Candidate Number

C8891

THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

BSc First Year Examination 2016

RESEARCH SKILLS IN PSYCHOLOGY 2

SAMPLE PAPER

DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO BY THE CHIEF

INVIGILATOR

Candidates must attempt ALL questions. Please write your answers on the answer sheet provided.

TIME ALLOWED: 45 MINUTES

There are 3 sections in this exam paper (1,2,3). Section 1 is worth 24 marks.

Section 2 is worth 10 marks. Section 3 is worth 14 marks.

This sample paper is half the length of the actual exam paper. Thus, you are given 45 minutes (as opposed to 90 minutes) to complete it. The correct

answers can be found at the end of this paper.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Do not write your name on the question paper (or answer sheet). 2. Do not tear off any part of this question paper. 3. At the end of the examination the question paper and/or answer sheet,

used or unused, will be collected from you before you leave the examination room.

ALL THE RELEVANT TABLES THAT YOU NEED TO ANSWER THE

QUESTIONS ARE PROVIDED AT THE BACK OF THIS EXAM PAPER.

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Section 1: Multiple Choice Questions For each of the questions (Q 1 - 12) there are four possible alternatives listed. Only one of these four alternatives is correct. Identify the correct alternative by

placing a Cross (✕) in the appropriate box on the answer paper for section 1.

Each question is worth 2 marks. Use the information in the Table below to answer questions 1 and 2. Workers in a large city law firm were surveyed. Each individual was asked whether he or she smoked. This information and the gender of the person was recorded as follows:

Smoker Non-smoker Totals

Gender

Female 70 42 112

Male 55 61 116

Totals 125 103 228

1. What is the probability that a randomly selected worker is a male who does not

smoke? a) 61/116 b) 61/228 c) 103/228 d) 116/228 2. What is the probability that a randomly selected worker is a female given that

the person is a smoker? a) 70/228 b) 125/228 c) 70/112 d) 70/125 3. A simple random sample is: a) A simple data set b) A sample of n observations that has a different probability of being selected

from the population as any other sample of n observations c) A sample of n observations where the probability fluctuates from one selection

to the next d) A sample of n observations that has the same probability of being selected

from the population as any other sample of n observations

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4. High attrition rates are a particular concern for:

a) Longitudinal designs b) Cross-sectional designs c) Sequential designs d) Only true experimental designs

5. Suppose the life of a particular brand of light bulbs is normally distributed with μ = 10 months and σ = 1 month. What is the probability that the bulb will last more than 11 months before it blows?

a) 0.1587 b) 0.4602 c) 0.3413 d) 0.0398 6. A cross-sectional experimental design: a) Often involves using different age cohorts b) Measures a variable in the same individuals over an extended time period c) Suffers from difficulties associated with participant attrition rates d) Is a within-subjects design 7. With a Non-Equivalent Control Group (NECG) experimental design: a) We do not pre-test participants b) We always administer multiple test sessions c) We can study changes in a single cohort over extended periods of time d) We do pre-test participants 8. An experiment, where only one sample is observed, and where measurements

are taken on at least 3 different occasions to check that the only substantial change in scores coincides with the introduction on an intervention, is an example of:

a) A non-equivalent control group design b) A one group, pre-test/post-test design c) An interrupted time-series design d) A one group, post-test design

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9. If the p-value for an obtained statistic is .07 and the chosen level of significance is a = .05, then the correct conclusion is to:

a) Reject the null hypothesis b) Not reject the null hypothesis c) Accept the experimental hypothesis d) Not reject the null hypothesis if

10. The Hawthorne Effect refers to:

a) The effects of lighting levels on participant’s behaviour b) A threat to external validity c) A type of extraneous variable d) The way in which individuals alter their behaviours when they know they are

being studied

11. What is the non-parametric equivalent of the Dependent Means t-test

a) Friedman’s test b) Mann-Whitney U-test c) Wilcoxon matched pairs test d) Kruskal-Wallis test

12. If the amount of variability between treatments is significantly greater than the

amount of variability within treatments, then: a) Reject the null hypothesis b) Do not reject the null hypothesis c) Conclude that the ratio of between-treatments variability to within-treatments

variability is significantly less than 1 d) You must perform further analysis using t tests

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Section 2: Which test?

In this section you will be given a brief description of an experiment and some

data; you have to choose the appropriate test. Always give the most powerful test

appropriate to the data, and assume it shows homogeneity of variance and is

normally distributed, unless otherwise stated. There are 5 questions, each worth

2 marks. For each question write the letter corresponding to the correct test (i.e.

A for Dependent-means t-test, B for Independent-means t test, etc.) in the table at the end of this exam paper. If the data is skewed assume it is significantly

skewed.

13. A farmer plants tomato seeds into four different plots. In each plot, there is a different fertilizer treatment that is applied to the soil. After three weeks, he measures the height of each tomato plant from each of the four plots.

14. To examine how pigeons and sparrows dominate various woodlands

researchers examined two localities, a large wood in West Sussex and a smaller one in East Sussex. They counted the number of each species of birds seen in each location to see whether there is an association between size of woodland and bird species.

15. Older and younger adults were presented with emotion faces to view on an

eye tracker, and the amount of time (in milliseconds) that they gazed at each image was recorded. The total time spent looking at the faces was calculated and compared.

16. A researcher compares the payrolls of two companies to determine whether

their median salaries differ. The data from both companies are skewed, with many workers earning lower salaries and only a few high flyers earning high salaries.

17. To examine if coffee increases physical alertness the maximum speed that

each of 45 young adults swims a length of a pool is recorded both before

A. Dependent-means t-test.

B. Independent-means t-test.

C. One-way repeated measures ANOVA.

D. One-way independent-measures ANOVA.

E. Wilcoxon

F. Mann-Whitney

G. McNemar Test

H. Chi-Squared

I. Fishers exact

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drinking a large cup of coffee, and again after drinking a large cup of water. The data is negatively skewed

Section 3: Interpreting SPSS output and reaching conclusions

For each of the following questions you are given some SPSS output (although in some cases key labels from the SPSS output have been removed), and you are asked some questions concerning it. Please mark your responses in the relevant Table at the end of the exam paper. 18. Research suggests that older adults (aged >70 years) tend to look at people’s

mouths more than their eyes when engaged in conversation with them. This is thought to underpin their difficulties in recognising emotions such as happiness, which are best recognised by the eye region of faces. A psychologist reasons that if she trains older adults to look at people’s eyes more than their mouths when talking to other people, than they may get better at recognising the emotion of happiness. She randomly selects 14 older adults from a database of volunteers, and administers an emotion recognition task, involving identifying the different emotions in 32 still photographs. She trains them to look at people’s eyes, rather than their mouths, and then she gives them another set of 32 emotion photographs to identify (matched for difficulty with the first set). The scores on only the happiness items of the emotion recognition tasks are shown below:

18a. This is a: (1 mark) a. Between-subject design b. Within-subject design 18b. Which test should be used? (2 marks) a. Paired Samples t-test b. Independent Samples t-test c. Independent-Measures ANOVA d. Mann-Whitney U-test

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18c. What conclusion can you draw? (2 marks) a. Participants’ scores were significantly lower on the happiness items after

training, and therefore the training was ineffective b. There was no significant difference between the scores on the happiness

items from pre-training to post-training, and therefore the training was ineffective

c. Both groups of older adults scored significantly higher on the happiness items at post-test, and therefore the training was a success

d. Participant’s scores were significantly higher on the happiness items after training, and therefore the training was a success

19.A researcher examines how a new brand of washing powder (“Blast”)

compares to the two lead selling brands in the UK (“Persil” and “Bold”). She recruits 30 participants and splits them into 3 groups randomly, and asks each group to try a different brand of washing powder for a single week. She then asks them to complete a questionnaire that assesses their opinions about the fragrance, the effectiveness to remove stains, the packaging etc. Higher scores on the questionnaire indicate better overall satisfaction with the product. The SPSS output obtained from the study is shown below:

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19a. Which statement best describes the formal design of the experiment: (1

mark) a. A between-group design, with scores on the questionnaire as the

independent variable, and with three levels of the dependent variable b. A within-group design, with three levels of the independent variable, and

scores on the questionnaire as the dependent variable c. A within-group design, with three levels of the dependent variable, and scores

on the questionnaire as the independent variable

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d. A between-group design, with three levels of the independent variable, and scores on the questionnaire as the dependent variable

19b. What type of test has been used to analyse the results? (2 marks) a. An independent-means t-test b. A dependent-means t test c. An independent one-way analysis of variance d. A repeated measures one-way analysis of variance

19c. Which statement best describes the findings? (2 marks) a. There was a significant difference between the questionnaire scores for the 3

brands of washing powder: F(2,27)=2.31, p<.05 b. There was a non-significant difference between the questionnaire scores for

the 3 brands of washing powder: F(2,27)=2.31, p=.118 c. There was a non-significant difference between the questionnaire scores for

the 3 brands of washing powder: F(2,29)=2.31, p=.118 d. There was a significant difference between the questionnaire scores for the 3

brands of washing powder: F(2,29)=2.31, p<.05 19d. Which statement best sums up the findings? (2 marks): a. There was no significant difference between the scores on the questionnaire

for the three brands. That is, all three brands received similar scores on the questionnaire

b. There was a significant difference between the scores on the questionnaire for the three brands. Bold received significantly higher scores than Persil, and both Persil and Bold received significantly higher scores than Blast

c. There was a significant difference between the scores on the questionnaire for the three brands. Bold received significantly higher scores than Persil and Blast, but there was no significant difference between the scores for Blast and Persil

19e. Are the data consistent with homogeneity of variance? (2 marks) a. Yes b. No

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End of paper

C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2 – SAMPLE PAPER

Answers Section 1

Q1 b

Q2 d

Q3 d

Q4 a

Q5 a

Q6 a

Q7 d

Q8 c

Q9 b

Q10 d

Q11 c

Q12 a

Section 2

Q13 d

Q14 h

Q15 b

Q16 f

Q17 e

Section 3

Q18a b

Q18b a

Q18c d

Q19a d

Q19b c

Q19c b

Q19d a

Q19e a