BAPSY BAPSY Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Psychological Research and Statistics Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A researcher finds a correlation of r = -0.85 between stress levels and sleep quality. What does this indicate?
- A strong negative relationship between stress and sleep quality (Correct answer)
- No meaningful relationship between the variables
- A weak positive relationship between stress and sleep quality
- A causal effect of stress on sleep quality
Correct answer: A strong negative relationship between stress and sleep quality
An r value of -0.85 indicates a strong negative correlation, meaning as stress increases, sleep quality tends to decrease.
Question 2: Which measure of central tendency is most appropriate for a data set with extreme outliers?
- Median (Correct answer)
- Mean
- Mode
- Standard deviation
Correct answer: Median
The median is resistant to outliers because it represents the middle value and is not pulled by extreme scores.
Question 3: In a 2x3 factorial design, how many conditions are there in total?
- 6 (Correct answer)
- 5
- 8
- 3
Correct answer: 6
A 2x3 factorial design has 2 × 3 = 6 total conditions representing all combinations of both independent variables.
Question 4: What is the primary purpose of counterbalancing in a within-subjects design?
- To control for order effects (Correct answer)
- To increase the sample size
- To ensure random assignment
- To eliminate confounding variables entirely
Correct answer: To control for order effects
Counterbalancing distributes order effects evenly across conditions so that sequence does not systematically bias results.
Question 5: A Type II error occurs when a researcher:
- Fails to reject a false null hypothesis (Correct answer)
- Rejects a true null hypothesis
- Accepts the alternative hypothesis correctly
- Uses a sample that is too large
Correct answer: Fails to reject a false null hypothesis
A Type II error (false negative) happens when the researcher fails to detect a real effect and incorrectly retains the null hypothesis.
Question 6: Which sampling method gives every member of the population an equal chance of being selected?
- Simple random sampling (Correct answer)
- Convenience sampling
- Snowball sampling
- Purposive sampling
Correct answer: Simple random sampling
Simple random sampling ensures each individual has an equal probability of selection, maximizing representativeness.
A researcher finds a correlation of r = -0.85 between stress levels and sleep quality.
What does this indicate?