PSY100Y5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Test Anxiety, Descriptive Statistics, Statistical Dispersion
1. A researcher who has been investigating the causes of test anxiety in Grade 4 students
uses his research findings to design a tutor program to improve exam performance.
Which scientific goal is this an example of?
A. Understanding and Prediction!
B. Measurement and Description !
C. Theory generation and refinement !
D. Application and control !
2. What is the first step in a scientific investigation?
A. Choose a research method !
B. Formulate a testable hypothesis !
C. Select the participants !
D. Collect the relevant data !
3. Two researchers have just decided that the best way to investigate their research
question is through the use of case studies. During which stage of the research process
are these types of decisions made?
A. Before a scientific investigation !
B. During the first step of the scientific investigation !
C. During the second step of the scientific investigation !
D. During the third step of the scientific investigation !
4. Why do researchers use statistics when they conduct scientific investigations?
A. Report their findings to other researchers!
B. To analyze the empirical data collected in their study !
C. To operationally define their variables !
D. To reformulate their original hypothesis !
5. What is one key advantage of the scientific approach?
A. It allows research to be done quickly and accurately !
B. The results are stated in a way that is easy to understand !
C. It allows researchers to make conclusions that are clear and precise !
D. Only studies with accurate information are ever published !
6. What scientific goal is evident when researchers formulate hypotheses about
relationships between variables and then use the scientific method to test these
hypotheses?
A. Understanding and prediction !
B. Application and control !
C. Theory generation and refinement !
D. Measurement and description !
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7. What system of interrelated ideas can be used to explain a set of observations?
A. Hypothesis !
B. Theory!
C. Case study !
D. Experiment !
8. What is the second step in a scientific investigation?
A. Formulate a testable hypothesis !
B. Design a study !
C. Operationally define the variables !
D. Collect the relevant data !
9. A researcher is using a statistical program to determine if correlations exist between
various research variables. When would this type of analysis occur?
A. During the first step !
B. During the fourth step !
C. During the fifth step!
D. After the scientific investigation was over !
10. What is the greatest advantage of the scientific approach?
A. Studies are conducted quickly and accurately !
B. Studies with inaccurate information are not published !
C. It helps to ensure that studies are precise and contain minimal error !
D. The results can be used to solve everyday situations !
11. Researchers believe that a person wearing a suit is more persuasive than a person
wearing ordinary, casual clothes. To test this hypothesis, they asked political science
students to watch a televised speech arguing against tax cuts. Half the students saw the
speech delivered by a man wearing a three-piece suit and the other half saw the same
man deliver the same speech, but this time he was dressed in casual clothes. After
listening to the speech, students used a rating scale to indicate how much they
supported proposed tax cuts. In this study, what was the independent variable?
A. The type of clothing that the man wore !
B. The length of speech that students heard !
C. The level of agreement with the speaker’s position !
D. The political affiliation of each student who heard the speech !
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12. Researchers think that a person wearing a suit is more persuasive than someone
wearing every day, casual clothes. Students enrolled in a first-year political science class
watched a televised speech arguing against tax cuts. Half the students saw the speech
delivered by a man wearing a three-piece suit typically worn by politicians, and the other
half saw the same man, dressed in casual clothes, deliver the same speech. After
listening to the speech, students used a rating scale to indicate how much they
supported proposed tax cuts. In this study, which students were in the control group?
A. Those who saw a man in a three-piece suit deliver the speech!
B. Those who reported the highest levels of persuasion!
C. Those who disagreed with the tax cut proposal prior to the speech !
D. Those who saw a man in ordinary, casual clothes deliver the speech!
13. Researchers were interested in whether hearing the noise of a dentist's drill while
waiting for dental treatment would affect the anxiety level of children. The participants in
the study were 14-year-old children. Half of them waited with their parents in a special
soundproof waiting room, and the other half waited in a normal waiting room and could
hear the sound of a drill in the next room. In this study, what was the dependent variable?
A. The level of anxiety that each child experienced !
B. The age of the research participants !
C. The type of waiting room!
D. The length of time the children spent in the waiting room !
14. Researchers were interested in whether hearing the noise of a dentist's drill while
waiting for dental treatment would affect anxiety. They asked children to rate their level
of anxiety while they waited in a dentist's office. Half of the children waited with their
parents in a special soundproof waiting room; the other half waited in a normal waiting
room and could hear the sound of the drill. In this study, what was the experimental
group?
A. The children who heard the sound of the drill while they waited !
B. The children who waited in the special soundproof too, and did not hear the drill!
C. The children and parents who were the most anxious in the waiting rooms!
D. The sample of children and parents who took part in the study !
15. Researchers who were interested in the effects of talking on a cell phone while
driving counted the number of driving errors committed in a driving simulator. The
participants were 21-year-old women. Half of them completed the driving simulation
while talking on a hands-free cell phone, and the other half completed the driving
simulation while listening to a recording of a radio talk show. In this study, what was the
experimental group?
A. The women who listened to recording of the talk show !
B. The women who made the most driving errors !
C. All the women who took. Part in the study !
D. The women who talked on a hands free cell phone !
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Document Summary
A researcher who has been investigating the causes of test anxiety in grade 4 students uses his research ndings to design a tutor program to improve exam performance. It allows research to be done quickly and accurately. A: the results are stated in a way that is easy to understand. C: only studies with accurate information are ever published. C: the results can be used to solve everyday situations. It helps to ensure that studies are precise and contain minimal error: researchers believe that a person wearing a suit is more persuasive than a person wearing ordinary, casual clothes. To test this hypothesis, they asked political science students to watch a televised speech arguing against tax cuts. Half the students saw the speech delivered by a man wearing a three-piece suit and the other half saw the same man deliver the same speech, but this time he was dressed in casual clothes.
