Research Methods Homework
To be Typed
Just you name and period on top of the page.
Answer the following two questions using the information learned both in class and in the text to support your answers. Try to think critically, use your imagination and if you get confused, take a break and try again. Do not be afraid to ask me for help. Good Luck!!!
If you get REALLY frustrated just click
Question 1
Philip, who teaches first grade, believes that educational television programs such as Sesame Street promote reading ability in young children. He announces his hunch to his students and tells their parents about his idea during a P.T.A. meeting. Some parents respond enthusiastically when he asks for volunteers to participate in a three-month experiment to test his hypothesis. Ten volunteers are assigned to the experimental group and instructed to have their children watch the one-hour Sesame Street program each day after school. The parents of ten other students, who are picked at random from the remaining members of the class, receive the same instructions, except that the program they watch is a one-hour non-educational cartoon. After the three-month period, Philip administers a standardized reading test to both groups. He is delighted to find that the average test score of the students in the experimental group is substantially higher than that of the students in the comparison group.
1. What is the focal behavior of the study?
2. What is Philip’s hypothesis?
3. What is the independent variable?
4. What is the dependent variable?
5. List three variables that are controlled in the experiment.
6. List three variables that are not controlled and explain how they might have affected Philip’s findings.
7. Was the research a valid test of Philip’s hypothesis? Explain your reasoning.
Question 2
Design and describe an experiment to measure the relationship between watching the Jersey Shore and grades in AP Psychology . In your answer you should formulate a hypothesis and include a description of each of the following:
- Population
- Subject selection
- Independent variable
- Dependent variable
- Experimental group
- Control group
- Potential confounding variables
- A method of reducing experimenter bias