AP PSYCHOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODS THINKING CRITICALLY WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND DESCRIPTION

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Researchers use the double-blind procedure to avoid:
A
random assignment.
B
replication.
C
researcher and participant bias.
D
the placebo effect.
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -A double-blind study is one in which neither the participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment. This procedure is utilized to prevent bias in research results. Double-blind studies are particularly useful for preventing bias due to demand characteristics or the placebo effect.

Detailed explanation-2: -A type of clinical trial in which neither the participants nor the researcher knows which treatment or intervention participants are receiving until the clinical trial is over. This makes results of the study less likely to be biased.

Detailed explanation-3: -The double-blind study keeps both doctors and participants in the dark as to who is receiving which treatment. This last part is important because it prevents the researchers from unintentionally tipping off the study participants, or unconsciously biasing their evaluation of the results.

Detailed explanation-4: -Therefore, both research participants and researchers are blind to this information. Double-blind studies help in reducing the biases like the placebo effect, experimenter bias, and experimenter expectancy effect that hinder the results and conclusions of the study.

Detailed explanation-5: -Blinding (sometimes called masking) is used to try to eliminate such bias. It is a tenet of randomised controlled trials that the treatment allocation for each patient is not revealed until the patient has irrevocably been entered into the trial, to avoid selection bias.

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