Week 2 Practice Quiz (21 questions)

Explanation

The assessment gives equal weight to the midterm quiz and final exam, with each contributing half of the course grade. A 40%–60% split incorrectly gives the two assessments different weights.

Explanation

Dr Choo Rui Qi teaches research methods, while A/P Olivia Choy teaches statistics. Assigning either instructor to both sections or reversing their roles does not match the course structure.

Explanation

Science obtains knowledge through objective observations, while common sense can depend on informal belief or intuition. Personal experience can contribute to common sense but does not by itself provide the objective basis required for science.

Explanation

Psychology applies problem solving by moving from theories to testable hypotheses. An explanation supported by opinion, tradition, or speculation has not undergone the scientific hypothesis-testing process.

Explanation

The scientific method begins with a research question and proceeds through hypothesis formation, study design, data collection, analysis, and reporting. Beginning with reporting or collecting data before establishing the research plan reverses the stated process.

Explanation

A hypothesis is formulated as a statement assumed to be true for the purpose of testing whether it is valid. A conclusion comes after results are examined, while a measurement procedure is an operational definition.

Explanation

An operational definition specifies precisely how a concept is measured, such as a participant’s score on a named questionnaire. The other statements describe stress broadly without identifying a concrete measurement procedure.

Explanation

Scientific knowledge is empirical because it can be verified through observation or experience, and it is objective because experiences can be reported systematically. Reliance on authority alone does not provide empirical evidence.

Explanation

Scientific conclusions are tentative because new evidence may correct previous beliefs and improve explanations. Treating conclusions as fixed would conflict with science’s progressive and self-correcting character.

Explanation

Science aims to describe phenomena, investigate causes, develop theories, and create explanations that are falsifiable. An explanation that cannot be tested or potentially refuted does not meet this goal.

Explanation

The APA establishes ethical principles and professional conduct, whereas an IRB evaluates proposed research for scientific merit and acceptable risk. An IRB does not replace the APA’s professional ethical guidance.

Explanation

Beneficence requires maximizing benefits relative to harms, while justice addresses equity in the distribution of research burdens and benefits. Respect for persons focuses on recognizing participants’ autonomy and protection.

Explanation

Informed consent requires clear information about procedures, incentives, and risks, along with voluntary participation and the right to withdraw. Restricting withdrawal or using incentives as pressure undermines voluntariness.

Explanation

Ethical deception requires researchers to explain the study as soon as possible, answer questions, remove misconceptions, and assess whether the deception worked. Continuing to withhold the explanation indefinitely fails to provide proper debriefing.

Explanation

Ethical research requires correcting significant errors and prohibiting fabrication, along with avoiding plagiarism. Preserving a known error, manipulating data, or using unattributed wording violates research integrity.

Explanation

The garden of forking paths arises when researchers select among multiple analytical routes, which can increase the false-positive rate. Preregistration is the contrasting practice because it specifies analyses in advance rather than choosing them after seeing results.

Explanation

P-hacking involves repeatedly adding or removing variables or data points after viewing results in order to obtain statistical significance. HARKing instead concerns presenting a hypothesis after the results are already known, not changing the dataset to reach significance.

Explanation

HARKing means hypothesising after the results are known, so a post hoc idea may be presented as though it had been predicted in advance. Selecting among analyses describes the garden of forking paths, while changing observations to obtain significance describes p-hacking.

Explanation

Open research practice requires researchers to share precise methods, data such as Excel sheets, and other documentation so others can independently check the findings. Withholding data prevents independent verification even when the general procedure is described.

Explanation

Preregistration documents the hypotheses, methods, and analyses before data collection, reducing the opportunity to replace a planned variable with a significant alternative. Revising a hypothesis after seeing results is HARKing, which is the practice preregistration is designed to distinguish from.

Explanation

Replication follows the methodology of an earlier study and repeats its procedure to determine whether comparable results are obtained. Sharing files supports transparency, but it does not itself constitute repeating the prior investigation.