AP Psychology Homework

Correlational Research

Name: __________________________

This assignment needs to be TYPED and DOUBLE-SPACED. It must be written in PARAGRAPH FORM using WHOLE SENTENCES.

You are a famous experimental psychologist (Congratulations) who has been given a two million-dollar grant to conduct research on the relationship between video games and academic performance in junior high school students. Describe in as much detail as possible how you would design your research project. Be sure to:

1.    Provide a description (i.e., the number and any important characteristics) of your subjects
       and how you would obtain them. (3 points)

2.    Identify the two variables (X and Y) under investigation. (2 points)

3.    Provide operational definitions for each of the variables. (2 points)

4.    Explain how you would interpret a correlation coefficient of +.85 (i.e., the strength and
       direction of the relationship) with respect to the two varibles.(2 points)

5.    Explain how you would interpret a correlation coefficient of -.85 (i.e., the strength and
       direction of the relationship) with respect to the two varibles. (2 points)

6.    Explain how you would interpret a correlation coefficient of +.15 (i.e., the strength and
       direction of the relationship) with respect to the two varibles.(2 points)

7.    Give two general reasons why (even with a strong correlation) you cannot infer cause
       and effect from your study. (2 points)

8.    Suggest a possible 3^rd variable that could have influenced the two
variables under investigation if you had, in fact, obtained a correlation of -.85. (1 point)

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