PSYC 6245: Social Psychology Research Methods Quiz

1.    Researchers (Dexter et al., 1998) wanted to know what impact, if any, the consumption of violent movies has on attitudes toward women. Participants at a large, midwestern university viewed either (a) a slasher film daily for 1 week, (b) Three slasher films in 1 week, or (c) a George Pierrot adventure travelogue. Slasher films feature the slicing and dicing of young women’s bodies (e.g., The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, 1974). In the week following the film viewing, all participants were escorted to the campus law school where they were asked to observe law students try a rape case in a mock trial; participants’ task was to evaluate the performance of all parties to the trial. A Likert-style questionnaire (1=not at all; 9=extremely) completed by participants included evaluations of the respective attorneys, the defendant, and the accuser. Examples were:

·         How sympathetic is she/he?

·         How attractive is she/he?

·         How intelligent is she/he?

·         How likeable is she/he?

Reference:

Dexter, H. R., Penrod, S., Linz, D., & Saunders, D. (1998). Attributing responsibility to female victims after exposure to sexually violent films: The effects of victim-observer similarity, situational relevance, and mass media induced emotional arousal. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27(24), 2149-2171.

a)    What is the research method employed in this study?

(Highlight the correct answer)

A.   Observational

B.   Correlational

C.   Experimental

D.   Phenomenological

E.   Case Study

If a quantitative study,

b)    What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?

c)    What is the hypothesis for this study?

If a qualitative study,

d)    What is the concept or phenomenon of interest being explored?

2.    A pair of psychologists are interested in the effects of mood in helping (based on Isen & Levin, 1972). They give participants free tickets to a happy movie. They then have a confederate drop papers in front of the people who just got out of the movie, and people who are only walking by and have not just seen a happy movie for free. The researchers watch to see if the participants help pick up the dropped papers.

Reference:

Isen, A. M., & Levin, P. F. (1972). Effect of feeling good on helping: Cookies and kindness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21(3), 384–388.

a)    What is the research method employed in this study?

(Highlight the correct answer)

A.   Observational

B.   Correlational

C.   Experimental  

D.   Phenomenological

E.   Case Study

If a quantitative study,

b)    What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?

c)    What is the hypothesis for this study?

If a qualitative study,

d)    What is the concept or phenomenon of interest being explored?

3.    Researchers are interested in personal experiences of Indian adolescent girls with regard to gender discrimination and how they feel about the discrimination (Sarkar, 2003). All of the participants used in this study are female. Participants are interviewed with a set of semi-structured, open ended questions in an individual setting and in focus groups.

Reference:

Sarkar, S. (2010). Cross-cultural examination of psychological well-being in India and Sri Lanka. Paper accepted and to be presented as a part of the Symposium “Exploring psychological well-being in culturally diverse populations: Methodological innovations”, chaired by B. K. Nastasi at the American Psychological Association’s 112th annual convention (August 2010, San Diego).

a)    What is the qualitative research method employed in this study?

(Highlight the correct answer)

A.   Observational

B.   Correlational

C.   Experimental

D.   Phenomenological

E.   Case Study

If a quantitative study,

b)    What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?

c)    What is the hypothesis for this study?

.

If a qualitative study,

d)    What is the concept or phenomenon of interest being explored?

4.    Researchers (Reifman, Larrick, & Fein, 1991) were interested in the factors causing aggression. They looked at an entire baseball season’s worth of news reports. For each game, they recorded the temperature of the locale and the number of batters who were hit by pitched balls.

Reference:

Reifman, A. S., Larrick, R. P., & Fein, S. (1991). Temper and temperature on the diamond: The heat-aggression relationship in major league baseball. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(5), 580–585.

a)    What is the research method employed in this study?

(Highlight the correct answer)

A.   Observational

B.   Correlational

C.   Experimental

D.   Phenomenological

E.   Case Study

If a quantitative study,

b)    What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?

c)    What is the hypothesis for this study?

If a qualitative study,

e)    What is the concept or phenomenon of interest being explored?

5.    Researchers are interested in influences on self-esteem. Half of the participants used in this study are male and half are female. Participants are given a set of anagram problems to solve in a 5-minute period. Half are randomly assigned to receive very easy anagrams and half are given difficult ones. After completing as many of the anagrams as they can, participants are given a questionnaire labeled “Thoughts and Feelings Questionnaire” that is really a measure of self-esteem.

a)    What is the research method employed in this study?

(Highlight the correct answer)

A.   Observational

B.   Correlational

C.   Experimental

D.   Phenomenological

E.   Case Study

If a quantitative study,

b)    What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?

c)    What is the hypothesis for this study?

If a qualitative study,

f)     What is the concept or phenomenon of interest being explored?