PSYCH 1X03 Final Exam Questions and Answers Solved Correctly Graded A+
What are the six steps of the scientific method? - Answers 1. Construct a theory: a general set of ideas
about the way the world works
2. Generate a hypothesis: testable statement guided by theories to make specific predictions about the
relationship between variables
3. Choose a research method: selecting a research method appropriate to test the hypothesis
4. Collect data: take measurements of the outcomes of the data
5. Analyze data: Understand the data and discover trends or relationships between the variable to
accept or reject
6. Report findings: Publish articles in scholarly journals
7. Revise theories: Incorporating new info into our understanding of the world
anecdotal evidence - Answers Evidence gathered from others or one's own experience
Experimental group - Answers Manipulation of the variable
What are the two ways to minimize differences experimental groups? - Answers Within-participants and
between participants design
What is within-participants design - Answers Manipulating the independent variable within each
participant to minimize the effect of the participant differences on dependent measure. (Same people
doing controlled and manipulated)
What are the problems with within-participant - Answers Costly and timely, possible variability: may
change over the course of the experiment
- Performance can improve
- Difficulty level changes
What is Practice Effect - Answers An improvement in performance over the purse of an experience as a
result of experience separate from the effect of the independent variable
What is between-participant design - Answers Consider confounding variables, those participants being
compared must be as similar as possible
Confounding variable - Answers A variable associated with an independent variable that obscures the
effects of the variable on the outcome. Makes it difficult to draw findings and
Why is strict selection bad? - Answers Hinders generalizability, specific group limiting the scope of the
conclusions, results from very specific groups of participants cannot be generalized for the other people
, Random sample - Answers A subset of people selected at random so our sample is the most
representative of the larger population. Ensures that everyone has an equal chance of being selected
Random Assignment - Answers Assigning participants to groups randomly to avoid biases that may
create differences between the groups of participants
Placebo Effect - Answers the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can
influence their behavior
participant bias - Answers the tendency of a participant intentionally or unintentionally change their
performance to align it with the expected outcome or so the experimenter can view them favourably
Blinding participants - Answers where the participants are unaware of whether one is in the
experimental or control group
Experimental Bias - Answers Experimenters promote the result they hope to achieve, encourage the
experimental group to study more, actions made to influence the result
How to eliminate experimental bias - Answers Blinding the experimenter
Double blind - Answers Neither the experimenter nor the participants know which group they belong to
What is descriptive statistics - Answers info about data to give an overall idea of statistics
i.e pie charts, bar graphs
Frequency distribution - Answers Type of graph illustrating the distribution of how frequently values
appear in a data set
What is a normal frequency distribution - Answers Smooth, symmetrical and bell shaped containing only
ONE peak
measures of central tendency - Answers where data is centered and cannot be used to sufficiently
summarize data
Mean - Answers Average of a data set
Mode - Answers value that appears the most
Median - Answers Central value when a set is arranged numerically; robust to outliers
Measures of Varability - Answers Tells us how spread out: standard deviation
Smaller spread= smaller deviation
Larger spread= larger standard deviation
What are the six steps of the scientific method? - Answers 1. Construct a theory: a general set of ideas
about the way the world works
2. Generate a hypothesis: testable statement guided by theories to make specific predictions about the
relationship between variables
3. Choose a research method: selecting a research method appropriate to test the hypothesis
4. Collect data: take measurements of the outcomes of the data
5. Analyze data: Understand the data and discover trends or relationships between the variable to
accept or reject
6. Report findings: Publish articles in scholarly journals
7. Revise theories: Incorporating new info into our understanding of the world
anecdotal evidence - Answers Evidence gathered from others or one's own experience
Experimental group - Answers Manipulation of the variable
What are the two ways to minimize differences experimental groups? - Answers Within-participants and
between participants design
What is within-participants design - Answers Manipulating the independent variable within each
participant to minimize the effect of the participant differences on dependent measure. (Same people
doing controlled and manipulated)
What are the problems with within-participant - Answers Costly and timely, possible variability: may
change over the course of the experiment
- Performance can improve
- Difficulty level changes
What is Practice Effect - Answers An improvement in performance over the purse of an experience as a
result of experience separate from the effect of the independent variable
What is between-participant design - Answers Consider confounding variables, those participants being
compared must be as similar as possible
Confounding variable - Answers A variable associated with an independent variable that obscures the
effects of the variable on the outcome. Makes it difficult to draw findings and
Why is strict selection bad? - Answers Hinders generalizability, specific group limiting the scope of the
conclusions, results from very specific groups of participants cannot be generalized for the other people
, Random sample - Answers A subset of people selected at random so our sample is the most
representative of the larger population. Ensures that everyone has an equal chance of being selected
Random Assignment - Answers Assigning participants to groups randomly to avoid biases that may
create differences between the groups of participants
Placebo Effect - Answers the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can
influence their behavior
participant bias - Answers the tendency of a participant intentionally or unintentionally change their
performance to align it with the expected outcome or so the experimenter can view them favourably
Blinding participants - Answers where the participants are unaware of whether one is in the
experimental or control group
Experimental Bias - Answers Experimenters promote the result they hope to achieve, encourage the
experimental group to study more, actions made to influence the result
How to eliminate experimental bias - Answers Blinding the experimenter
Double blind - Answers Neither the experimenter nor the participants know which group they belong to
What is descriptive statistics - Answers info about data to give an overall idea of statistics
i.e pie charts, bar graphs
Frequency distribution - Answers Type of graph illustrating the distribution of how frequently values
appear in a data set
What is a normal frequency distribution - Answers Smooth, symmetrical and bell shaped containing only
ONE peak
measures of central tendency - Answers where data is centered and cannot be used to sufficiently
summarize data
Mean - Answers Average of a data set
Mode - Answers value that appears the most
Median - Answers Central value when a set is arranged numerically; robust to outliers
Measures of Varability - Answers Tells us how spread out: standard deviation
Smaller spread= smaller deviation
Larger spread= larger standard deviation
