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Exploring Research Methods & Design
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AP Science Practice
PRACTICE Earlier in this module, we explored the positive effects of touch. Development psychologists report that touch enhances the
development of premature infants. To test the effects of touch therapy on physical development, researchers randomly assigned
hospitalized premature infants to one of two groups. The experimental group had their limbs massaged for 15 minutes, 3 times
Research Methods & Design a day, for 10 days. The control group did not receive massages. On average, the massaged preemies gained 47 percent more
(SP 2) weight and went home 6 days sooner than did the control group preemies. As a result of this and other studies, many neonatal
(Out of class) Students will be intensive care units now provide touch therapy to premature infants.
assessed on their research methods • Explain which research design is being employed in the study described here (correlational or experimental).
and design knowledge within the • Explain how the use of random assignment strengthened this study.
context of psychological content. • Can you draw a cause-and-effect conclusion from this study? Explain.
Therefore, we have included an • Imagine that you are on an institutional review board. Which questions would you ask the researchers to ensure that the
study follows ethical guidelines?
Exploring Research Methods & Remember, you can always revisit Unit 0 to review information related to psychological research.
Design feature throughout the units.
Consider assigning this feature for Module 1.6d REVIEW
homework or using it as a class
activity to help students strengthen 1.6-12 What are the four basic touch sensations, the aromas that interact with information from the taste
their skills. This will pay off on the and how do we sense touch? receptor cells of the taste buds.
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AP exam. • There are no basic sensations for smell (olfaction). From
• Our sense of touch consists of four basic sensations — the top of each nasal cavity, some 20 million olfacto-
pressure, warmth, cold, and pain — that combine to pro- ry receptor cells for smell send messages to the brain’s
duce other sensations, such as “itchy” or “wet.” olfactory bulb, and then onward to the temporal lobe’s
primary smell cortex and to the parts of the limbic system
1.6-13 What biological, psychological, and social- involved in memory and emotion.
ASSESS cultural influences affect our experience of pain?
How do placebos and distraction help control pain? 1.6-15 How do we sense our body’s position and
Answers to Exploring Research movement?
Methods & Design Questions • The biopsychosocial perspective views our perception of
pain as the sum of biological, psychological, and social-
cultural influences. • Position and motion sensors in muscles, tendons, and
joints called proprioceptors enable kinesthesis, our sense
• The research design employed in • Pain reflects bottom-up sensations and top-down cognition. of the position and movement of our body parts.
this study is experimental because • The gate-control theory of pain suggests that a “gate” in • We monitor our head’s (and thus our body’s) position
the researchers randomly assigned the spinal cord either opens to permit pain signals trav- and movement, and maintain our balance, with our ves-
eling up small nerve fibers to reach the brain, or closes to
participants to an experimental or Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. tibular sense, which relies on the semicircular canals and
vestibular sacs to sense the tilt or rotation of our head.
prevent their passage.
a control group. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Not for redistribution.
• Pain treatments often combine physical and psychologi-
• Random assignment minimizes the cal elements. Placebos can diminish the central nervous 1.6-16 How does sensory interaction influence our
perceptions, and what is embodied cognition?
impact of confounding variables system’s attention and responses to painful experiences.
Distraction can activate neural pathways that inhibit pain
by ensuring that confounding and increase pain tolerance. • Our senses influence one another. This sensory interaction
variables have an equal chance of occurs, for example, when the smell of a favorite food
amplifies its taste.
appearing in the experimental and 1.6-14 In what ways are our senses of taste and • Embodied cognition is the influence of bodily sensations,
smell similar, and how do they differ?
control conditions. gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and
• Because the study is experimental, • Taste and smell are both chemical senses. judgments.
• Taste (gustation) is a composite of six basic sensations —
you can conclude that touch sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and oleogustus — and of
causes improved development 156 Unit 1 Biological Bases of Behavior
in premature infants. Only
experiments allow for causal
conclusions. If the study were
correlational, you could make CLOSE & ASSESS CLOSE & ASSESS 15/12/23 9:27 AM
03_myersAPpsychology4e_28116_ch01_002_163.indd 156
conclusions about how the
variables were associated. If Exit Activity Exit Assessment
the study were descriptive, you (10 minutes) Now that students have com- (10 minutes) Randomly assign the following
could only make conclusions that pleted Unit 1, ask them to revisit their KWL concepts to students and have them com-
described this specific sample. chart from the Activate Prior Knowledge plete an “exit ticket” before leaving class. Tell
• Did you obtain informed consent activity at the beginning of Unit 1. Have them each student they must clearly define, in their
from the parents? Are you taking complete the third column labeled “What I own words, the concept they were assigned.
measures to protect the infants Learned.” In small groups, have them discuss This should reveal any misconceptions stu-
from greater-than-usual harm how they responded. Have groups share with dents still hold.
and discomfort? Will you keep the class to identify themes as you conclude • Gate-control theory of pain
information about individual infants this module. • Kinesthesis versus vestibular sense
confidential? Will you fully debrief
the parents afterwards? • Embodied cognition
Remember: Take time to address any misin-
formation that comes up in this assessment
156 Unit 1 Biological Bases of Behavior activity.

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