• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

II. quasi-experiment

III. correlational research

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) I and II only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II, and III

Refer to the following and your knowledge of psychology to answer questions 12–14:

Ms. Costas owns a business with nine other employees. Ms. Costas’s annual salary is $90,000. Her manager’s salary is $60,000. Of her other employees, three earn $25,000 each and five earn $15,000 each.

12. The range of this distribution is

(A) $ 75,000

(B) $ 50,000

(C) $ 25,000

(D) $ 20,000

(E) $ 15,000

13. For this distribution, the mean is

(A) lower than both the median and the mode

(B) lower than the median, but higher than the mode

(C) lower than the mode, but higher than the median

(D) higher than both the median and the mode

(E) the same as the median

14. The frequency polygon for this distribution resembles a

(A) normal curve

(B) positively skewed line graph

(C) negatively skewed line graph

(D) bar graph

(E) scatterplot

Answers and Explanations

1. D—This is the definition of theory.

2. A—A hypothesis predicts how two or more factors are related. This statement relates the appearance of a font with the speed at which it can be read.

3. C—The dependent variable in an experiment is the factor that is measured. In this experiment, the type of font is the factor the experimenter is manipulating or the independent variable. The speed at which it is read is the factor that is measured or the dependent variable.

4. B—Quasi-experiments deal with groups that have preexisting differences, such as males and females, young and old, etc. Since the study is examining differences associated with those preexisting differences, participants are assigned on the basis of sex, age, etc. Thus, random assignment is not possible.

5. E—The wincing behavior of the experimenter is an unintentional difference between the treatment of the experimental group and the treatment of the control group. An additional difference between the experimental and control groups is a confounding variable. If the wincing is deliberate, then it is considered dishonest, possibly even fraudulent.

6. C—The double-blind procedure, in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group, would probably eliminate the wincing behavior. A single-blind procedure in which only the subjects do not know in which treatment group they have been placed would not affect the experimenter’s behavior.

7. E—An in-depth examination, usually over an extended period of time, characterizes the case study method.

8. D—Correlational research examines the relationship between two variables. Questionnaires or interviews that ask questions about political party membership and attitude toward the death penalty distributed to a large representative sample of the population could gather appropriate data for the study. Questionnaires and interviews are kinds of surveys.

9. B—People who have close friendships tend to be happy. Lonely people tend to be unhappy. The presence of close friendships predicts happiness. An adult’s weight and running speed (A), sense of humor and years of education (C), and visual acuity and salary (E) are unrelated pairs of factors. Impoverished people are less likely to be healthy than people who have more money, so (D) indicates an inverse relationship or negative correlation.

10. D—He is gathering information in the field about typical behavior of people without manipulating any variables, which characterizes naturalistic observation.

11. A—Only controlled experiments can establish cause and effect relationships.

12. A—The range is $90,000 to $15,000, or $75,000. To find the range, deduct the lowest score from the highest score.

13. D—The mean is determined by adding all of the scores, then dividing by the number of scores. $300,000 ÷ 10 = $30,000. The median is the middle score in the ordered distribution. Since there is an even number of scores in the distribution, the median is halfway between the 5th