WHAT KIND OF RESEARCH STUDY IS IT?

For the following studies:

a. Identify the study as one of the following:

1. Descriptive

2. Correlational

3. Quasi-experimental

4. Single-subject experimental

5. Group experimental

b. If a correlational study, tell the variables that are correlated.

1. One study found that witnesses to a car accident who were asked, "What happened when the two cars smashed into each other?" reported broken glass more frequently than those who were asked, "What happened when the two cars ran into each other?"

2. A teacher reports that 59% of her students are in Level 1 Reading, 31% are in Level 2 Reading, and 10% are in Level 3 reading.

3. A study which asked if there was a relation between the success rate of psychotherapy and the number of years of experience of the counselor found no relation.

4. As a measure of risk-taking, preschool children were asked to pick the distance they would stand from a basket to toss a ball into it. Their choice of distance was compared when they were in the room with only the teacher, when they were in the room with two peers, and when they were in the room with the entire class.

5. During five days of baseline, a preschool child engaged in cooperative play only 12% of the time. Later, teachers began rewarding her with tokens when she was playing with other children. Over five days, her cooperative play percentage improved to 78%. To be sure that it was the reward that was effective, first the baseline condition and later the reward condition were repeated and similar results were obtained.

6. The State Department of Education in an eastern state reported the following percentage of students in each racial/ethnic group: Whites 47%, Blacks 43%, Asians 4%, Hispanics 4%, and Native Americans 2%.

7. The city of Seattle reports the number of assaults with a deadly weapon for the past five years according to racial/ethnic identity and socioeconomic status.

8. A major federally funded study conducted in the late 60s and early 70s compared cognitive and affective skill measures of children who were randomly assigned to 12 different educational programs.

9. In one study, students were divided into quarters on the basis of the number of hours they reported sleeping. The 25% of students who self-reported that they slept the greatest number of hours had higher enjoyment ratings for sleeping and they could remember more of their dreams than the 25% of students who self-reported that they slept the least number of hours.

10. In one extended study, children were fed controlled amounts of sugar for three weeks, saccharin for three weeks, and nutrasweet for three weeks in one of several different orders. It was a double blind study, so teachers, parents, and school psychologists who were asked to rate the children’s activity levels didn’t know which diet was in place which week. The ratings did not differ across the three conditions, and the researchers concluded that sugar did not elevate activity level.

11. Several studies have found a relationship between where students sit in the classroom and their grade point average.

12. Students were tested on a variety of academic skills. Researchers reported that there was a positive relationship between one’s score in mathematics and one’s score in music.

13. In one study, college students who were in a romantic relationship were asked how much they loved their partner (on a 1-10 scale). Later in the same questionnaire, they were asked how much their parents disapproved of the relationship. The researchers found that the higher the parental disapproval, the greater the reported amount of love.

14. An insurance company reports the percentage of people in the population with various health problems by gender, socioeconomic status, age, and race/ethnicity.

15. Using a twelve category system that was developed for coding conversations in groups, an article reports the number of instances of each category across ten different conversations.

16. Students were randomly assigned to one of two groups of six people. In one group, subjects are asked to brainstorm a topic alone. In the other group, subjects brainstorm as a group. The brainstorming alone group produced more and more creative responses than the brainstorming together group.