GRE Subject Test: Psychology : GRE Subject Test: Psychology
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Psychology
All GRE Subject Test: Psychology Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #2 : Construction, Reliability, & Validity Of Testing Methods
Dr. Crawford believes she has invented a pill to help with student memorization. For a trial experiment, she gathered two groups of twenty students. She gave the twenty students in Group A the “smart pill”, and the twenty students in Group B a sugar pill. After waiting five minutes, both groups of students were given a list of forty words, and were instructed to memorize the entire list in any order. The students were given five minutes to memorize the list. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember in any order within three minutes.
Group A recited an average of fifteen words, while Group B recited an average of ten words.
What is Dr. Smart’s null hypothesis?
The number of the words recited by Group A will be greater than or equal to the number of words recited by Group B.
The smart pill works.
There is a significant difference between the number of correct words recited by Group A and Group B.
There is no significant difference between the number of correct words recited by Group A and Group B.
The number of the words recited by Group B will be less than the number of words recited by Group A.
There is no significant difference between the number of correct words recited by Group A and Group B.
The null hypothesis suggests that the independent variable has no effect in the experiment. If Dr. Crawford’s null hypothesis is supported, then her smart pill has virtually no effect on student memorization. The goal is to reject the null hypothesis with results from the experiment.
Example Question #4 : Construction, Reliability, & Validity Of Testing Methods
Dr. Crawford believes she has invented a pill to help with student memorization. For a trial experiment, she gathered two groups of twenty students. She gave the twenty students in Group A the “smart pill”, and the twenty students in Group B a sugar pill. After waiting five minutes, both groups of students were given a list of forty words, and were instructed to memorize the entire list in any order. The students were given five minutes to memorize the list. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember in any order within three minutes.
Group A recited an average of fifteen words, while Group B recited an average of ten words.
What sort of experimental design is this?
Independent measures
Repeated measures
Separate variables
Counterbalancing method
Independent variables
Independent measures
Independent measures designs describe an experiment in which there are two or more separate groups. In Dr. Crawford’s experiment, the two groups are the students in Group A and Group B. The students do not overlap groups, and are only exposed to one of the two conditions during the experiment.
Example Question #5 : Construction, Reliability, & Validity Of Testing Methods
Dr. Crawford believes she has invented a pill to help with student memorization. For a trial experiment, she gathered two groups of twenty students. She gave the twenty students in Group A the “smart pill”, and the twenty students in Group B a sugar pill. After waiting five minutes, both groups of students were given a list of forty words, and were instructed to memorize the entire list in any order. The students were given five minutes to memorize the list. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember in any order within three minutes.
Group A recited an average of fifteen words, while Group B recited an average of ten words.
In this experiment, what is the independent variable?
Students' receipt of the smart pill vs. the sugar pill
Five minutes given to study the list
Group A versus Group B
Reciting the list in any order
The number of words recited
Students' receipt of the smart pill vs. the sugar pill
The independent variable is what the researcher manipulates in order to test his or her hypothesis. In this experiment, Dr. Smart gave one group the smart pill and the other group a sugar pill in order to evaluate the smart pill's effect on student memorization.
Example Question #6 : Construction, Reliability, & Validity Of Testing Methods
Dr. Crawford believes she has invented a pill to help with student memorization. For a trial experiment, she gathered two groups of twenty students. She gave the twenty students in Group A the “smart pill”, and the twenty students in Group B a sugar pill. After waiting five minutes, both groups of students were given a list of forty words, and were instructed to memorize the entire list in any order. The students were given five minutes to memorize the list. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember in any order within three minutes.
Group A recited an average of fifteen words, while Group B recited an average of ten words.
Group A is the __________.
tester group
control group
experimental group
placebo group
independent variable
experimental group
The experimental group is the group assigned to measure the effect of the independent variable. Students in Group A were given the smart pill, and thus their results will be analyzed to measure the effect it had on student memorization.
Example Question #11 : Other Areas
Dr. Crawford believes she has invented a pill to help with student memorization. For a trial experiment, she gathered two groups of twenty students. She gave the twenty students in Group A the “smart pill”, and the twenty students in Group B a sugar pill. After waiting five minutes, both groups of students were given a list of forty words, and were instructed to memorize the entire list in any order. The students were given five minutes to memorize the list. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember in any order within three minutes.
Group A recited an average of fifteen words, while Group B recited an average of ten words.
Group B is the _________.
tester group
experimental group
control group
independent variable
placebo group
control group
The control group is the group assigned to provide a comparison to the experimental group’s results, in order to measure the effect of the independent variable. Students in Group B were given a sugar pill instead of the smart pill to measure the effect on how many words students could properly recite.
Example Question #11 : Construction, Reliability, & Validity Of Testing Methods
After much success with her initial experiments (i.e. Groups A and B) and pilot test, Dr. Crawford wanted to further test the effects of a “smart pill." She recruited a new group of twenty students, Group C, for this next experiment. In the first trial, she gave the students the smart pill, and then waited five minutes to give them the list of forty words. Students were instructed to memorize the list in any order and were given five minutes to study it. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember within three minutes. One week later, Dr. Crawford repeated the experiment with the same group and same list of words. However, on the second trial, students were given the sugar pill instead of the smart pill.
On the first trial, students from Group C recalled an average of seventeen words. On the second trial, students recalled an average of twenty words.
Which of the following experimental designs best describes this particular study?
Counterbalancing method
Independent variables
Repeated measures
Independent measures
Separate variables
Repeated measures
The students in Group C undergo the experiment two separate times, and experience both conditions. No other students than the 20 in Group C are used in this experiment. They act as both the control group and the experimental group.
Example Question #12 : Construction, Reliability, & Validity Of Testing Methods
After much success with her initial experiments (i.e. Groups A and B) and pilot test, Dr. Crawford wanted to further test the effects of a “smart pill." She recruited a new group of twenty students, Group C, for this next experiment. In the first trial, she gave the students the smart pill, and then waited five minutes to give them the list of forty words. Students were instructed to memorize the list in any order and were given five minutes to study it. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember within three minutes. One week later, Dr. Crawford repeated the experiment with the same group and same list of words. However, on the second trial, students were given the sugar pill instead of the smart pill.
On the first trial, students from Group C recalled an average of seventeen words. On the second trial, students recalled an average of twenty words.
What should Dr. Crawford have done to improve the experiment?
Instruct the students to memorize the words in order during the second trial to increase difficulty.
Use a list of different words between trials to avoid confounding results.
Give the students the “smart pill” during both trials of the experiment.
Do the second trial of the experiment in the morning, when students are more awake.
Give the students a shorter amount of time to study the list during the second trial.
Use a list of different words between trials to avoid confounding results.
By using the same list, Dr. Crawford is not giving students new material to memorize. Students may still remember the words on the list from the previous trial, possibly compromising results. Using a new list would test students’ ability to remember forty new words within five minutes during both trials.
Example Question #13 : Construction, Reliability, & Validity Of Testing Methods
After much success with her initial experiments (i.e. Groups A and B) and pilot test, Dr. Crawford wanted to further test the effects of a “smart pill." She recruited a new group of twenty students, Group C, for this next experiment. In the first trial, she gave the students the smart pill, and then waited five minutes to give them the list of forty words. Students were instructed to memorize the list in any order and were given five minutes to study it. The students were then asked to verbally recite all of the words they could remember within three minutes. One week later, Dr. Crawford repeated the experiment with the same group and same list of words. However, on the second trial, students were given the sugar pill instead of the smart pill.
On the first trial, students from Group C recalled an average of seventeen words. On the second trial, students recalled an average of twenty words.
The students’ improved recall on the second trial is likely due to which of the following?
Students wanting to perform better on the second trial.
The effects of the “smart pill” improving student memorization.
Students being nervous during the first trial of the experiment.
The second trial taking place during the day, when students are more awake.
Already having been exposed to the list of words during the first trial.
Already having been exposed to the list of words during the first trial.
During the second trial, students in Group C were given the sugar pill instead of the smart pill. It is highly unlikely that the sugar pill improved memory, so we must search for what else may be causing this improvement. The students had previous exposure to the list of 40 words from the first trial. This may have made it easier for them to memorize a second time.
Example Question #21 : Other Areas
A researcher is interested in studying the cognitive development of children. She administers an appropriate instrument to three groups of children at a school: 8-year olds, 9-year olds, and 10-year olds. She tests the students only once. This study is an example of a __________.
cross-sectional study
longitudinal study
sequential cohort study
case study
cross-sectional study
Example Question #22 : Other Areas
What is the difference between reliability and validity?
Reliability measures veracity, validity measures accuracy.
Validity measures accuracy, reliability measures consistency.
Reliability measures accuracy, validity measures consistency.
Reliability measures accuracy, validity measures veracity.
There is no difference.
Validity measures accuracy, reliability measures consistency.
A reliable measure consistently produces similar answers, and a valid measure produces correct or accurate answers. Imagine a soccer player shooting on an empty goal. If the player consistently misses to the left of the goal, their shooting is reliable, because they continue to miss in the same place, but not valid, because they are not scoring goals. If, on the other hand, the player scores on most of their shots, but scores all over the goal, they are valid, because they continually hit the intended target, but not reliable, because they do not score in the same place. If the player were to score in the same place on the goal over and over, they would be both consistent AND reliable. Veracity, or truthfulness, does not factor into reliability and validity.
All GRE Subject Test: Psychology Resources
