Assignment memo

For your convenience, each question is given followed by the appropriate answer and an explanation of the correct response. Work your way systematically through these, comparing It with your own answer. Even If you chose the correct alternative, you may find that the explanations we give are useful. Try to understand the explanations. Many of the Items measure Insight, not Just factual knowledge. You will not pass this course if you try and memories the questions and answers!

Question 1

The goal of quantitative research in psychology is best described as aiming to –

1. Polo appropriate statistical tests which can be used to determine the relationships among psychological variables that occur at a level greater than chance

2. Develop theories that helps us to explain human experience and behavior

3. Formulate clear hypotheses based on insights about human experience and behavior

4. Convert theoretical constructs into measurable variables through personalization

Answer: Option 2 gives the correct answer. The goal of research Is to develop theories which can explain aspects of human behavior and experience.

Options 3 and 4 refer to stages In the process of doing initiative research but these are not the goals of the research. The goal of the research Is also not to develop statistical tests, as Implied In option 1 . These tests are developed by statisticians and are used by researchers in social and other scientific research, but developing the tests is not part of the goal of the research.

Question 2

A psychologist believes that personality factors such as ability to get along with other people in a team are likely to have on influence their success in a team sport.

To investigate this, she draws a sample of participants in competitive sport, comprising f soccer players, hockey players and cricketers from various sports clubs. After evaluating their performance on an appropriate psychometric test, she delves players from the three categories of sports Into two groups: those who have good social skills and those who tend avoid social contact. She then uses evaluation forms, based on interviews with different sports experts, to assess the actual sports performance of the members of the sample.

The dependent variable in the study is – – – – – and the independent variable is – – – –

1. Measured sports performance; social skills

2. Type of sports; social skills

3. Social skills; measured sports performance

4. Social skills; type of sports

Answer: Option 1 is correct. The researcher wants to determine whether sports performance (a measurement of how well a specific sports participant performs) depends on social skills. This Implies that the construct ‘social skills’ Is the Independent variable which Is varied to see how it affects the dependent variable, the measurement of sports performance. The population from which the sample was drawn (the participants that were involved), but in the context of this scenario this variable is not being investigated here. It would be possible to compare the three groups but this would not answer the research question.

Question 3

Consider the following statement: “That phase of sleep during which brain rhythms resemble those of an alert person is called paradoxical sleep or rapid eye movement (ERM) sleep. ” This statement is a – – –

1. Conclusion based on empirical research

2. Operational definition

3. Search hypothesis

4. Inference based on observation

Answer: Option 2 is correct. The statement gives a definition of ERM sleep in terms of the measurement of brain waves (which can be done with an EGG machine). Since it is simply a statement about what the expression ‘paradoxical sleep or rapid eye movement (ERM) sleep’ means, it is not a conclusion, hypothesis or inference, as suggested by the other options. 6 Questions 4 to 6 are based on the following research scenario. A psychologist wants to study how aspects of motivation can influence people’s productivity in their work.

She reads an article which claims that an important aspect of motivation is locus of control, which distinguishes people who are driven by their own personal ambition from those who act by conforming to a social group. To test this idea, draws a sample of 100 workers from a number of companies in the information technology sector. She divides the workers into two groups, those with an internal locus of control and those with an external locus of control, based on an appropriate psychometric test. She then uses Job evaluation forms to assess the actual work performance of the workers in the two groups.

Question 4

Which of the following gives the best expression of the hypothesis that the researcher wishes to test?

1 . Motivation affects the productivity of workers.

2. Internal locus of control is related to high productivity.

3. The Job performance of workers is influenced by locus of control.

4. Motivation of workers is influenced by locus of control.

Answer: Option 3 is correct. Option 3 is the clearest expression of an appropriate research hypothesis. Option 1 is too vague: ‘motivation’ is probably too complex to be captured in a single construct.
Option 2 is too specific: it is not clear from the information given in the scenario whether internal or external locus of control can be expected to lead to higher productivity. ‘Locus of control’ is regarded as an aspect of motivation (according to the scenario), not as a separate construct (or variable) that can be compared to it, so option 4 is also wrong.

Question 5

Given that research is an investigation of a relationship between (two or more) constructs, which of the following constructs have to be compared to do this (b) motivation (c) locus of control (d) Job evaluation forms (e) people who work in the information technology sector

1. A) and (c) 2. (a), (b) and (e) 3. (a), (c) and (e) 4. (c) and (d)

Answer: The correct alternative is option 1 . ‘Locus of control’ is the specific aspect of ‘motivation’ that is being studied, which excludes option 2. In this particular context, ‘people who work in the information technology sector’ is part of the definition of the population that the researcher chooses to study, not a construct that is being compared to another, so option 3 is incorrect. Option 4 is incorrect because ‘Job evaluation forms’ are the instruments used to measure the construct ‘Job performance’, and not a construct as such.

Question 6

The dependent variable in the study is – – – – – and the independent variable is –

1 . Job performance; locus of control

2. Locus of control; motivation

3. Job performance; productivity

4. Locus of control; Job performance

Answer: The dependent variable is the one that is predicted or explained, and the independent variable is manipulated to see how it affects the dependent variable. In this study the researcher tries to predict Job performance with the aid of locus of control. In other words, the researcher is trying to see if Job performance depends, to a significant degree, on locus of control.

Option 2 is wrong because locus of control is the aspect of motivation that is being studied. In a similar way, Job performance is equivalent to productivity, which excludes option 3.

Question 7

In scientific research, the word theory refers to a(n) – – – – –

1. Reasonable guess or creative insight which seems to explain a phenomenon

2. Method to make the constructs which are involved in a phenomenon visible through a process of personalization

3. Investigation or procedure which is performed to determine the relationships among variables

4. Explanation of why the observations that were made are as they are, or are related in the way that they are related

Answer: Option 4 is correct. As explained on page 4 in the Guide for PECCARY, a theory is a framework for facts: it s the explanation of why the facts (I. E. Observations, measurements) are as they are, or are related in the way in which they are related, based on empirical investigations. Option 1 is a description off hypothesis, but this is often how the word theory is option 3 is a description of a process such as an experiment by which a theory can be evaluated but not to a theory as such.

Question 8

Consider the following statement: “The experience of strong emotion is accompanied by physiological reactions such as an increase in heart rate”. This statement can be viewed as a research hypothesis because it –

a) makes a prediction that can be tested by observation

(b) describes a possible relationship between variables

1. (a) but not (b) 2. Both (a) and (b) 3. (b) but not (a) 4. Neither (a) nor (b) 8

A psychological hypothesis formulates a testable empirical claim, that is, a prediction which can in principle be observed, and this usually involves postulating a relationship between two or more variables.

Question 9

A psychologist uses a psychometric test to study the intelligence of school children. Intelligence is the – – – – – variable and the psychometric test represents the – variable in this study.

1. Independent;

2.dependent manifest; operational

3. Dependent; independent

4. Latent; manifest

Answer: A hidden or underlying (latent) aspect of a construct has to be made visible (manifest) to be observed. ‘Intelligence’ is a latent variable because it cannot be observed directly. The results of the psychometric test can however be observed directly and can therefore be regarded as the manifest variable.

Note that the test result is the measurement by which intelligence is made visible, so these are manifestations of the same construct (or variable), only in one form it is observable (manifest) and the other form it is hidden (latent). Dependent’ and ‘independent’ refer to relationships between two different variables, so options 1 and 3 are both incorrect. The psychometric test is the operation by which the variable ‘intelligence’ is measured (or ‘personalities’), but you would not refer to the test or test result as an ‘operational variable’, so option 2 is also not correct.

Question 10

An industrial psychologist wants to investigate the levels of assertiveness among different categories of workers in a large company. He draws a sample of 200 workers and then divides them into managers, clerical workers, technical workers and manual errors with the intention of getting each participant to do a test to determine their level of assertiveness. The division of workers into these four groups represents a measurement on a – level.

1. Nominal

2. Interval

3. Asia

When numbers are used to allocate people or objects to categories or groups with no implication of ‘intensity or ‘ordering related to the size of the number, it is referred to as a nominal level or nominal scale of measurement. Note that while one may presume that ‘managers’ have a higher rank than the rest and perhaps ‘manual workers’ can be said to have a low rank, there is no obvious way to decide whether lyrical workers have a lesser ‘rank than technical workers or the other way round, as it would depend on the specific types of work that they do.

A senior clerk can outrank a Junior technician, and vice versa. (Nominal and other scales are explained in Appendix B of the Guide). PECCARY/201 9 Question 11 If a pupil will be chosen to go on a field trip from a class of 13 girls and 17 boys, what is the probability that Joanne (one of the 13 girls) will be chosen, given that a girl will be selected? 1. 1/13 2. 14/30 3. 1/30 4. 1/17 You have to use the basic formula for probability: We know that there are 13 possible outcomes (any one of the 13 girls can be selected) and we also know that there is only one favorable’ event Anyone being selected).