Short Answer Quiz

Problem 1: Read the following research scenario and answer the questions that follow.

You are interested in ways to reduce test anxiety for students in your college. After reviewing previous studies examining anxiety in the scientific literature, you conduct an experiment to test your expectation that students will get higher scores on an exam when they listen to background music during a test. Students in your statistics class are randomly assigned such that half take the statistics exam listening to soft music and the other half take the exam without music. All students wear headphones, but only those students in the music condition actually hear soft music. An analysis of the exam scores reveal students listening to music have higher scores than those who didn't listen to music.

1		Identify the research and null hypotheses.
2		Explain why the hypothesis in this study is considered a scientific hypothesis.
3		Identify the independent variable.
4		Identify the dependent variable.
5		If headphones are given only to students in the music condition and not the others, this is what type of variable?
6		Are the students in the study a sample or a population?
7		A variable must be able to assume more than one value. What are the different values of the dependent variable?
8		An example of the use of _________ is the analyses used to analyze the data collected in your study.
9		Is the overall average of the exam scores an estimate or parameter?
10		Identify the scale of measurement used to measure the dependent variable.

Problem 2: Read the following research scenario and answer the questions that follow.

Researchers working for a large pharmaceutical company develop a new medication to alleviate migraine headaches. To test the effectiveness of the new medication, a group of participants (with a history of migraines) are randomly assigned to take either the new drug or a placebo at the onset of the headache. Prior to the study, participants evaluate their headache using a 1 (slight) to 7 (considerable) scale. Two hours after taking the medication, participants evaluate their headache pain again using the same scale. The difference in pain before and after taking the medication is analyzed. The results reveal the placebo drug is most effective in reducing pain.

11		Identify the research and null hypotheses.
12		Identify the independent variable.
13		Identify the dependent variable.
14		List three possible extraneous variables that need to be held constant.
15		Are the participants in the study a sample or a population?
16		Identify the scale of measurement used to measure the dependent variable.

Problem 3: Read the following research scenario and answer the questions that follow.

A psychologist wishes to see if students in her classes remember more accurate information about a story when it is presented with text and illustrations versus text only and no illustrations. Participants are randomly assigned to read the story in one of the two conditions. After reading the story, participants answer questions about the story. The results indicate that when students read the story with both text and illustrations they answer more questions about the story correctly than participants who read the story without illustrations.

17		Identify the research and null hypotheses.
18		Identify the independent variable.
19		Identify the dependent variable.
20		List three possible extraneous variables that need to be held constant.
21		Are the participants in the study a sample or a population?
22		Identify the scale of measurement used to measure the dependent variable.