Problem Set #1

Ethics Reading Questions:

1. What is the worst ethical violation in the treatment of research data?
Why do you think this is such a major violation?

2. What event influenced the first code of ethics developed in 1953?

3. List the 6 ethical requirements in the American Psychological Associations code for the treatment of
human subjects.

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4. Why is deception a tricky concern for psychology researchers? Under what conditions can it be used?
Describe Rosenhans use of deception. Do you believe he acted ethically?

5. Describe the different views of animal rights supporters and animal welfare supporters.
Which group do you agree with more? Why?

6. What are the American Psychological Associations standards of ethical treatment for
animal research?

7. List the six reasons animals are used in psychology research.

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Statistics Questions:
1. What is descriptive statistics? What can descriptive statistics be use for?

2. What is frequency distribution?

3. Explain, through definitions, the difference between mean, median, and mode. If we give a test and
the scores are as follows: 95, 73, 85, 92, 92, 85, 50, 99, 96, 45, 85, 87, 91, what would the mean,
median, and mode for this test be?

4. What is the range? What is the range for the test scores given above?
Why is the range not always a good indicator of variability?

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5. What is standard deviation? How is it useful to interpreting data?

6. What is a normal curve? What is it better known as? Do you think we will get a bell curve if we chart
the grades in this class? Why or why not?

7. What is perfect positive correlation? What number is it assigned? What is perfect negative correlation?
What number is it assigned?

8. What is a scatter diagram? What can they tell us?

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9. How can you tell if a test is reliable?

10. What is inferential statistics? What are some of its uses in psychology?