Question

4. A researcher conducted a study in which manual dexterity scores of males and females were compared. Fifty males and fifty females were randomly sampled from a very large general psychology class. The researcher found that females scored higher on the Duell Test of Manual Dexterity than did males. 1) What kind of research design was this? 2) What conclusions might reasonably be drawn from such a study?

Answer 1

1. This was a survey where random sampling method was used. In a survey research method, data are collected on pre-defined independent (IV) and dependent variables (DV). The sample chosen here was through random sampling method as the data were randomly collected from the population and each one had an equal chance to be selected. In this case, the ‘gender’ was the IV and its effect was seen on manual dexterity, i.e., the DV.
2. The conclusions that can be drawn from the study are:

• The female psychology students are better in manual dexterity than their male counterparts as they scored higher on the Duell Test of Manual Dexterity.
• The results need to be validated for other populations before it can be generalized as the sample only had100 psychology students.
• The male to female ratio was not mentioned in the population. As it’s necessary to have a representative sample in research, the male to female ratio needs to be same in the sample as in the population.