general knowledge of 100 learners on a questionnaire with 50p questions. She finds the mean and standard deviation of the scores and 20 and 8 respectively for the sample of data. Question 20: What is the z-score corresponding to a test score of 14 on the general knowledge test? 1. 1.33 2. 0.75 3. -0.75 Question 21: What is the probability that a specific learner will not obtain a score of 14 or less on the questionnaire in the scenario above? 1. 0.2266 2. 0.7734 3. 0.0918 4. 0.9082 Question 22: When two means are compared, the p-value expresses the probability that an observed difference ... 1. is statistically significant 2. is due to the alternative hypothesis 3. is due to chance or sampling error 4. will be found between the means Question 23: If you decided to set the level of significance to  = 0.001 rather than a more conventional level of  = 0.05, what would the consequence be? Choose the correct option(s). (a) You would be more likely to make a Type II error (b) There would be fewer instances when the null hypothesis could be rejected (c) You would be more likely to make a Type I error 1. Only (b) is correct 2. Only (a) and (b) are correct 3. Only (c) is correct 4. Statements (a), (b) and (c) are all correct Use the scenario below to answer Question 24 to 27. Mpho is a psychology student, who want to understand whether participation in sport is in any way related to the cognitive abilities of children at an age of 10 years. In order to determine the level of cognitive abilities of the children, she decides to use a test for cognitive abilities which was standardized on the general population of ten-year old children to a mean of μ=100 and a standard deviation of σ=20. To test her hypothesis, she obtains a random sample of n=100 children aged 10 years, all of whom actively partook in soccer and netball. Each of the children was given the cognitive test to complete and a mean of x ̄=95 and a standard deviation of s = 15 was found for the sample. The significance level to the hypothesis is set at  = 0.05. Question 24: Choose the most appropriate way to formulate the operational hypothesis based on the scenario above from these options: 1. Children aged 10 who play sports have cognitive abilities which differ form the average cognitive abilities of children in this age group. 2. Children ages 10 who play sports have higher than average cognitive abilities. 3. Children ages 10 who play sports have lower than average cognitive abilities. 4. The cognitive abilities of children aged 10 who play sports differ from the cognitive abilities of ten year old who do not play sports. Question 25: What would be the alternative hypothesis that is to be tested? 1. H_1: μ<100 2. H_1: μ>100 3. H_1: x ̄≠95 4. H_1: μ≠100 Question 26: Mpho decides to use a z-test to test her hypothesis. The calculated value of the relevant test statistic is ... 1. 2.5 2. -2.5 3. 2 4. 0.012 Question 27: Based on the scenario and the test statistic calculated above, what conclusion can Mpho make based on the results? 1. The alternative hypothesis is supported, so playing sport does have a relationship to cognitive abilities. 2. The alternative hypothesis must be rejected, so playing sport does not have any relationship to cognitive abilities. 3. The null hypothesis can be rejected, because ten-year-old children playing spot have higher than average cognitive abilities. 4. The null hypothesis can be accepted, because children playing sports have higher than average cognitive abilities. Use the scenario below to answer Question 28 to 29. It is know that the distribution of scores on a particular test is approximately normal and that the population has a mean of μ=50 and a standard deviation of σ=15. A random sample of 100 persons is tested on this test, producing a sample mean of x ̄=58.4 and a sample standard deviation of s = 16.8. Question 28: After comparing the sample with the population using a z-test, based on the scenario above, a significant result was found. The researcher now want to determine whether the difference between the performance of the sample and the population in general is also reasonably important in terms of its practical implication. What does she need to determine the practical importance of the result, irrespective of the size of the sample? 1. The power of the test 2. The effect size 3. The standard error 4. The p-value Question 29: Determine the practical importance of the test, based on the information in the scenario and the answer to the previous question. Given the available information, it can be concluded that the effective difference between the performance of the sample and the population is ... 1. obviously important if it was found to be significant 2. rather small 3. around medium 4. very large Question 30: Inferential statistics ... a) allows researchers to describe only the people or items that have been actually measured. b) draws conclusions from a sample and generalizes them to a population. c) can be represented in bar graphs showing how a psychological phenomenon (e.g. anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsions) is affected by an independent variable (e.g. age, gender, socio-economic status). d) Uses nominal data to make complex deductions. 1. (b) 2. (a) and (b) 3. (b) and (c) 4. (b) and (d)