PART I:
1. From an early age, boys and girls begin to act differently from one another. Boys may, for example, begin to show stronger skills for throwing a ball and girls may begin to show improved skills for movement activities such as dancing. Are these differences genetic? Are they learned? Which research method(s) would work best for examining the gender differences of boys compared to girls. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods for this task?
2. In some cases, field investigators only obtain informed consent after the behavior of interest has been observed or the conversations has been audio recorded. Why might an investigator wait to get informed consent, and is it ethical to do so? Under what conditions might you view it as ethical or unethical?

3. What is culture? Why is it important to develop our research and instruments with the culture of our sample population in mind? How might not taking culture into consideration influence our results?

4. People often think of experiments when they think of scientific research. While experiments are a useful method, there are times when an experiment might not be the best choice. List three phenomena that might it be difficult, unethical, or costly to study using experimental methods

PART II:
Answer the following questions for each study described below. (1) Is the study primarily an observational study, a correlational study, or an experiment? Why do you give the answer you did? (2) What are the variables involved in the study? For experiments, specify the independent and dependent variables. (3) What might be the hypothesis that the researchers are trying to test?

1. A researcher is interested in the relationship between caffeine consumption and level of stress. S/he has participants keep a diary for one week during which they count the number of cups of coffee, tea, and cola-based soft drinks they consume, as well as recording consumption of chocolate and medications that have caffeine as an ingredient. In addition, participants complete a measure of “daily hassles” experienced during the week.
_____Observational _____Correlational ______ Experimental
Variables:
Hypothesis:

2. A pair of psychologists is interested in the effects of mood on helping (based on Isen & Levin, 1972). They give participants free tickets to a feel good movie. They then have a confederate drop papers in front of people who just got out of the movie and people who are just walking by who have not just seen a happy movie for free. The researchers watch to see if the participants help pick up the dropped papers.
_____Observational _____Correlational ______ Experimental
Variables:
Hypothesis:

3. Researchers (Reifman, Larrick, and Fein, 1988) were interested in the factors causing aggression. They looked at an entire baseball season’s worth of news reports. For each game, they recorded the temperature of the locale, and the number of batters who were hit by pitched balls.
____Observational _____Correlational ______ Experimental
Variables:
Hypothesis:

4. Researchers are interested in influences on self-esteem. Half of the participants used in this study are male and half are female. Participants are given a set of anagram problems to solve in a five minute time limit. Half are randomly assigned to receive very easy anagrams and half are given difficult ones. After completing as many of the anagrams as they can, participants are given a questionnaire labeled “Thoughts and Feelings Questionnaire” that is really a measure of self-esteem.
_____Observational _____Correlational ______ Experimental
Variables:
Hypothesis:

5. Researchers are interested in what determines how easily people are persuaded. Half of the participants used in this study are male and half are female. During the session, participants rate their attitude towards an increase in fees that has been proposed at their school. Following this, they listen to a persuasive message providing strong arguments in favor of the fee increase. Finally, they re-rate their attitude towards the proposed fee.
_____Observational _____Correlational ______ Experimental
Variables:
Hypothesis:

PART I: 1. From an early age, boys and girls begin to act differen...