Psychology ATAR Units 1&2: Research Methods

In graphs, when we want to show a variable on the x axis that is not continuous we use:

• pie charts

• a bar graph with spaces between the bars

• frequency polygons

• a bar graph with no spaces between the bars

A frequency polygon:

• is only used to show information bout frequency

• looks like a line graph

• is useful in showing mutiple datasets

• all of the above

The mode is:

• the average score

• the middle score

• the most frequently occurring score

• none of the above

A correlation of -0.6 is a:

• high negative correlation

• moderate positive correlation

• low negative correlation

• moderate negative correlation

A single-blind procedure means:

• ensuring neither participants nor experimenters know which participants have the real treatment

• testing participants who are visually impaired

• ensuring that participants do not know whether they are in the treatment or control group

• ensuring that participants do not know the real reason for the experiment

A high positive correlation indicates that a person who scores moderately on one variable will score:

• high on the other

• moderately on the other

• low on the other

• a score that is impossible to predict

A sample in psychological research:

• is bigger than the population

• is representative of the population

• allows generalisations of findings to the population

• both B and C

Archival data:

• are data collected about elderly people

• are purely descriptive

• use data previously collected by others

• are more expensive than other forms of data collection

Debriefing at the end of a study involves:

• giving feedback on how the participant performed

• thanking the participant for helping with the research

• offering the participant a reward, such as a movie pass, to thank them for participating.

• giving participants full information about the purposes of the study and correcting mistaken ideas.

In an open-ended interview, participants:

• answers yes/no/undecided in response to questions

• answer the question in any way they want

• complete a rating scale to indicate how strongly they agree or disagree

• can talk about any topic they want