AP Psychology Module 2 Student Project NAME:______

AP Psychology Module 2 Student Project NAME:______

Background: Module 2 explores scientific research techniques utilized by psychologists to study human behavior. In this project you are encouraged to apply all of the techniques you have learned in this module to the hypothetical study of either CAPA lunch room behavior OR a proverb. Please consult the text. Type your project. Thanks!!

Directions:

1) Describe the behavior in the lunch room or proverb that you are interested in studying. Note what type of descriptive research method you used.

Write down your observations. /10

2)Explain in detail the correlationalresearch you could conduct. Is there a comparison you could make between groups based on gender, social status, age? What predictions can you make? Select variables around which you can form a hypothesis. Please note. The observable behaviors must be quantifiable. /20

3)Design an experiment that aims to explain the behavior you described in part 1) or predicted in part 2). Explain in detail the steps you would need to take in the scientific method. Don’t forget an hypothesis, independent and dependent variables, variables that are controlled and variables that are not controlled, random sampling, random assignment, control and treatment groups, operational definitions, findings and the need for replication. Discuss the statistical methods you would use if you were actually carrying out this experiment. /30

Total: /60

Comments:

AP Psychology Module 2 Critical Thinking Exercise

Philip, who teaches 6-year-olds, believes that educational television programs such as Sesame Street promote reading ability in young children. He announces his hunch to his students and tells their parents about his idea. Some parents respond enthusiastically when he asks for volunteers to participate in a three-month experiment to test his hypothesis. Ten volunteers are assigned to the experimental group and instructed to have their children watch the one-hour Sesame Street program each day after school. The parents of 10 other students, who are picked at random from the remaining members of the class, receive the same instructions, except that the program they watch is a one-hour noneducational cartoon. After the three-month period, Philip administers a standardized reading test to both groups. He is delighted to find that the average test score of the students in the experimental group is substantially higher than that of the students in the comparison group.

1. What is the focal behavior of the study?

1. What is Philip’s hypothesis?

1. What is the independent variable?

1. What is the dependent variable?

1. List three variables that are controlled in the experiment.

6. List four variables that are not controlled, and explain how they might have affected Philip’s findings.

7. Was the research a valid test of Philip’s hypothesis? Explain your reasoning.