Key Science Skills

Research Methods

A recent study aimed to test the impact of caffeine on memory. It was hypothesised that adults who consume
caffeine would have better recall than those who do not consume caffeine. In order to test this, a group of 50
adults were separated into two groups. Group A consumed four 600ml bottles of Coca Cola in a 12-hour period
immediately before undergoing a memory test. Group B were not allowed to consume any caffeinated
beverages during the same 12-hour period, and then underwent the same memory test.

Aim of the experiment

Operationalised Independent Variable

Operationalised Dependent Variable

What is the purpose of this experiment? (include information about previous research)

Hypothesis (make sure it includes the IV, DV, effect, and population)

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 Key Science Skills
Research Questions

Link the following pairs of variables to ​create research questions​. For each formulated research question
underline or highlight the two variables in different colours.

Example: stress and laughter

Research question: Does laughter reduce stress?

● parental praise and self-esteem

● hearing impairment and MP3 player use

● sense of wellbeing and friendships

● sibling birth order and personality

● mood and helpful behaviour

● type of TV advertisement (annoying or enjoyable) and product sales

● unemployment and mental illness

● free access to gym and workplace productivity

● intelligence and sensory stimulation in infancy

● bullying behaviour and unstable home life

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 Key Science Skills
IV & DV

Use 2 different coloured highlighters to highlight the IV (independent variable) and DV (dependent variable)
in the following scenarios.

1. Primary school children who watch violent cartoons on television have more nightmares than those
who watch humorous cartoons.

2. By the age of six, children who were in day care before the age of six months are socially better
adjusted than those who stayed with a sole caregiver.

3. Children who sleep more than nine hours each night have better concentration in school than those
who sleep less than nine hours.

4. It is predicted that taking a tablet that will enhance concentration will allow the students to perform
better on their exams, as shown by their end of year results.

5. The experimenter studied the results of the student’s math exams and found that the results correlated
with the amount of hours each student spent studying.

6. James practiced his basketball three pointers for 3 hours before the game. During the game James
scored 12 three pointers, more three pointers than anyone else on his team.

7. Jodie had three Panadols and after two hours felt a lot of pain relief.

8. Joe spent all night on Facebook, the next day he got a poor score on his maths test.

9. Tegan runs every morning for 2 hours, she got the top score in her P.E beep test.

10. Jason brushes his teeth twice every morning and once at night in the shower, his dentist said he has the
cleanest teeth he has ever seen.

11. Adults who drink more than five alcoholic drinks each night suffer memory loss at an earlier age than
non-drinkers.

12. The words at the beginning and end of a list will be recalled more accurately than those in the middle of
the list.

13. VCE students who eat breakfast get better results than those who do not eat breakfast.

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 Key Science Skills
Hypothesis

Complete the following.

1. Dr Hunter wants to research the influence of caffeine on memory ability in middle-aged men. He
gives his experimental group four cups of coffee a day and then measures the number of words they
recall on a series of short-word recollection tests. The control group completes the same test but does
not consume any caffeine.

Population:

IV:

DV:

Hypothesis:

2. A study was conducted to determine who the most dangerous drivers. Researchers recruited 20
P-plate drivers, 20 middle-aged drivers (aged between 35-50) and 20 elderly drivers (aged 65+). Each
group completed the same driving simulation that tested reaction time to potential collisions.

Population:

IV:

DV:

Hypothesis:

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 3. A current psychology student wants to research the effect smoking has on a person’s memory. His
research groups consisted of fifty 1 pack a day smokers aged between 20- 25 and fifty non-smokers
aged between 20-25. He gave each subject a memory test consisting of 10 questions.

Population:

IV:

DV:

Hypothesis​:

4. A psychology professor wants to research the effect a person’s time on FACEBOOK per day has on a
person’s psychology test scores. He took a sample of 100 Yr 11 psychology students. 50 students were
allowed no time on FACEBOOK and the other 50 were allowed FACEBOOK for 3 hours a night for the
week leading up to the test. The students’ test scores (out of 50) were then recorded.

Population:

IV:

DV:

Hypothesis:

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 Key Science Skills
Types of Investigations

Identify the type of study in the following scenarios and list the strengths and limitations of that particular
study.

Sigmund Freud developed his psychoanalytic theories mainly from detailed records of research of
patients who sought his help with mental health problems they were experiencing.

Type of investigation:

Strengths Limitations

Filling a room with smoke and watching to see how people will respond to a potential emergency.

Type of investigation:

Strengths Limitations

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Does PowerAde improve athlete stamina?

Group 1 – run for as long as they can on a treadmill

Group 2 – drink PowerAde and then run on a treadmill for as long as they can

Type of investigation:

Strengths Limitations

Should refugees who arrive by boat should be imprisoned until background checks can be
completed?
O ​strongly agree ​O ​agree ​O ​neither agree or disagree ​O ​disagree ​O ​strongly disagree

Type of investigation:

Strengths Limitations

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 Key Science Skills
Ways of Minimising Extraneous Variables

Identify the sampling procedures in the following scenarios and list the strengths and limitations of that
sampling procedure.

Julie wants to know the average amount of time teenagers spend on an electronic device per day. In
order to find this out, she asked some students at her school to complete a survey.

Sampling procedure:

Strengths Limitations

Julie wants to know the average amount of time students at her school spend on an electronic
device per day. She began with a list of all students enrolled at her school (570 students). Then each
student was assigned a number from 1 – 570. Julie used a random generator online to select which
50 students would be involved in the study. These students were then given a survey to complete.

Sampling procedure:

Strengths Limitations

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Julie wants to know the average amount of time students at her school spend on an electronic
device per day. She hypothesised that this would differ among students in different year levels and
so she obtained a list of students in each year level. Julie randomly sampled participants from each
list, proportionate to the percentage of students in each year level within the school.
Participants were then administered a survey.

Sampling procedure:

Strengths Limitations

Describe the following and outline how it could be controlled to minimise extraneous variables
What is it? How can it be controlled for?

Participant
differences

Experimenter
effects

Situational
variables

Order effects

Placebo effect

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 Key Science Skills
Experimental Research designs

Below are types of experimental research designs. Create your own examples of studies that would use
each time of research design.

Independent groups

Example:

Strengths Limitations

Matched participants

Example:

Strengths Limitations

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Repeated measures

Example:

Strengths Limitations

Cross-sectional study

Example:

Strengths Limitations

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 Key Science Skills
Activities

Activity 1

Highlight the population and sample in the following examples, using different colours
● a group of pre-school children selected for research into cognitive development; Australian children
aged two to four years
● people aged seventy-five years and over; a group of randomly selected people aged seventy-five years
and over responding to a questionnaire on ageing
● Victorian voters registered on the electoral roll; voters responding to a telephone survey on their
preferred political leader
● twenty adolescents who are interviewed in a study investigating psychosocial development; adolescents
in a particular youth training centre

Activity 2

1. In research the term ‘population’ refers to:

a) every resident in a particular geographical location.
b) the whole group that is of interest to the researcher, including every individual.
c) every person and/or animal involved in the research project.
d) the group of participants directly involved in a research study.

2. In research the term ‘sample’ refers to the:

a) collection of evidence that has been gathered.
b) smaller subgroup of the population that acts as researchers in a study.
c) large group of people or animals that is of interest to the researcher.
d) smaller subset of the population that are the research participants.

3. Random sampling refers to :

a) ensuring that every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected as a
participant.
b) recruiting research participants according to their availability.
c) ensuring that every member of the sample has an equal chance of being selected in the population.
d) selecting participants systematically according their age, gender or religious background.

4. A random sample is needed in order to:

a) select subjects to take part in research so that there are equal numbers of males and females
b) ensure that there is no experimenter bias
c) ensure that experimental and control groups are similar in terms of participant variables
d) ensure that different characteristics within the population are also found within the participants in the
research.

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This scenario is used for questions 5 and 6.

A researcher interested in whether mood is influenced by the weather conducted a survey on the corner of a
busy intersection by asking random passers-by to indicate their mood, once on a warm, sunny day and
another time on a cold, wintry day.

5. This is an example of _______________.

a) Random sampling
b) Stratified sampling
c) Convenience sampling
d) Allocation sampling
6. The type of study this most closely resembles is
a) Experiment
b) Case study
c) Observational study
d) Longitudinal study

7. The purpose of the experimental group in research is to:

a) ascertain the effects of the dependent variable
b) eliminate the effects of the dependent variable
c) ascertain the effects of the independent variable
d) eliminate the effects of the independent variable.

8. What type of research design involves testing the same participants more than once?
a) repeated measures
b) cross-sectional
c) independent groups
d) matched participants

9. Professor Pendlebury is researching the effects of increased vitamin intake through drinking carrot juice on
the functioning of the rods in the eye. He gives his experimental group 125 ml of carrot juice each day while
he gives the control group carrot juice that has been boiled and cooled so that the vitamins are inert. The
purpose of the control group in this experiment is to:
a) show the effects of the independent variable
b) control or eliminate the effects of participant variables
c) form a basis for comparison with the experimental group
d) show the effects of the dependent variable.

10. A researcher is investigating the effects on the sleep cycle of subjects using a lavender- scented pillow,
which she believes will decrease nightmares. She has two groups of subjects. Subjects in one group have
lavender-scented pillows and in the other they have pillows scented with other herbs. The researcher
analyses subjects’ dreams for negative content the next day. The subjects are not aware of which herbs are
thought to reduce nightmares and the researcher is not aware of which subjects are using lavender and
which are using other herbs. The researcher is using:

a) a single-blind design to eliminate the placebo effect

b) a single-blind design to eliminate subject expectations
c) a double-blind design to eliminate experimenter bias
d) a double-blind design to eliminate placebo and experimenter effects.

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Activity 3

Dickens Street Primary School has 1000 pupils. The number of pupils in each grade is indicated
below.
Grade Prep: 120
Grade One: 130
Grade Two: 140
Grade Three: 130
Grade Four: 150
Grade Five: 160
Grade Six: 170

A sample of 100 pupils is to be selected for research purposes. A stratified sample is required.

Calculate how many pupils from each year level should be selected for the sample.

Describe the steps in the selection process to ensure that the sample is representative of the population
of pupils at Dickens Street Primary School.

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 Key Science Skills
Revisions Questions

1. What is the difference between a sample and a population? Why are samples generally used in
psychological studies?

2. What is the difference between sampling and allocation?

3. How is a random sample different to a stratified sample?

4. What is the difference between the control and experimental groups?

5. What is the placebo effect? Give an example of how the placebo effect can influence the results of an
experiment.

6. What is a single-blind procedure? What is its purpose?

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7. What is a double-blind procedure? What is its purpose?

8. What is the experimenter effect? Give an example of how the experimenter effect can influence the results
of an experiment.

9. What is an extraneous variable? Give an example of how an extraneous variable can influence the results
of a study.

10. What is a confounding variable? What effect does a confounding variable have on a study?

Exam-style scenario based questions

1. A Psychology class recently investigated whether test scores could be improved by playing music while
studying. One class containing 30 students was split into two groups. 15 students played music when
studying for their VCAA exam and the other 15 students did not.

a) Formulate a hypothesis for this study.

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 b) Identify the research design used in this study

c) Explain one strength and one limitation of this research design.

d) Would a repeated measures design be appropriate for this study? Why/why not?

2. A research study was conducted to examine if fish oil tablets would improve a person’s general
intelligence. One hundred Year 12 students were selected to participate in the trial and followed over 6
months. 50 participants were given the fish oil tablet and the other 50 a sugar pill three times a day. After the
12-month trial the participants were given an IQ test consisting of 50 questions.

a) Identify the operationalised IV and DV in this experiment.

b) Identify two extraneous variables that would need to be controlled for.

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 c) Identify the research design used in this study.

d) Explain why was the sugar pill used (including the extraneous variable this controls for).

Describe how this study could have used a double-blind design.

3. A recent study in the UK followed 100 day care students aged 3-5. They found that those students with a
high fat diet had a lower IQ than those with a low fat diet.

a) What type of study is this?

b) Why would this type of study be more appropriate than an experiment?

4. A psychology student collected examination results from 40 Year 11 students from an all girls school.
Before the examination the Year 11 participants filled in a questionnaire to determine the number of hours
they slept the night before the exam. The researcher found that those who slept over 8 hours scored higher
in their examination.

a) What are two potential limitations of this study?

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 b) Explain how each limitation could be addressed/controlled for in a future study.

5. It is thought that adolescents will sleep for longer periods after they have spent the day studying or in
intense physical activity, rather than after a normal day’s activity. A researcher wished to study this.

Considering repeated measures is more time consuming, why would a researcher use this design in this
particular study?

Describe how this could be studied using a repeated measures design, with counterbalancing.

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 Key Science Skills
Ethics
1. For each of the following ethical research principles, explain how each could be adhered to in any
particular study

a) Informed consent

b) Voluntary participation

c) Withdrawal rights

d) Debriefing

e) Confidentiality

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2. In what instance, may the use of deception be acceptable in a study? Explain why this would be
acceptable.

MCQ

Professor Plum is conducting some research to investigate how the human brain changes its responses when
a person has been without sleep for 14 hours, compared with its responses one hour after awakening from a
full night’s sleep.

To investigate this, he gives each of his first-year university psychology students a card and instructs them to
attend the experimental session and hand in the numbered card, which will prevent them being penalised 5
per cent from their semester mark.

Which ethical principle is Professor Plum violating in terms of the rights of participants in research?
a) voluntary participation in research
b) informed consent from participants
c) confidentiality of participant information
d) no physiological or psychological harm to participants.

Later in the year, another researcher wishes to do further research and feels that the data collected by
Professor Plum will be useful. The kind professor gives his colleague a list of the students and the data they
collected. Which further ethical consideration(s) of participant rights has/have now been violated?
a) voluntary participation in research
b) informed consent from participants
c) confidentiality of participant information
d) both informed consent and confidentiality of participant information.

Doctor Jeckyll is trying to discover the way in which a person’s visual perception is affected by their
expectations. To do this without biasing the participants’ answers, he informs participants that they are
doing an experiment investigating their visual acuity. This would be ethical only under the following
circumstances:
a) Dr Jeckyll has permission from the ethics committee of his university
b) Dr Jeckyll has permission from the ethics committee of his university and has put appropriate debriefing
and counselling procedures in place
c) Dr Jeckyll has put appropriate debriefing and counselling procedures in place
d) deceit in psychological research is never ethical.

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 Exam-style scenario based questions

1. A new energy drink was designed to improve a student’s performance during an exam. The researcher
asked to participate in a study to test the new energy drink. The researcher asked for the student’s
parents to sign a form allowing the students to drink the energy drink before they sat their examination.
Ten students were asked to drink the energy drink 1 hour before sitting their psychology exam, the other
ten students drank water 1 hour prior to the exam. Their examination results were compared and
teachers and possible manufacturers of the drink were notified of the findings.

Outline each of the ethical principles that the researcher adhered to.

2. A psychology student wanted to find out if primary school students’ eating habits affected their grades in
school. She asked a local primary school if she could hand out a survey on eating habits to their students.
The students who were willing filled out the survey after lunch and handed it back to the psychology
student. She requested their recent report cards and matched the results from the survey to the
student’s grade. She found that students who had a high sugar diet received a grade average of C or
below and those who had a low sugar diet received a grade average of B or above. She published her
findings in the weekly school newsletter.

Outline the ethics the researcher breached in the study.

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 Key Science Skills
Data Collection and Interpretation

Activity 1

Decide whether the following are examples of quantitative or qualitative data.

a) A set of brain scan images locating a brain tumour. _________________

b) A graph showing workers’ stress levels over a week. _________________

c) A twelve-year-old girl’s written description of how she feels about herself. _________________

d) The average number of hours per week spent on social networking sites by a group of adolescents.

_________________

e) A forensic psychologist’s written report evaluating the mental status of an alleged offender.

_________________

f) Scores calculated from a rating scale of attitudes. _________________

g) A child’s drawing of his family. _________________

h) IQ (intelligence) scores of pairs of identical twins. _________________

i) A table of results showing the incidence of cyber-bullying among teenagers. _________________

j) A clinical psychologist’s notes on the appearance and behaviour of a client. _________________

k) A job applicant’s score on an aptitude test. _________________

l) A description of a person’s fear of answering telephones. _________________

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Activity 2

The data below is from an observational study into the impact of diet on the IQ scores of young children.

Is this data qualitative or quantitative?

Calculate means to summarise this raw data.

Do you think this data set would have a high or low standard deviation? Justify your answer.

Construct a graph to best represent this data.

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What conclusions can be made?

What generalisations, if any, can be made? Justify your response

How could the reliability of this study be tested?

How could the validity of this study be tested?

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 Key Science Skills
Revisions Questions

Exam-style scenario based questions

Richard wished to compare the mood of Year 6 children after they had role-played being a victim of bullying
(Condition 1) with their mood after they had role-played helping an injured person (Condition 2).

He decided to measure mood on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being ‘depressed’ and 10 being ‘elated’. He
obtained the figure by giving a 40-item ‘mood test’ from the Internet.

He took his measurements with the first 30 children on the school’s alphabetical roll. The role-plays took
place on Monday afternoons, one week apart. He made sure that half the children role-played Condition 1
the first week and Condition 2 the second, with the other half role-playing the conditions in the opposite
sequence.

Richard’s results showed that the mean mood score for Condition 1 was 3.4 and the mean mood score for
Condition 2 was 7.2.

1. What was the population in this research?

2. Was Richard’s sampling procedure appropriate? Explain your answer.

3. Identify the operationalised independent and dependent variable in this study.

4. Formulate an appropriate hypothesis for this study.

5. What experimental design was used in this research?

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 6. Would it be appropriate for Richard to generalise his conclusions to all Year 6 students in the school?
Explain your answer.

7. What would have to occur for these results to be considered reliable?

In a study by Loftus in 1975, one hundred and fifty students at the University of Washington, in groups of
various sizes, viewed a brief videotape of an automobile accident and then answered ten questions about the
accident. The critical one concerned the speed of a white sports car.

Half of the subjects were asked, “How fast was the white sports car going when it passed the barn while
travelling along the country road?”, and half were asked, “How fast was the white sports car going while
travelling along the country road?” In fact, no barn appeared in the scene.

All of the subjects returned 1 week later and, without reviewing the videotape, answered ten new questions
about the accident. The final one was, “Did you see a barn?” The subjects responded by circling “yes” or “no”
on their questionnaires.

Of the subjects earlier exposed to the question containing the false presupposition of a barn, 17.3%
responded “yes” when later asked, “Did you see a barn?”, whereas only 2.7% of the remaining subjects
claimed to have seen it. An initial question containing a false presupposition can, it appears, influence a
witness’ later tendency to report the presence of the non-existent object corresponding to that
presupposition.

1. What was the aim of this research?

2. Describe the sample in this study.

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3. Who might her population have been?

4. Which group was the control group and which group was the experimental group?

5. What is the operationalised independent variable in this study?

6. What is the operationalised dependent variable in this study?

7. Write a possible hypothesis that may have been investigated.

8. What did Loftus conclude at the completion of this study?

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