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A clinical psychologist wants to examine how emotional regulation changes from adolescence to young adulthood. Apply the principles of cross-sectional research to describe how the psychologist should structure the participant groups, and state why this structure means the study cannot be experimental.
Question: A clinical psychologist wants to examine how emotional regulation changes from adolescence to young adulthood. Apply the principles of cross-sectional research to describe how the psychologist should structure the participant groups, and state why this structure means the study cannot be experimental.
Sample answer: The psychologist should recruit pre-existing groups representing different developmental stages, such as one group of adolescents and one group of young adults, and test them at the same time. This structure makes the study non-experimental because the researcher is relying on naturally occurring age differences and cannot randomly assign participants to be adolescents or young adults, nor manipulate their age.
Key points:
- Applies the design by structuring pre-existing groups (adolescents and young adults) for simultaneous comparison.
- Relies on naturally occurring group differences to examine change over time.
- Explains that the design is non-experimental because there is no random assignment.
- Explains that the design is non-experimental because there is no manipulation of an independent variable.
Rubric: The answer should describe selecting pre-existing groups (adolescents and young adults) to be compared simultaneously. It must explain that the study is non-experimental because participants cannot be randomly assigned to these age-based groups, and there is no manipulation of the independent variable.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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A clinical psychologist wants to examine how emotional regulation changes from adolescence to young adulthood. Apply the principles of cross-sectional research to describe how the psychologist should structure the participant groups, and state why this structure means the study cannot be experimental.