Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

Web Exercises

1. Go to PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, PubMed, ERIC, or JSTOR and search for an article in an area of your interest.

• Read the article.
• What are the constructs and operational definitions of the constructs in the study?
• Create one other way to operationally define each of the variables.
• How would you measure these constructs based on the new operational definition?

2. Go to a social networking website (either your own account or the company website).

• Identify 10 variables on the site.
• Indicate whether the variables you identified are
  • continuous or discrete
  • qualitative or quantitative
  • type of scale of measurement

3. James Flynn: Why Our IQ Levels Are Higher Than Our Grandparents'

It's called the "Flynn effect"—the fact that each generation scores higher on an IQ test than the generation before it. Are we actually getting smarter, or just thinking differently? In this Ted Talk, a fast-paced spin through the cognitive history of the 20th century, moral philosopher James Flynn suggests that changes in the way we think have had surprising (and not always positive) consequences.

• What are the constructs discussed in this talk?
• How would Flynn operationally define IQ?
• Search for other definitions of IQ
  • How are they similar and different?
• How do the concepts of range effects play a role in IQ tests and scores?