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Case Study

Analyze the provided case context. Diagnose whether the researcher is using active deception, passive deception, or no deception, and justify your classification by explaining how information and participant assumptions were managed.

Case context: A researcher is studying learning that occurs without conscious effort (incidental learning). The researcher tells participants they will read a list of words, but does not tell them there will be a memory test on those words later. The researcher allows the participants to assume they are simply reading for a different, unspecified task, without explicitly lying about the procedure.

Question: Analyze the provided case context. Diagnose whether the researcher is using active deception, passive deception, or no deception, and justify your classification by explaining how information and participant assumptions were managed.

Sample answer: The researcher is using passive deception. This classification is justified because the researcher did not actively misinform the participants or present false information (which would be active deception). Instead, the researcher withheld information about the study's full design (the upcoming memory test) and allowed the participants to make incorrect assumptions about the task's true purpose.

Key points:

  • Diagnoses the scenario as passive deception.
  • Explains that active deception is not present because no false information was explicitly presented.
  • Identifies that the researcher withheld the full design of the study (the memory test).
  • Identifies that the researcher allowed participants to make incorrect assumptions about the task's purpose.

Rubric: The response must correctly identify the use of passive deception. The justification must highlight that no explicit false information was given (ruling out active deception) and that the researcher withheld information about the study's full design/purpose while allowing participants to hold incorrect assumptions.

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Updated 2026-05-27

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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