Bahria University Islamabad Campus

Department of Professional Psychology

Course: Research Methodology II (RES 446)

Activity 1

Submitted by:

Maryam Javaid 01-171192-025

BS-Psychology 8-A

Date of Submission: 16 March 2023

Submitted to: Dr. Muhammad Faran

 Section A

Read the following research scenario and answer the questions

A cognitive psychologist is comparing the effectiveness of two sets of instructions for assembling

a child’s bike. A random sample of ten fathers is obtained. Half of the fathers are given one set of

instructions and the other half receives the second set. The researcher measures how much time

is needed for each father to assemble the bike. The scores are the number of minutes needed by

each participant. He also accounted for the IQ (High and Low) in this research and suspected

education level and occupation as potential factors for this relationship.

a. Identify Independent variable (How many levels are there)

The independent variable in this research scenario is the set of instructions for assembling

the child’s bike. There are two levels to this independent variable i.e. there are two sets of

instructions given to the group of fathers.

b. Identify dependent variable (what is operationalization?)

The dependent variable in this research scenario is the time taken, in minutes, by each

participant to assemble the bike. The dependent variable is operationalized such that the time

taken by the participant to assemble the bike reflects the effectiveness of the instructions they are

using. A shorter amount of time taken reflects more effective assembling instructions.

c. Identify confounding variable (could be more than one)

 The confounding variables i.e. the extraneous variables that have been identified and

labeled by the researchers in this scenario are IQ, whether it is high or low, suspected education

level and occupation of the participants. These are the variables that could have a possible impact

on the value of the dependent variable and could explain its change.

d. Which design was used? (Hint: See designs of experimental research (Lecture Notes))

The design used in this research scenario is between-groups design or independent

measures design since two separate, independent groups of fathers were each given one set of

instructions i.e. they were randomly assigned to only one treatment condition and the time they

took would be compared.

e. which sampling technique was opted? And why?

The sampling technique was random or probability sampling where each individual

within the target population has an equal chance of being selected for the study. As for why this

sampling technique was used, probability sampling has the advantage of reducing biases

including researcher bias involved in selecting a sample. Random sampling also increases a

researcher's confidence in the representativeness and generalizability of their sample to the

population. Depending on the type of random sampling used, these techniques are also very

simple and cost-effective to use for instance, in simple random sampling where an online random

number generator may be used to select the sample.

f. which analysis will be carried out?

An independent-samples t-test will be carried out to compare the means of the two

different groups of fathers given different sets of instructions. The t-test will tell the researcher
whether the two groups are different from one another. Multiple regression analysis may also be

used to control or adjust for the effects of the confounding variables on the relationship between

the independent variable and dependent variable.