AP PSYCHOLOGY

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RESEARCH METHODS THINKING CRITICALLY WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND DESCRIPTION

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
A special program was run to improve the goal-shooting accuracy of the school’s basketball players. A study of the effectiveness of the program was undertaken to determine if it should be used in other schools.A trial is run before the program is implemented and the average score for the shooters is 52%. The shooters are then randomly divided into two groups. The members of the control group practice shooting for one hour per day, under the supervision of their classroom teacher. The members of the experimental group undertake the special program for one hour per day, under the supervision of their basketball coach. After five sessions, the test is repeated and the scores recorded.A potential confounding variable in this study is
A
the classroom teacher versus the expertise of basketball coach.
B
the health of the basketball players before and after the program.
C
the height of the basketball players.
D
the age of each basketballer, and therefore the average age of the group to which they are assigned.
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Convenience sampling-studying individuals who happen to be nearby and willing to participate-is a very common form of nonprobability sampling used in psychological research. Survey researchers, however, are much more likely to use some form of probability sampling.

Detailed explanation-2: -Falsifiability refers to whether a hypothesis can be disproved. For a hypothesis to be falsifiable, it must be logically possible to make an observation or do a physical experiment that would show that there is no support for the hypothesis.

Detailed explanation-3: -Why do researchers try to avoid being detected by their subjects when engaged in naturalistic observations? Naturally occurring behavior patterns might not occur if the subjects are aware that they are being observed.

Detailed explanation-4: -Experimental manipulation describes the process by which researchers purposefully change, alter, or influence the independent variables (IVs), which are also called treatment variables or factors, in an experimental research design.

There is 1 question to complete.
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