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PSY 360 - Social Psychology > Evaluating Research > Flashcards

Flashcards in Evaluating Research Deck (8)
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1
Q

An experiment investigating the effects of temperature on aggression assigns the first 50 participants to arrive at the experiment to the “hot room” condition and the last 50 to arrive to the “cold room” condition.

What is wrong with this research?

A

No random assignment

Researcher should randomly assign all 100 people into the two different groups. Without random assignment, there is a possibility that the differences found between conditions are caused by pre-existing differences among participants and not just the intended manipulation.

For example, maybe people that tend to be more prompt and early to appointments are less likely to show aggression than those that tend to be late. This is a pre-existing differences that could make our measurement of room temperature on aggression less reliable.

2
Q

A researcher observes that increases in beauty are correlated with more social skills. She concludes that beauty causes an increase in social skills.

What is wrong with this research?

A

Suggests correlation shows causation.

Remember - correlation does not infer causation. The correct conclusion would state that there was a significant relationship found between beauty and social skills.

3
Q

An animal researcher argues that humans are naturally kind to their parents based on evidence from studies conducted on mice.

What is wrong with this research?

A

Over generalizes

Findings based on animal research cannot automatically be generalized to humans. Another study would have to be done with humans to investigate this concept in human subjects.

4
Q

A social psychologist stages an emergency in his laboratory. He has an experimenter pretend to collapse and records participants responses. At the end of the study, he does not tell participants that it was not a real emergency.

What is wrong with this research?

A

Ethical problem

Deception was used in the study to investigate responses to emergency situations. Especially in the case of deception, participants should be debriefed and informed of the nature of the study after completion.

5
Q

A researcher observes that increases in testosterone are correlated with increases in aggressive behavior. In her write-up of the results, she concludes that there is a significant relationship between testosterone and aggression.

What is wrong with this research?

A

No problem found

The researcher does not try to infer causation with the correlational research. She correctly reports that there is a significant relationship between the two variables measured.

6
Q

A researcher does not ask for the participants’ informed consent prior to conducting a study.

What is wrong with this research?

A

Ethical problem

All participants must provide informed consent before participating in a research study. This is to ensure that they have enough information about the study and can choose whether or not to participate. They are also informed that they can withdraw from the study at any time.

7
Q

A researcher attempts to understand the political attitudes in the U.S. by sending a questionnaire to a sample of persons living in Georgia. From his sample, he concludes that 39% of U.S. citizens are conservative.

What is wrong with this research?

A

Over generalizes

This researcher only sampled from Georgia. Making conclusions about the entire U.S. population and their political attitudes is an over generalization of the research findings.

8
Q

A psychology student wants to investigate UNLV students and their attitudes toward racial minority groups. She administers the survey to all students in PSY 101 classes.

What is wrong with this research?

A

No random sampling

This researcher does not randomly sample from the entire intended population (UNLV students). Instead, she is taking a convenience sample where the sample is taken from a group of people easy to contact or reach.