Free Research Methods and Statistics MCQs with Answers

263 Research Methods and Statistics MCQs from Psychology, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

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263 questions · page 5 of 14

  • A. ensuring that participation is involuntary
  • B. harming the subjects when necessary
  • C. minimizing confidentiality
  • D. providing results and interpretations to participants

Explanation: Ethical research includes debriefing participants and explaining the study’s results and interpretations when appropriate.

Correct answer: providing results and interpretations to participants
  • A. Correlation method
  • B. Experimental method
  • C. Naturalistic observation method
  • D. Participant observer method

Explanation: The experimental method is designed to test cause and effect because the researcher manipulates an independent variable and observes its…

Correct answer: Experimental method
  • A. theory
  • B. law
  • C. hypothesis
  • D. experiment

Explanation: A hypothesis is a provisional, testable explanation or prediction. A theory is a broader, well-supported explanatory framework, while an…

Correct answer: hypothesis
  • A. a high dosage of alcohol
  • B. one-half the dosage given the experimental group
  • C. a driving test before and after drinking alcohol
  • D. no alcohol at all

Explanation: A control group should not receive the independent variable, so it should receive no alcohol while the experimental group receives…

Correct answer: no alcohol at all
  • A. 1, 3 & 4
  • B. 1, 2 & 3
  • C. 2, 3 & 4
  • D. 1, 2 & 4

Explanation: Good research should be public so it can be scrutinised, cumulative so findings build on earlier work, and parsimonious by favouring the…

Correct answer: 1, 3 & 4
  • A. Valid, scientific, ethical, experimental, correlational
  • B. Scientific, experimental, public, parsimonious, cumulative
  • C. valid, reliable, Public, parsimonious, cumulative
  • D. Experimental, quasi-experimental survey, correlational, meta-analytic

Explanation: The standard qualities listed here are validity, reliability, public accessibility, parsimony and cumulativeness.

Correct answer: valid, reliable, Public, parsimonious, cumulative
  • A. Psychology is bound by research ethics
  • B. Psychology relies on the scientific method
  • C. Psychology relies on the statistical tests
  • D. Psychology is bound by human populations

Explanation: Psychology is distinguished by its systematic use of the scientific method to formulate, test and revise explanations of behaviour and…

Correct answer: Psychology relies on the scientific method
  • A. Theories, hypotheses, tests
  • B. Self-report, experiments correlations
  • C. Behavioural, self-report, experimental
  • D. Behavioural, self-report, physiological

Explanation: Psychologists assess mental activity through observable behaviour, people’s self-reports and physiological measures such as heart rate or…

Correct answer: Behavioural, self-report, physiological
  • A. The true experimental method
  • B. The quasi-experimental method
  • C. The introspective method
  • D. The case study method

Explanation: Introspection relies on individuals’ private self-observations and is not a widely used modern experimental method because such reports…

Correct answer: The introspective method
  • A. Experimentation
  • B. Revision
  • C. Manipulation Check
  • D. Triangulation

Explanation: Triangulation means investigating the same issue through multiple methods, measures, researchers, or data sources.

Correct answer: Triangulation
  • A. Practical issues are irrelevant when deciding which research method use
  • B. No one method is universally superior to any other.
  • C. Both a and b
  • D. Neither a nor b

Explanation: Research methods must be selected according to practical, ethical, theoretical, and validity-related considerations.

Correct answer: No one method is universally superior to any other.
  • A. Telling experimental participants about the hypotheses that they are not being tested as such
  • B. Informing participants that they are not being 'tested' as such
  • C. Telling them that the data they produce is confidential and will not be discussed with any third party
  • D. Telling participants that they can withdraw from the experiment at any time and that they can ask that the data they generate be deletedDiscover Lesson Plans

Explanation: Giving participants the hypotheses can create demand characteristics, causing them to alter their behaviour and making the findings less…

Correct answer: Telling experimental participants about the hypotheses that they are not being tested as such
  • A. When researchers report and comment on behaviour, without attempting to quantify it, they are using a qualitative research method
  • B. Qualitative methods can include coding, grouping and collecting observations
  • C. The way people evaluate the friendliness of the people they meet, illustrates some features of a qualitative approach to psychological research
  • D. All of the above

Explanation: Qualitative research examines meaning and behaviour without reducing everything to numerical scores, and may involve coding, grouping, and…

Correct answer: All of the above
  • A. Nominal, ordinal, internal, external
  • B. internal, external, quasi, survey
  • C. Nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio
  • D. Interval, ratio, quasi, surveyTry Science Kits

Explanation: The four measurement scales are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Internal and external are not measurement scales, while quasi and…

Correct answer: Nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio
  • A. When we use inferential statistics usually, we have to use a test statistics
  • B. Two things influence our judgment about whether a given observation is any sense remarkable (1) the information that something is going on; and (2) the amount of random error in our observations
  • C. The statistics we normally psychology contain both an information term and a term, and express one as a ratio of the other
  • D. The test statistic will yield a high value (suggesting that something remarkable is going on) when there is relatively less information than error and a low value (suggesting that nothing remarkable is going on) when there is more information than error

Explanation: A test statistic is generally a ratio of systematic information or signal to random error, so it becomes larger when information is…

Correct answer: The test statistic will yield a high value (suggesting that something remarkable is going on) when there is relatively less information than error and a low value (suggesting that nothing remarkable is going on) when there is more information than error
  • A. Motivation, cognition, behavior
  • B. Descriptive, inferential, evaluation
  • C. Mean, average, sum
  • D. Mean, median, modeBook Online Therapy

Explanation: The three standard measures of central tendency are the mean, median, and mode.

Correct answer: Mean, median, modeBook Online Therapy
  • A. No, because correlated variables do not indicated causal relationships
  • B. No, because correlated variables are not based on inferential statistics
  • C. Yes, because correlated variables indicated causal relationships
  • D. Yes, because correlated variables are based on inferential statisticsTake Psychology Courses

Explanation: Correlation shows that two variables vary together but does not establish which causes which, or whether a third factor affects both.

Correct answer: No, because correlated variables do not indicated causal relationships
  • A. They provide a set of statistical
  • B. They Provide a set of rules to protect participants
  • C. They provide a set of hypotheses to be tested
  • D. They provide a set standards for variable selection

Explanation: Research ethics establish rules such as informed consent, confidentiality, and protection from unnecessary harm.

Correct answer: They Provide a set of rules to protect participants