1. There are three fundamental features of science that allow us to explore the natural world.Define and provide an example for each of these features.
2. Define the term pseudoscience and provide an example.
3. Describe the difference between applied and basic research according to your text.Provide an example of each of these types of research.
4. What is the primary reason psychology depends on science rather than common sense to explore human behavior.?
5. Why is scientific research relevant to clinical practice?
6. Provide an example of an empirical question about human behavior.
7. Your textbook describes a simple model of scientific research in psychology. Use that model to provide an example of doing research (Do not use the example in your text)
8. Define the general term "variable" as used in the textbook. Provide an example of a categorical variable.
9. A psychologist is interested in finding out if a particular clinical intervention for depression is actually more effective than medication alone. She puts people into three groups. The first group gets neither medication nor clinical help. The second group receives the medication and the third group receives clinical interventions. She gives all of them a test to see what level of depression they have after the research period. The research then compares the average scores to see if the individuals who received the clinical intervention scored significantly different than the other two groups. From a variable relationship perspective what is this psychologist trying to find out?
10. Children who watch violent television and play violent video games act out aggressively toward others. What is the independent variable and the dependent variable in this scenario? What directional problem exists in this scenario that makes this study correlational and not causal? How might a "third" variable cause this scenario to be described as correlational?
11. Provide three sources of good research ideas based on what you learned from your textbook.
12. What are factors that make a research question interesting?
13. A researcher has a limited budget and is not very skilled in using an instrument to explore what parts of the brain are active during prayer. The researcher needs to consider whether or not the study is something she can do. What part of developing the research project is she executing?
14. There are four main reasons a researcher does a literature review. List and define each of these.
15. A researcher is evaluating if asking people to describe their most embarrassing sexual encounter is something necessary to get the best information regarding the impact of embrasement on sexual activity between a husband and wife. She is not sure if there is a less intrusive way to get the exact same information so she is weighing her options. Which moral principle is the researcher executing?
16. Provide definitions and examples of phenomenon and theory.
17. What are the three basic purposes of scientific theory besides providing accurate explanations and interpretations?
18. Provide definitions and examples of mechanistic theories and functional theories (Only 1 example for each type of theory is required).
19. Give me an example of a hypothesis.
20. How can a beginning researcher incorporate theory into their research.
21. What is the relationship between psychological constructs and operational definitions?Provide an example of how one might operationally define depression.
22. Why do we care about the different levels of measurement in psychological research?
23. Define reliability and validity.
24. What is meant when we say an experiment has high internal and external validity?
25. Why might an experimenter use a within subject design rather than a between subject design?
26. Provide me with an example of non-experimental research and why you have categorized it as non-experimental.
27. If a researcher is interested in exploring the subjective experience of prayer from a psychological perspective, which type of non-experimental research could she use?Why is that the case?
28. Which type of research is best known for having low internal validity and why is that the case?
29. Two types of data collection are strongly associated with correlational research.What are they and why is that the case?
30. What is a quasi-experimental design? When would you use it?
31. What is an interrupted time series design? When would you use it?
32. What is a pretest-posttest design? When would you use it?
33. Describe how one does data collection and data analysis in qualitative research.
34. What is the quantitative-qualitative debate?
35. Provide an example of when you might use a qualitative approach to doing research.
36. Why might a researcher include multiple dependent variables in their study?
37. What is a manipulation check?
38. Describe what a factorial design in and provide an example.
39. What are some of the reasons for context effects occurring when one uses questionnaires?
40. What is sampling bias?
41. What is probability sampling and how is it done (i.e. there are a number of ways to do probability sampling, list them as outlined in the book)?
42. Why would someone use single-subject research? Give an example of this type of research.
43. How do you distinguish between case studies and single subject studies?
44. Describe what a reversal design and a multiple-baseline design study is.
45. Describe the debate between single subject and group research?
46. What are the three levels of american psychological association style
47. List and describe the standard sections used in an american psychological association Style empirical research report.
48. What is the purpose for using inferential statistics in research?
49. What is the purpose for using descriptive statistics in research?
50. Why is statistical significance so important?