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C8511
INSTRUCTIONS
Do not, under any circumstances, remove this question paper, used or unused,
from the examination room. It must be left on your desk when you leave the
examination.
There are five sections to this paper: 1,2,3,4 and 5. Each section carries 20% of the
marks. Write your answers to the questions in sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the answer
boxes on page 15 at the end of the exam paper. Write the answers to section 5 in
the boxes provided within that section. You are advised to spend an equal amount
of time on each section.
By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
In this section, a concept is given together with five alternative definitions, only one
of which is correct. Indicate which of the definitions is correct by writing the
appropriate letter (a, b, c, d or e) in the table on page 15 at the end of the exam
paper (2 marks per question).
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
5. For the results of a parametric statistical test to be valid, the data should:
(a) is when one rejects the null hypothesis when it is in fact true.
(b) is when one accepts the null hypothesis when it is false.
(c) is always the result of bias in the sample.
(d) is the error of using the wrong test.
(e) is the error of using the same data twice.
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
You are given some SPSS output from a study, and questions to answer about it.
There are two parts to this section, each with 10 questions (1 mark per question).
Enter your answers in the table on page 15 at the end of the exam paper.
DentistFear
Mann-Whitney U 8.000
Wilcoxon W 36.000
Z -2.111
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .035
Exact Sig. [2*(1-tailed Sig.)] .038b
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On the basis of this information, answer the following questions. Write your answers
in the appropriate boxes at the end of the exam paper.
By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
2. The test results shown in the "Test Statistics" table are all:
(a) Statistically significant at p < .05.
(b) Statistically significant at p > .05.
(c) Not statistically significant at p < .05.
5. What is the standard deviation for the bad experiences group? 22.20
6. What is the standard deviation for the good experiences group? 31.68
7. What is the standard error of the mean for the bad experiences group? 8.39
8. What is the standard error of the mean for the good experiences group? 11.97
9. Using the data in the "Descriptives" table, complete the following boxplot (on the
next page) for the good experiences group.
By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
10. On the basis of these results, the researcher should conclude that:
(a) bad childhood experiences lead to greater fear of dentists in adulthood .
(b) bad childhood experiences lead to less fear of dentists in adulthood.
(c) bad childhood experiences are not significantly related to fear of dentists in
adulthood.
By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
PART 2.
A researcher is concerned that there might be a relationship between watching
"Celebrity Come Dancing" and cortical atrophy. The researcher obtains the brains of
30 inmates from a residential home. He takes a standard-sized slice of cortex from
each brain and measures how many synapses it contains. He correlates this
measure with a record of how many episodes of "Celebrity Come Dancing" were
viewed by each inmate. Here is some of the SPSS output from this study.
Correlations
Number_of_viewings synapses
N 30 30
**
Pearson Correlation -.772 1
N 30 30
1. A correlation test has been performed on these data. What does it tell us about
the relationship between the number of viewings of "Celebrity Come Dancing" and
the number of synapses?
(a) That there is a significant positive correlation between these two variables.
(b) That there is a non-significant positive correlation between these two variables.
(c) That there is a significant negative correlation between these two variables.
(d) That there is a non-significant negative correlation between these two variables.
3. Which of these equations correctly describes the regression line that SPSS
would fit to the scatterplot?
(a) Predicted Y = 3865.01 + - 205.40 * X
(b) Predicted Y = 3865.01 + 205.40 * X
(c) Predicted Y = 205.40 + 3865.01 * X
(d) Predicted Y = -205.40 + 3865.01 * X
9. Which of the regression lines on the graph is the correct one for predicting the
number of synapses from the number of episodes of "Celebrity Come Dancing"
watched?
(a) Line A.
(b) Line B.
(c) Neither line A nor line B.
10. What should the researcher conclude from these results about the relationship
between viewing "Celebrity Come Dancing" and the number of synapses present?
(a) The more episodes that were watched, the fewer the synapses in the tissue
sample.
(b) The more episodes that were watched, the greater the number of synapses in
the tissue sample.
(c) Watching "Celebrity Come Dancing" produces a reduction in the number of
syapses in the cortex.
(d) Watching "Celebrity Come Dancing" produces an increase in the number of
synapses in the cortex.
By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
In this section you will be given a brief description of a study and some data; you
have to choose the appropriate test. Unless stated otherwise, assume the data are
normally distributed and show homogeneity of variance. There are 10 questions,
each worth 2 marks. For each question write the letter corresponding to the correct
test (i.e. A for Wilcoxon, B for Friedman, etc.) in the table on page 15 at the end of
this exam paper. (Do not write the name of the test itself in the table: if you do so, it will
not be counted as an answer).
2. A study was performed to examine the effects of allergies on mood. One group
of participants were allergy-free; another group suffered from severe hayfever; a
third group suffered from eczema; and a fourth group had gluten intolerance. A
therapist rated the mood of each participant on a 100-point scale. Which statistical
test should the researchers use to see if allergies affect mood? D
5. In response to claims that A-levels are easier now than they were 20 years ago,
a group of current sixth-formers are given two English exams, one a copy of the
1980 A-level paper, and the other a copy of the 2005 A-level paper. Each student
provides a mark for each exam, out of 100. Their scores for the 1980 paper are
heavily skewed. Which statistical test should be used to test the hypothesis that
English exams used to be harder than they are nowadays? A
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
8. Ten children are each given four different toys to play with, and are asked to
rate each toy in terms of how much they liked it. Which test would you use to
assess whether the four toys are liked equally? B
9. Three hundred bird watchers are given the choice between a telescope and a
pair of cheap binoculars. 182 prefer the telescope. Which test would you use to
determine whether or not this is a statistically significant difference in preference?
G
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
SECTION 4
In the following questions you are given some details of an experiment, the
results of a number of statistical tests, and a set of conclusions. Only ONE of
these tests is appropriate, and only ONE in each set of conclusions is correct.
Thus only TWO of the statements are correct in each of the following questions.
Indicate which two are correct by writing the appropriate letters in the table on
page 15 at the end of this exam paper (4 marks per question: 2 for identifying the
correct statistics, and 2 for identifying the correct interpretation).
1. An experimenter develops a method that may help the memory of people with
brain damage. It is thought that these people have problems because when they
make a mistake in recall, they cannot remember whether the mistake or the real
answer was correct. Therefore they are given strong clues to the answer, to stop
them ever making mistakes and hopefully improving their memory (this method is
known as errorless learning). To test the effectiveness of this method, the
experimenter asked ten head injury patients to learn the names of 20 of their
carers. Ten of the names were learnt using errorless learning, and ten using
simple trial and error. The data are not normally distributed.
Statistical tests:
Conclusions:
(e) the number of names learnt by trial and error is related to the number of
names learnt with errorless learning.
(f) Memory for names is unaffected by the type of learning.
(g) Memory for names is significantly better if errorless learning is used.
(h) Memory for names is significantly better if trial and error learning is
used.
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
Conclusions:
(e) Ecstasy users' sensation-seeking scores are more variable than those of non-
users.
(f) Ecstasy users rate themselves to be significantly higher in sensation-seeking
than non-users.
(g) Ecstasy users rate themselves to be significantly lower in sensation-seeking
than non-users.
(h) There is no significant difference between Ecstasy users and non-users in
terms of sensation-seeking.
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
Statistical tests:
(a) Kruskal-Wallis test: Χ2 (2) = 16.45, p < .001.
(b) Spearman's correlation between A and B: rs (10) = .17, .p = .65.
(c) Pearson's correlation between A and C: r (8) = .12, p = .74.
(d) Friedman's test: Χ2 (2) = 12.46, p = .002.
Conclusions:
(e) The more TV that is watched, the fewer the synapses in human frontal
cortex.
(f) Pensioners who have fewer synapses in their frontal cortex prefer to
watch Sky TV.
(g) There is no significant difference between the three groups of
pensioners in terms of how many synapses they had in their frontal cortex.
(h) The nature of the pensioners' television viewing experiences has
significantly affected the number of synapses in their frontal cortex.
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
4. A researcher is interested in the effects of four different types of speed limit sign on
drivers' behaviour. At a known accident black spot, each of four different signs is erected for
one month. During that time, the number of drivers exceeding the speed limit is recorded.
Statistical tests:
(a) Pearson's correlation between sign and number of speeders: r (2) = .46,
p = .54
(b) Spearman's correlation between sign and number of speeders: rs (3)= .20,
p = .80
(c) Chi-square goodness of fit test: Χ2 (3) = 2462.68, p < .001.
(d) Wilcoxon test: z = 1.83, p = .07.
Conclusions:
(e) The type of sign significantly affects how many drivers speed past it.
(f) The type of sign has no effect on how many drivers speed past it.
(g) There is a significant correlation between the type of sign and drivers'
speeding behaviour.
(h) There is no significant correlation between the type of sign and drivers'
speeding behaviour.
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
Statistical tests:
(a) Pearson's correlation between A and B: r (8) = .66, p = .04.
(b) Spearman's correlation between A and B: rho = .51, p = .14.
(c) Wilcoxon test: z = 2.81, p = .005.
(d) Mann-Whitney test: U (10,10) = 17, p = .02.
Conclusions:
(e) The two methods differ significantly in their effectiveness in preventing
antisocial behaviour by children.
(f) Children who behaved badly under method A also did so under method B.
(g) Depriving children of personal freedom causes them to miss their MP3 player.
(h) Children who are punished by having their MP3 player taken away, are more
likely to misbehave subsequently than children who are punished by having
their liberty curtailed.
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
SECTION 5:
1. It is hypothesised that visualisation techniques combined with football
training might improve footballers' performance more than football training
alone. This was assessed by measuring the number of goals scored in a
season of training matches, after participants had either (a) trained for 5
hours a week on a running track and 5 hours a week in the gym; or (b) done
this training plus five hours a week of visualising themselves scoring goals.
The table below shows the number of goals that were scored by each player
in the following season, together with the means, standard deviations, and
the result of the Mann-Whitney test used to compare the scores.
U = 21 p = .25
(a) graph these data in a form appropriate for inclusion in a lab report (5 marks).
(b) Describe the data in a form appropriate for inclusion in the results section of a
lab report (5 marks).
r = 0.87 p = .005
(a) Graph the data in a form appropriate for inclusion in a lab report (5 marks).
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By. Agan Agalo Research Skills in Psychology
(a) Describe the data in a form appropriate for inclusion in the results section of a
lab report (assuming no graph in the results section) (5 marks).
Q2 B Q2 A Q2 C Q2 D
Q3 B Q3 A Q3 A Q3 D
Q4 D Q4 C Q4 B Q4 G
Q5 D Q5 22.20 Q5 B Q5 A
Q6 B Q6 31.68 Q6 A Q6 E
Q7 C Q7 8.39 Q7 C Q7 G
Q8 D Q8 11.97 Q8 C Q8 B
Q9 C Q9 SEE Q9 B Q9 G
BOXPLOT
Q10 B Q10 A Q10 A Q10 B
Section 4 answers
Q1 statistics: B interpretation: H
Q2 statistics: C interpretation: F
Q3 statistics: A interpretation: H
Q4 statistics: C interpretation: E
Q5 statistics: C interpretation: E
End of paper