PSY 205: Research Methods I

Module 4: Practice Problem

Practice identifying IVs and DVs

For each scenario, identify the independent variable (and its conditions)and the dependent variable. Distinguish between a true experiment and an ex post facto study (quasi -experiment) by using quotation marks to indicate the “IV” and “DV” in the ex post facto studies.

  1. Dr. Parsi is interested in political psychology.Specifically, he is interested in how voters’ perceptions of candidates affect their attitudes toward them.He had participants read a scenario about a politician who had just won an election to Congress.The scenario stated that the politician had previously run for two state offices.For half of the participants, the politician was described as having won the two previous races and for the other half of the participants, the politician was described as having lost the previous races.All other information in the scenarios was the same:the politician was a 40 year old male lawyer who had been active in a number of volunteer activities, was married, had two children, and had been active in his state political party for ten years. The participants then rated the politician on his competence to serve in Congress.
  1. Dr. Carllote was interested in the effect of talking on a cell phone when driving.Using random assignment to groups,she measured participants’ reaction times in a driving simulator while simply driving, while driving and talking on a cell phone (with a confederate who did not know the purpose of the research but who was just asked to carry on a conversation with the participant), or while driving and talking to a “passenger in the car” (i.e., a confederate who did not know the purpose of the research but who was just asked sit next to the participant and to carry on a conversation with him or her).
  1. Dr. Russell measured reading comprehension levels in elderly residents at an assisted living facility before and after they participated in a physical fitness program five days a week for six weeks.
  1. Dr. Longchamps is interested in the effect that dealing with a different culture may have on creativity.Taking advantage of the fact that his college has a study abroad program, he compared the creativity scores of students who had just returned from a one semester study abroad program with those of students with the same majors and same grade point averages who had not studied abroad.
  1. Dr. Carole randomly assigned students to prepare for the math section of the GRE by meeting weekly in a small group to work practice problems as a group or to work individually using a computer program.She then compares their actual GRE-Math scores after they have taken the exam.
  1. Using self-reports, Dr. Strong divided married women aged 30 – 40 into two groups.One group reported that they spent one or more hours each week with her spouse in a mutually enjoyable activity (e.g., sports, hobbies, gardening) and the other reported zero to less than one hour of such an activity.He then compared their marital satisfaction scores.
  1. Two researchers administered an empathy scale to participants in fourgroups: those who have no pets, those who have a dog for a pet, those who have a cat for a pet, and those who have a bird for a pet. He then compared the empathy scores for the four groups.
  1. Dr. Bellins is interested in how undergraduate experiences can affect traditional age students majoring in psychology.She randomly assigned students in her class to do practicum work with either young children in an after school program or elderly residents in an assisted living facility.At the end of the semester, the students took a battery of personality tests “to help direct them toward their vocational goals.”Included in the battery was a test measuring optimism and Dr. Bellins compared the two groups on their scores on this test.
  1. Dr. Garcia was interested in self-esteem in children.He had 30 first grade children meet individually with “a teacher’s helper to write a story.”Ten of the children were randomly assigned to write a story in which the main character was an animal of their choice, ten to write a story in which the main character was a child of the same sex as themselves, and ten to write a story in which they themselves were themain character.Two days after each child wrote his or her story, Dr. Garcia interviewed each child to obtain a measure of self-esteem.
  1. Dr. Kimmetis interested in preventing alcohol abuse on a college campus.He is particularly interested in the effectiveness of different types of trainers when working with the students.As part of a two day orientation weekend during the summer, he randomly assigns freshmen students to receive alcohol abuse awareness training from either adults who work in student services, upper classmen (juniors and seniors) whom they will likely not see very often on campus, or their resident advisors whom they will see every day in their residence halls.One week after arriving on campus in the fall, the students take a battery of tests “to help with advising” and among the questions are ten which measure attitudes toward alcohol use.Dr. Kimmet compares these attitude scores for the three groups.

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