Short Answer Scenario 2: Imagine you read a news headline that states: “Taking notes by hand may lead to better learning.” In the study, researchers had students take notes on a TED talk in a classroom and then tested their understanding of the material with a multiple-choice exam. A third of the students were randomly assigned to take notes with a laptop, another third was randomly assigned to take notes with an iPad, and the last third was randomly assigned to take notes by hand. The results suggested that there was a statistically significant difference in exam scores such that participants who took notes by hand performed significantly better than the participants who took notes by laptop or iPad. What is the independent variable? [answer1] How many levels are there of the independent variable? [answer2] What are the levels of the independent variable? [answer3] What is the dependent variable? [answer4] What type of study do you need to make this claim? Correlational study or experiment? [answer5]

Dr. Lowe conducts a study to distinguish the components of conscientiousness to add to our general understanding of this personality trait. This is an example of _______ research.

Which of the following phrases would NOT indicate that a researcher is making a causal claim?

When using correlation coefficients to evaluate reliability, which of the following is undesirable?

Private businesses (e.g., Facebook) can conduct studies without following federal ethical guidelines.

Your friend is complaining about having to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), a test that is required to go to graduate school and is similar to the ACT and SAT. Your friends complains, “Tests like the GRE don’t really measure how well people actually do in graduate school.” Dominic is questioning the _____  of the test.

In the Discussion section of their paper, Ames et al. (2006) reported that they learned of a shorter version of their scale that had been developed by other researchers. What concern did they raise about the other researchers’ version of the scale?

Judy recently read a peer-reviewed article in which the researchers found that cigarette smoking is linked to lung cancer. She says to herself “I’ve been smoking cigarettes 40 years and I don’t have lung cancer!” Based on Judy’s comment, she might be forgetting which of the following:

When we state that a hypothesis is ________, we are referring to the point that it must be possible to obtain results that are contrary to our hypothesis.

How can you ensure that a popular media article accurately reflects the original research of a scientific study?