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Diagnose the issue with the student's proposed research question. Explain what role the room temperature plays in this design, and justify why it cannot be the focus of the research question.
Case context: A student researcher is designing an experiment to investigate if different styles of study guides affect test performance. To keep the testing conditions identical, the researcher administers the test in a single room kept at exactly degrees Fahrenheit for all participants. In their draft proposal, the student writes their main research question: 'How does the room temperature of degrees Fahrenheit affect the participants' test performance?'
Question: Diagnose the issue with the student's proposed research question. Explain what role the room temperature plays in this design, and justify why it cannot be the focus of the research question.
Sample answer: The student's research question is flawed because room temperature is kept exactly the same for all participants, meaning it is a constant rather than a variable in this study. A constant is a property or quantity that does not vary across individuals or situations. Since psychological research questions aim to understand phenomena that vary, a constant like this room temperature cannot be the focus of the research question.
Key points:
- Identify room temperature as a constant in this study design.
- Define a constant as a property or quantity that does not vary across individuals or situations.
- Explain that psychological research questions seek to understand phenomena that vary.
- Conclude that because room temperature is constant, it cannot be the focus of the research question.
Rubric: The response must identify room temperature as a constant, explain that a constant is a property that does not vary in this study, and justify that constants cannot be the focus of research questions because psychology seeks to understand varying phenomena.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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