Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions. 

Write 500–800 word responses for each question use 1-2 scholarly resources to support each forum. (include reference)  

1. Discuss the proper placement and usages of a table and a figure within the manuscript.

Define the four general writing guidelines using APA style. Why is it important to write using these guidelines when communicating your study? Explain.

2. Discuss what stage in the publication process should potential authors talk about publication credit. Explain.

Describe how the sections of a poster, for presentation, are organized.

3. In your own words, define naturalistic observation. Discuss examples of when a naturalistic observational study would be the most appropriate design to select. What are two sources of bias during an observation period?

4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the following nonexperimental research methods: (a) naturalistic observations, (b) surveys, and (c) correlational studies. If you were asked to use one of these designs in a study next week, which nonexperimental design would you select and why?

5. One of the best-known longitudinal designs is Lewis Terman’s study of giftedness. He began tracking gifted children into adolescence and adulthood in 1925; the study is supposed to conclude in 2020. Explain the unique benefits of such a study, and then explain the problems caused by this type of design.

6. Explain the circumstances when a quasi-experimental design would be preferable to a between-subjects design, but also discuss why an explanatory research method is superior to a predictive method.

7. Contrast the three types of factorial designs.

8. Lay out the design for two between-subjects experiments: (a) an experiment involving an experimental group and a control group, and (b) a factorial design with three independent variables that have 3, 2, and 2 levels, respectively.

9. Suppose that, for a t-test, your computed value for t is +3.28. The critical value of t is +2.048. Explain what this means. Do you reject the null hypothesis or not? Now suppose that you have 28 degrees of freedom and are using a two-tailed (nondirectional) test. Draw a simple figure to illustrate the relationship between the critical and the computed values of t for this result. 

10. Choose an article from the newspaper, an online source, or a magazine, then identify the descriptive statistics included in the article. Were the statisitcs appropriately described in the article? Explain. Discuss if the descriptive statistics used in your source supported the arguments made in it. Were the descriptive statistics misleading? Explain.

11. A researcher computed the F ratio for a four-group experiment. The computed F is 4.86. The degrees of freedom are 3 for the numerator and 16 for the denominator. Is the computed value of F significant at p < .05? Explain. Is it significant at p < .01? Explain.