The Process of Statistical Analysis in Psychology
Study Questions
Short Answer
1. What is the major difference between correlational studies and experiments?
Ans: Experiments help us determine if there is a causal relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable, whereas correlational studies would only allow us to determine if there is some kind of relationship between two dependent variables.
Learning Objective: 1-4: What are the methods we use to collect data?
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Research Design
2. You measure your height every week for 3 weeks and get the following readings: 5’10, 5’8, and 5’11. What type of reliability does this measure of height present? Explain your answer.
Ans: The scale has an issue with test-retest reliability. The height should not change every week, and the fact that it changes so much every week means that the scale is not reliably measuring the height.
Learning Objective: 1-5: How do the methods used to collect data affect the statistics we use?
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Reliability