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.
2.
3.
Do not write your name on the question paper (or answer sheet).
Do not tear off any part of this question paper.
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.
C8891
Research Skills in Psychology 2 – SAMPLE PAPER
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:
Gender
Female
Male
Totals
Smoker
Non-smoker
Totals
70
55
125
42
61
103
112
116
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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Research Skills in Psychology 2 – SAMPLE PAPER
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)
b)
c)
d)
Reject the null hypothesis
Not reject the null hypothesis
Accept the experimental hypothesis
Not reject the null hypothesis if   10
10. The Hawthorne Effect refers to:
a)
b)
c)
d)
The effects of lighting levels on participant’s behaviour
A threat to external validity
A type of extraneous variable
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)
b)
c)
d)
Friedman’s test
Mann-Whitney U-test
Wilcoxon matched pairs test
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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Research Skills in Psychology 2 – SAMPLE PAPER
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.
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
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
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Research Skills in Psychology 2 – SAMPLE PAPER
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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Research Skills in Psychology 2 – SAMPLE PAPER
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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Research Skills in Psychology 2 – SAMPLE PAPER
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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C8891
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.
b.
c.
d.
An independent-means t-test
A dependent-means t test
An independent one-way analysis of variance
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