Psych ExperimentYou have just started your career as a psychological researcher. The first step now is to decide what question you would like to investigate and how in order to get approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
[[What Question do I Investigate?]]
Need some review before you begin? Watch the video:
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The school in which you have been hired is curious about a number of factors dealing with student success, and it is your job to find out if there are any significant correlations between certain variables. Please choose the topic you want to submit to the IRB below:
[[Does lack of sleep add to stress?]]
[[How many hours of studying per day leads to the greatest GPA?]]
[[Does joining clubs and social outtings help or hinder academic success?]] Great question! Now time to decide HOW this will be studied:
[[A controlled experiment]]
[[A naturalistic observation]]
[[A survey]]
Great question! Now time to decide HOW this will be studied:
[[A controlled experiment]]
[[A naturalistic observation]]
[[A survey]] Great question! Now time to decide HOW this will be studied:
[[A controlled experiment]]
[[A naturalistic observation]]
[[A survey]] You have decided to run a controlled experiment. In order to do this, you will need to gather a random sample of people. What is true about the sample size you collect?
[[It should only consist of people that you already know and trust]]
[[The sample demographics should be the same as the entire population]]
[[It doesn't matter, just go with whoever agrees]] Although this method may be one of the easiest, what is one major drawback?
[[There are no ways to account for the control and experimental groups, so determining a cause-effect relationship will not be possible]]
[[Bias in interpreting the results of an observational study may be apparent]]
[[Both bias and failure to determine cause-effect]]A survey is a great way to gather massive amounts of data. However, what are some of the major drawbacks?
[[Nothing, surveys are great!]]
[[Surveys can reveal correlation, but correlation does not cause causation]]So sorry! Doing this would cause bias and will be denied approval from the IRB.
Please try again:
[[A controlled experiment]]
Yes! To gather your sample, you now have decided to collect random names from the university database. Once you have them, what is the first thing you plan to do?
[[Provide everyone with an informed consent form and only use those that agree in the study]]
[[Randomly assign everyone as either a part of the control group or experimental group]]So sorry! Doing this does not guarantee that you will use a representative sample and will be denied approval from the IRB.
Please try again:
[[A controlled experiment]]Now you're being nice and ethical! Once you have been given informed consent from those in your sample, what's your next step?
[[Tell the group about your hypothesis and how you think they should respond]]
[[Assign everyone who has agreed as either a part of the control or the experimental group]]Double-click this passage to edit it.So sorry! Doing this would cause bias and will be denied approval from the IRB.
Please try again:
[[Provide everyone with an informed consent form and only use those that agree in the study]]Yes! But for the best results, should you reveal which group people are assigned to?
[[Yes]]
[[No]]Unfortunately, this does not lead to the greatest results because of people will begin to act as they are expected to and the results will be skewed.
Try again:
[[Assign everyone who has agreed as either a part of the control or the experimental group]]Exactly, and this will help create a double-blind experiment where the results will be more likely to be caused by the variables themselves. Great job!
But first... what variable is being changed between the control and the experimental groups?
[[The independent variable]]
[[The dependent variable]]Yes! You can only manipulate the independent variable to ensure that the dependent variable is the only one measured.
Are the independent and dependent variables the only ones you need to worry about?
[[Yes, they are the only major variables involved in the study]]
[[No, we also have to worry about confounding variables]]Sorry! This is the one that is being measured and should not be directly manipulated by you.
Please try again:
[[No]]Unfortunately, this is not true.
Please try again:
[[The independent variable]]Exactly! What exactly are confounding variables, though?
[[They are outside variables that can affect the dependent variable but are not directly manipulated]]
[[They can be any outside factor that are not accounted for with the independent variable, such as gender and age]]
[[Both of the above]]Yes, but is this the best answer?
Try again:
[[No, we also have to worry about confounding variables]]Yes, but is this the best answer?
Try again:
[[No, we also have to worry about confounding variables]]Yes! And how will you account for them?
[[By trying to control outside factors, such as having students all eat the same thing for breakfast, take the same classes, etc.]]
[[By collecting a truly random sample so that the differences between people are not as significant as the changes caused by the independent variable]]
[[Both answers above]]
[[Neither, I will just count on luck]]Yes, but is this the best answer?
Try again:
[[Both of the above]]Yes, but is this the best answer?
Try again:
[[Both of the above]]Exactly!!
Now you have officially designed the experiment to account for bias and the confounding variables. What is an ethical issue you need to make sure is not violated?
[[The participant cannot reveal to anyone else that they were a participant in a study]]
[[The researcher cannot ask the participant about their ethnic or familial background]]
[[The participant cannot be placed under significant mental or physical risk]]
[[All of the above]]Unfortunately, relying on luck will not be enough to ensure that the confounding variables are accounted for.
Try again:
[[Both of the above]] As a researcher you cannot reveal the identity of the participant, but the participant is not under the same restrictions unless it says that in the signed 'informed consent'
Try again:
[[Both answers above]]The researcher can actually ask questions to receive more information about possible outside (confounding) factors that may affect the results of the study.
Try again:
[[Both answers above]]This is extremely important - The participants MUST be protected from harm.
Now that you have protected the participants and accounted for all factors in the experiment, it's time to close the study! What ethical guideline is vital during the final discussions with the participants?
[[Revealing the identity of everyone involved to the public]]
[[Debriefing the results of the study and revealing any possible deception]]
[[Celebrating the end by throwing a giant party]]Not all of the answers above are actually ethical violations.
Try again:
[[Both answers above]]This violates the anonymity and confidentiality ethical components of a study, and will not get approval from the IRB.
Try again:
[[The participant cannot be placed under significant mental or physical risk]]Yes, this is extremely important ESPECIALLY when deception is involved!
You have now closed your results and have gathered your data and are ready to publish it. What ethical components are important to account for while creating the report?
[[The participant's confidentiality]]
[[The participant's anonymity]]
[[Both the confidentiality and the anonymity of the participants]]
[[Neither, there are no ethical guidelines after the experiment is over]]Although parties are fun, it is not necessarily ethical to have them!
Try again:
[[The participant cannot be placed under significant mental or physical risk]]Yes, but is this the best answer?
Try again:
[[Debriefing the results of the study and revealing any possible deception]]Yes, but is this the best answer?
Try again:
[[Debriefing the results of the study and revealing any possible deception]]Yes, and great job accounting for gathering the participants, accounting for the variables and grouping, and ethics in the experiment!
YOU HAVE GOTTEN THE APPROVAL FOR THE EXPERIMENT FROM THE IRB AND HAVE WON THE GAME!Ethics always matter! So unfortunately, the IRB did not approve of this study.
Try again:
[[Debriefing the results of the study and revealing any possible deception]]Yes, but is this the best answer?
Try again:
[[A naturalistic observation]]Yes, but is this the best answer?
Try again:
[[A naturalistic observation]]Yes, but because of this, you have decided to not run this type of study due to the drawbacks.
Start over:
[[What Question do I Investigate?]]Unfortunately, every method has drawbacks.
Try again:
[[A survey]]Correct! What is the only type of study that can determine causation between the independent and dependent variables?
[[A controlled experiment]]
[[A naturalistic observation]]
[[A survey]]↶↷You have just started your career as a psychological researcher. The first step now is to decide what question you would like to investigate and how in order to get approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB). What Question do I Investigate?
Need some review before you begin? Watch the video:
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