Research Methods Assignment
Alison is a School Psychologist who is interested in studying the development of working memory in high school students. She decides to study 9th-graders, 10th-graders, and 11th-graders at the high school where she works. She obtains permission from the school administration to conduct the study, and she has a meeting with faculty members who teach the students to brief them about the study and answer any questions they might have. Alison writes a grant to fund the study, and she is able to offer a $10 amazon gift card to each student who participates, Also, each participant will be registered for a drawing to win an ipad.
Alison is allowed to speak to each class (9th, 10th, & 11th grades) and tell them about the study. She leaves an informed consent sheet and information packet with any student who is interested. The students who decide to participate sign and date the consent form, and their parents sign and date the consent form also. Once Alison collects all of the forms she finds that 51 9th-graders, 67 10th-graders, and 43 11th-graders have decided to participate in the study (A total of 161 participants).
The study takes the following form: the 9th-graders, 10th-graders, and 11th-graders who participated in the study are given 3 different working memory tests during a class period in February of the school year. Exactly one year later Alison tests the same participants again. Each participant takes 3 working memory tests. Alison then uses statistical procedures to crunch the numbers and find the results of her research.
Based on the information in the scenario above, please answer the following questions:
1. Is Alison using the correlational method or the experimental method? Explain.
2. Is there an Experimental Group? If so, which participants are in that group?
3. Is there a Control Group? If so, which participants are in that group?
4. Is Alison using Random Assignment in this study? Explain.
5. What are some of the possible confounds/third variables that might be affecting this study? In other words, what are some things that might hurt or help the development of working memory that Alison's study is not measuring?