Chapter 1 Scientific Understanding of Behavior
1. Why is it important for anyone in our society to have knowledge of research methods?
2. A newspaper headline says that “Eating Disorders May Be More Common in Warm Places.” You read the article to discover that a researcher found that the incidence of eating disorders among female students at a university in Florida was higher than at a university in Pennsylvania. Assume that this study accurately describes a difference between students at the two universities. Discuss the finding in terms of the issues of identification of cause and effect and explanation of behavior.
Chapter 2 Where to Start
3. What information does the researcher communicate in each of the sections of a research article?
Chapter 3 Ethical Research
4. Participants in an experiment are given false feedback that they have an unfavorable personality trait or low ability level. What are the ethical issues raised by this procedure? What if participants are given false feedback that they possess a very favorable personality trait or a very high ability level? Are the ethical issues the same, or different? What are the reasons that an experimenter would subject participants to these types of situations? What safeguards should the experimenter undertake?
Chapter 4 Studying Behavior
5. A few years ago, newspapers reported a finding that Americans who have a glass of wine a day are healthier than those who have no wine. What are some plausible alternative explanations for this finding; that is, what variables other than wine could explain the finding? Explain why it is difficult to identify the cause and the effect in this study, and describe what might be a “third-variable” problem. Describe the importance of experimental control, and how this newspaper-reported finding might be set up as a proper experiment to discover if wine truly has an effect on health.
Chapter 6 Observational Methods
6. Describe how a Researcher would collect and analyze naturalistic observation data of Teenage attendees at open meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Chapter 7 Asking People about Themselves: Survey Research
7. What are some factors to take into consideration when constructing questions for surveys (including both questions and response alternatives)?