Research Methods in Psychology

Research Methods in Psychology

Part A: Research Scenarios

Scenario 1

Ho: Early handling of kittens does not influence the friendliness behaviour of kittens towards humans.

Ha: Early handling of kittens significantly influences the friendliness behaviour of kittens towards humans.

IV: Handling by experimenter

DV: Friendly behaviour of kitten

What are the possible confounds in Karsh's experimental design?

Possible confounds in the Karsh's experimental design reflect towards the handling duration of kitten in weeks. Karsh experiment does not highlight to what extent delay of 7 weeks influence the friendliness of kitten towards experimenter/humans. Additionally, Karsh experiment does not highlight the external factors that might have influence the association of kittens to experimenter.

Scenario 2

Ho: Sensory deprivation does not affect the intellectual development of animals.

Ha: Sensory deprivation inhibits the intellectual development of animals.

IV: Sensory Deprivation

DV: Intellectual Development of Animals

Briefly describe the two main confounds in the experiment

First major confound appeared in terms of food provided to rat's pups that were kept in isolation. Mother Breastfed is highly essential for the cognitive capacity development of rats. This experiment does not highlight the reason why rats kept in isolation were frozen frequently.

Second major confound refers to impact of orientation to object details. Experiment does not specify the types of objects placed in the cage of rats. Additionally, experiment does not identify whether nutrition deprivation had an impact on the maze solving case of rats or orientation to objects.

Part B, Section 2: Assignment Task

Part B: Research Analyses (between-groups ANOVA)

In 1925, Edgar Hurwitz wanted to address the question “What are the effects on pupil performance of different types of incentives?” The orthogonal and ANOVA analyses have been done to determine whether or not the data supports the claim that reinforcement (in the form of praise or punishment) enhances learning. As part of analyses, two planned orthogonal comparisons: one that compares all of the experimental groups with the control group and another that compares the praise and reprove groups has been preformed. Additionally, post hoc test has also been performed that provide post hoc comparisons to check whether or not particular pairs of groups are significantly different from each other or not.

Introduction to Testing Methodology

This section presents an analysis of effects of different types of incentives on pupil performance. Positive reinforcement (reward) produces greater increments of learning than does punishment. In other words, the relation is between reinforcement (or reward and punishment) and learning. Educators and parents of the 19th Century often assumed that punishment was the more effective agent in learning. Educators and parents of the 21st Century often assume that positive reinforcement (reward) is more effective than other agents.

In order to conduct the Analysis of Variance (One-way ANOVA) for this research paper, data include “Types of Incentives” as Independent Variable and the “Pupil Performance Score” as the Dependent Variable. Types of Incentives are a nominal variable and the “Pupil Performance Score” is continuous variable measuring the score of every student on Likert scale. Five forms of addition test A, B, C, D, and E, were ...