Bellevue PY 353 Exam 2- What is (or could be) the independent

PY 353: Exam 2

This is a take-home exam. You may use your text and notes, but you may not use each other to complete the exam. Any evidence of collaboration (in other words, cheating) will result in failure. The exam is worth 100 pts. (95 pts. for answering the questions and a 5 pt. “fudge” factor that is used to reward neatness, clarity of thought, logicalness, etc.). It is due on Thursday, November 17, 2016by NOON. Be sure to follow directions carefully. Please let me know if you have any problems accessing the two research articles that are required for the exam. They appear on a new web site affiliated with the Journal of Psychological Inquiry, which is now housed at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. I tested the links, but I’m not sure how well they will work once the exam is posted.

Design critiques: 15 points each

Answer the following questions for each design critique:

a. What is (or could be) the independent variable(s) and what are its levels?

b. Is the independent variable a true IV or a subject variable?

c. What is (are) the dependent variable(s)?

d. What control variables were (or could be) used?

e. What needs to be done to improve the study?

1. A certain psychologist was looking for the cause of college failure. He took a

group of former students who had flunked out and a group who had received

good grades. He gave both groups a self-esteem test and found that the

who failed scored lower on the test than the college success group. He

concluded that low self-esteem is one of the causes of college failure and

further suggested that the low self-esteem person probably expects to fail

and exhibits defeatist behavior in college—which eventually leads to his/her

failure.

2. It was hypothesized that sensory deprivation inhibits the intellectual development of animals. To test this hypothesis, an experimenter used 2 rats, each of which had just given birth to 8 pups. One rat and her litter were placed in a large cage with ample space and objects to explore. The second rat’s pups were separated from the mother and each was placed in a separate cage. These cages were quite small and the only objects they could see or hear were the four walls and the food dispenser. After five months, both groups were tested in a multiple-T maze using food as a reward. Following 20 trials, all of the non- deprived pups were running the maze without error, but the deprived pups were still making several errors. This latter group frequently froze and had to be prodded to move. The experimenter concluded that sensory deprivation inhibits intellectual development such that deprived rats did not have the intellectual ability to learn even a simple maze.

3. An investigator hypothesized that people in a fearful situation desire to be

with other individuals. To test her hypothesis, the researcher randomly

assigned 50 participants to either a high or low fear group. Participants in

the low fear group were told that they would be shocked but that they would

experience only a small tingle that would not hurt. Participants in the high

fear group were told that the shock would be quite painful and might burn

the skin, but would not cause any permanent damage. After being told this,

8 participants in the high fear group declined to participate in the study. The

researcher released them (as she was ethically bound to do) and conducted the

experiment. Each group of participants was then told to wait while the shock

equipment was being prepared and that they could wait either in a room by

themselves or with other people. No difference was found in the extent to

which the high or low fear groups wanted to wait with others.

Journal article critiques: 50 points total

Please go to the following web sites for the research articles for this part of the exam.

Article A:

http://www.fhsu.edu/uploadedFiles/academic/college_of_arts_and_sciences/psych/JPI/JPI%20Vol%2014.pdf

Read the article that begins on p. 7 by Cotton & Sutton

Article B:

http://www.fhsu.edu/uploadedFiles/academic/college_of_arts_and_sciences/psych/JPI/JPI%20Vol%2015(1-2).pdf

Read the article that begins on p. 6 by Avon & Goodfriend

Answer the following questions for each of the articles.

1. What is the independent variable(s)? What are the levels of the independent

variable(s)? Is the independent variable(s) a true independent variable or

a subject variable?

2. What is the dependent variable(s)? What was the operational definition

of the dependent variable?

3. What variable(s) was controlled by the researcher?

4. What type of research methodology was used? What type of design was

used (if appropriate)?

5. What is this research all about?

6. What was the researcher’s hypothesis?

7. What materials were used?

8. What were the results of the study? Did they support the hypothesis?

9. How were the results interpreted?

10. Suggestions for future research.