Candidate Number
C8891
THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
BSc First Year Examination 2016-17
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 a piece
of paper (the real exam will use an MCQ answer sheet).
TIME ALLOWED: 100 MINUTES
There are 3 sections in this exam paper (A, B, C). Each question is worth 2
marks. Section A is worth 44 marks. Section B is worth 16 marks. Section C is
worth 16 marks.
NOTE: The real exam has more questions in each section and allows 120 minutes.
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
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. 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
1.
Non-smoker
Totals
70
55
125
42
61
103
112
116
228
What is the probability that a randomly selected worker is a male who does not
smoke?
a)
b)
c)
d)
2.
Smoker
61/116
61/228
103/228
116/228
What is the probability that a randomly selected worker is a female given that
the person is a smoker?
a)
b)
c)
d)
70/228
125/228
70/112
70/125
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
3.
A simple random sample is:
a)
b)
c)
d)
4.
High attrition rates are a particular concern for:
a)
b)
c)
d)
5.
.1587
.4602
.3413
.0398
A cross-sectional experimental design:
a)
b)
c)
d)
7.
Longitudinal designs
Cross-sectional designs
Sequential designs
Only true experimental designs
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)
b)
c)
d)
6.
A simple data set
A sample of n observations that has a different probability of being
selected from the population as any other sample of n observations
A sample of n observations where the probability fluctuates from one
selection to the next
A sample of n observations that has the same probability of being selected
from the population as any other sample of n observations
Often involves using different age cohorts
Measures a variable in the same individuals over an extended time period
Suffers from difficulties associated with participant attrition rates
Is a within-subjects design
With a Non-Equivalent Control Group (NECG) experimental design:
a)
b)
c)
d)
We do not pre-test participants
We always administer multiple test sessions
We can study changes in a single cohort over extended periods of time
We do pre-test participants
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
8.
An experiment, where only one sample is observed, and where measurements are
taken on at least three different occasions to check that the only substantial change
in scores coincides with the introduction on an intervention, is an example of:
a)
b)
c)
d)
9.
A non-equivalent control group design
A one group, pre-test/post-test design
An interrupted time-series design
A one group, post-test design
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)
b)
c)
d)
Reject the null hypothesis
Do not reject the null hypothesis
Conclude that the ratio of between-treatments variability to withintreatments variability is significantly less than 1
You must perform further analysis using t tests
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
13. Suppose the life of an android mobile phone is normally distributed with a mean
μ = 12 hours and a standard deviation σ = 2 hours. What is the probability that
the battery will last more than 13 hours before running out of power?
a)
b)
c)
d)
.3055
.1915
.1950
.3085
14. If the mean and median of a given data set are smaller than the mode, your
distribution is likely to show a:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Negative skew
Mesokurtic shape
Bell-shaped curve
Positive skew
15. Which statistical test would you use to analyse data when the mean, median
and mode have the same value, and you used a between-subject design with
one independent variable with two levels, and one dependent variable?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Independent-means t-test
Dependent-means t-test
One-way repeated measures ANOVA
One-way independent-measures ANOVA
16. The ‘between treatments’ and ‘within treatments’ degrees of freedom for a
one-way independent measures ANOVA with 30 participants and three
conditions (n = 10, in each condition) will be:
a)
b)
c)
d)
(2, 29)
(3, 27)
(3, 29)
(2, 27)
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17. In the equation below, what does
refer to?
t
D  D ( hypothesised )
SD
a)
b)
c)
d)
The predicted average difference between each participant
The average difference between scores in the two samples
The predicted average difference between scores in the two samples
Estimate of the population standard error
18. The standard error is:
a)
b)
c)
d)
The predicted average difference between scores in samples
A measure of how much the mean difference might vary from one
occasion to the next
A measure that is equal to the standard deviation of the population of raw
scores
A measure that is typically larger than the population standard deviation
19. Under which two conditions will the distribution of sample means be normal:
a)
b)
c)
d)
When the population distribution (from which the samples are taken) is
normal and when the sample size is n ≥ 25
When the population distribution (from which the samples are taken) is
normal and when the sample size is n ≤ 30
When the population distribution (from which the samples are taken) is
normal and when the sample size is n ≥ 30
When the population distribution (from which the samples are taken) is
normal and when the sample size is equal in both groups
20. The ‘between treatments’ and ‘dferror’ degrees of freedom for a one-way
repeated measures ANOVA with 10 participants and three conditions (n = 10, in
each condition) will be:
a)
b)
c)
d)
(2, 18)
(2, 29)
(9, 18)
(9, 29)
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
21. What is the probability of a significant result occurring by chance were the
significance level is p≤ 0.025?
a)
b)
c)
d)
2.5% or less
5% or less
Less than 5%
Less than 2.5%
22. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic feature of qualitative data
analysis:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Keep the verbatim material rather than reducing it
Coding of the material most relevant to the research question
Identifying common themes
Counting the number of instances
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
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 8 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.) on your answer 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. Fisher’s exact
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. Adolescents (<15 years), Older (>60 years) and younger adults (20-35 years)
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.
26. 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.
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
27. 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
drinking a large cup of coffee, and again after drinking a large cup of water.
The data is negatively skewed.
28. A researcher examines the efficiency of a new drug in stopping hair loss, some
participants are given the new drug, and others are given a placebo. The
outcome for each participant is noted after 4 weeks of drug use: participants
either stopped shedding hair, or they did not. His data was based on 12
participants, with 6 in each group.
29. A researcher wants to examine if people in Worthing are less likely to throw
litter on the street than people in Brighton. He counts how many people throw
litter on the street in a four hour period at a junction in Worthing, and compares
this to how many people he counted throwing litter on the street in a four hour
period in Brighton.
30. A researcher evaluates the effectiveness of a Reading Comprehension
intervention by examining the scores of participants on a standardised reading
comprehension task both before, immediately after the intervention, and at two
weeks following the intervention.
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
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 answers on your answer paper.
Questions 31-33: 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:
31. This is a:
a)
b)
Between-subject design
Within-subject design
32. Which test should be used?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Paired Samples t-test
Independent Samples t-test
Independent-Measures ANOVA
Mann-Whitney U-test
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
33. What conclusion can you draw?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Participants’ scores were significantly lower on the happiness items after
training, and therefore the training was ineffective
There was no significant difference between the scores on the happiness
items from pre-training to post-training, and therefore the training was
ineffective
Both groups of older adults scored significantly higher on the happiness
items at post-test, and therefore the training was a success
Participant’s scores were significantly higher on the happiness items after
training, and therefore the training was a success
Questions 34-38: 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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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
34. Which statement best describes the formal design of the experiment:
a)
b)
c)
d)
A between-group design, with scores on the questionnaire as the
independent variable, and with three levels of the dependent variable
A within-group design, with three levels of the independent variable, and
scores on the questionnaire as the dependent variable
A within-group design, with three levels of the dependent variable, and
scores on the questionnaire as the independent variable
A between-group design, with three levels of the independent variable,
and scores on the questionnaire as the dependent variable
35. What type of test has been used to analyse the results?
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
36. Which statement best describes the findings?
a)
b)
c)
d)
There was a significant difference between the questionnaire scores for
the 3 brands of washing powder: F(2,27)=2.31, p<.05
There was a non-significant difference between the questionnaire scores
for the 3 brands of washing powder: F(2,27)=2.31, p=.118
There was a non-significant difference between the questionnaire scores
for the 3 brands of washing powder: F(2,29)=2.31, p=.118
There was a significant difference between the questionnaire scores for
the 3 brands of washing powder: F(2,29)=2.31, p<.05
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
37. Which statement best sums up the findings?
a)
b)
c)
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.
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.
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.
38. Are the data consistent with homogeneity of variance?
a)
b)
Yes
No
END OF PAPER
(Reference tables can be found on the following pages)
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TABLES (two):
1) Area under the Normal curve with z-values
2) Table of critical values of F (ANOVA)
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
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END OF TABLES
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C8891 Research Skills in Psychology 2
ANSWERS
SECTION A
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Q10
Q11
Q12
Q13
Q14
Q15
Q16
Q17
Q18
Q19
Q20
Q21
Q22
B
D
D
A
A
A
D
C
B
D
C
A
D
A
A
D
C
B
C
A
A
D
SECTION B
Q23
Q24
Q25
Q26
Q27
Q28
Q29
Q30
D
H
D
F
E
I
H
C
SECTION C
Q31
Q32
Q33
Q34
Q35
Q36
Q37
Q38
B
A
D
D
C
B
A
A
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