Psychological research questions and inquiry methods

Psychology - Questions

Scientists are creative because without creative solutions they never finish experiments; they are inquisitive because they ask all the important questions (what, when, where, and why; they never stop trying to figure things out (they are persistent); they are explorative (they use the scientific approach to examine a problem); and they have to be analytical in order to carefully analyze the problem before finding a solution.

Genie was so badly mistreated that along with emotional and psychological suffering, she had severe learning disabilities; she could not grasp grammar, English morphology or syntax properly. Genie was able to learn some language and sign language. The problem with case studies is that there is difficulty in gathering all the information needed, and in this instance there are discrepancies found in the data about Genie's linguistic development. Locating the people who conducted the original research on Genie was not easy, so some data is lost for researchers.

Question THREE: So 85% of parents were willing to start school a bit later -- that doesn't address the problem. The president of the PTA needed to discover exactly how much sleep the children are getting, if parents were willing to discuss this. If there were signs that the students weren't getting enough sleep, the onus maybe should have been on the parents who need to get them to bed earlier, not just let them sleep in because they are night owls.

Question FOUR: Probably the best way to study this issue is by choosing adults at random who will agree to respond to a baby boy who is outfitted a certain bland way, and also a baby girl dressed a certain uninteresting way. And then the next time through each baby has very different clothing on. Ask the adults in a questionnaire to respond to what they see different about the babies. The results should reflect whether or not the hypothesis (boys and girls are treated equally) is legitimate or does it need some revision.

Question FIVE: Using a control group helps the researcher separate out variables that can cause the results to be confused; data can be distorted easily and a control group sets the experimental and control group apart so no bias can influence the results. In this experiment the independent variable is whether the children responded in some obvious way to the genitals of the doll; the dependent variable is based on the observed result of the independent variable.

Chapter Five -- Question ONE: Biological clocks are what make the circadian rhythms work, according to an article by the National Institutes of Health. The biological clock in a human is a series of interacting "molecules in cells throughout the body" (www.nigms.nih.org). The nerve cells in the brain are referred to as the "suprachiasmatic nucleus" (SCN).

Question TWO: Flying from New York to Paris the passenger loses eight or so hours, so when he awakens the next day at 7:00 A.M., his body feels like it's 11:00 P.M. (that is what is meant by being "out of sync" -- which is a sensory processing disorder).

Question THREE: In this passage from Ecclesiastes Solomon writes that the world is in a constant cyclical cycle. Modern science confirms there are predictable seasons, and day turns to night, and night back to day again, planting is cyclical, the harvest is a predicable season, we are born and live through the cycle of life then we pass on. Even the more complex things like war and peace come and go in a cyclical manner. Modern science understands seasons and cycles.