THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES EXAMINATIONS OF DECEMBER 2010 CODE AND NAME OF COURSE: PSYC3024 APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH METHODS, DATE AND TIME: DURATION: 2 HOURS INSTRUCTION TO CANDIDATES: This paper has 3 pages and 3 questions, Please answer all the questions in Seetion A and one (1) question from Section B Section A Answer all of the following questions related to the research study deseribed below: Bruss and Hill (2010) conducted a study 10 examine what effect type of communication (online or face-to-face) has on self-disclosure, Participants were 58 undergraduate university students who volunteered for the study; the campus population was 1000. Participants were assigned to two conditions: face-to-face communication and online communication groups. The researchers used an adapted version of the Revised Self-Disclosure Scale (RSDS) to determine the participants’ leve} of self disclosure, The RSDS measured two self-disclosure faciors: personal self-disclosure and pereeived partner self disclosure. The researchers hypothesized that beseuse online communication increases. anonymity (Chiou, 2006); participants in the online group would report higher levels of personal self-disclosure than those in the face-to-face group, Secondly, the researchers also hypothesized that participants in online discussions would perecive that their conversation partners disclose more to them than those participating in face- to-face discussion As the participants arrived at the study, they were either assigned 10 an online communication condition or @ face-to-face communication condition. Only participants in the face-to-face communication condition were randomly assigned to partners. Face-to-face participants entered the same room and were given @ number of topics to discuss with a pariner for 15 minutes Participants assigned to the online condition entered other rooms and picked a computer by seating themselves, Pairs were crested through convenience sampling with partners located in two different rooms and communicating through instant messaging. As in the face-to-face condition, partners were given a number of topics to discuss for 15 minutes. At the end of the 15 minutes, participants in both conditions were given 2 questionnaire to complete. The questionnaire contained demographic questions on age, gender, year in school, and the extent to which they felt they new their partner before the study. The questionnaire also included the Revised Self-Disclosure Scale, It tonk participants approximately 3 minutes to complete the questions, ‘As predicted, the researchers found that participants in the online communication group reported higher levels of personal self-disclosure and perceived partner self-disclosure than those in the face-to-face communication group, The researchers found that students who conversed online reported a significantly higher amount of personal and perccived partner self-disclosure than those who conversed face-to-face. Also as predicted, results indicated that people perceived their The University of the West Indies 1communication partners as disclosing more in the online discussion situation than in the face-to- face situation, Question 1 4) Identify and describe the quantitative research design used to conduct this study. State one (1) strength and one (1) weakness of this quantitative design, (7 marks) b) State two (2) research questions that would have been asked by the researchers, (4 marks) ©) Briefly explain one advantage of using randomization to assign participants to the face-to-face communication group. (2 marks) 4) Briefly expiain one disadvantage of using convenience sampling to assign participants to the oaline communication group, (2 marks) ©) Which statistical test would have been used to measure the differences in self-disclosure between the two groups given that all variables were measured at the interval'ratio (or seale) level of measurement? (mark) ) Examine how the following sample characteristics: age; gender; year in school; extent to which they felt they knew their partner before this experiment; could have an impact on the outcome ef the research study (8 marks) ) Identify two (2) possible intervening variables and explain how they might have impacted on the outcome of the research study. ‘That is, the researchers’ finding that participants perceived mpre self-disclosure in the online communication group than in the face-to-face communication group. (6 marks) [Total = 30 marks} Answer one (1) of the following questions: a) Outline two differences between quantitative and qualitative research designs, Be sure to include examples of each research design. in your response. (6 marks) ) Tt is usually recommended that for quantitative research designs researchers should use existing instruments that are psychometrically sound. Discuss three criteria used to determine the psychometric soundness of instruments, (12 marks) ¢) Examine the following ethical issues that arise when conducting psychological research with psychological instruments: 1) informed consent in assessments, 2) assessment by unquelified persons, 3) interpreting assessment results and 4) maintaining test security, You many use examples from your own research to complement your response, (12 marks) [Total 30 marks} The University of the West IndiesQuestion 3 a) Explain three reasons why psychological research is important to the theory and practice of psychology. (9 marks) b) Define critical thinking and examine three skills you would need to become a critical thinker, (8 marks) ©) A literature review presents theoretical perspectives and previous research findings on the variables to be addressed in a research study, Examine how you use critical thinking when reading the paychological literature and preparing & literature revicw. (8 marks) @) Define plagiarism and explain how you would seek to avoid plagiarizing in your literature review. (5 marks) [Total = 30 marks} END OF EXAMINATION PAPER ‘The University of the West Indies 3