Practical
A study to investigate whether there is a correlation between
height and a self-rating of verbal aggression.
Aim:
To investigate whether there is a correlation between height and a self-rating of verbal aggression.
Hypothesis
There will be a significantly higher self-rating of verbal aggression score (Buss and Perry
One Tailed
questionnaire) in shorter than taler individuals (measured in cm), having a positive correlation.
There will be no significant difference between height range (cm) and self-rating of verbal
Null
aggression (using a Buss and Perry questionnaire), there will be no correlation.
Background Research:
Association of height and violent criminality: Swedish total population study - Beckley et al:
Height had a moderate negative relationship to violent crime.
The shortest men were 2x as likely to be convicted of a violent crime.
When simultaneously controlling for all measured cofounders, height is weakly and positively related to crime.
It is unlikely that height accounts for much of the unexplained heritability of violent criminality. The relationship can be
explained by other cofounding factors such as intelligence.
Procedure:
1. Opportunity sample of the first 15 boys and girls from Evaluation:
the common room. Generalisability:
2. Consent given. Cannot generalise - sample is opportunistic and the
3. Each participant had 10 minutes to complete the participants could try and guess the aims.
questionnaire, silently and independently. Only done in one school so cannot apply findings to
4. Height was measured in cm - shoes and hats removed. target population.
5. Debriefed. Reliability:
6. Calculated findings using a Spearman’s Rho. Standardised procedure.
Can get control of extraneous variables so the
Improvements: experiment can be repeated and still have the same
1. Pick a variety of ages - not just high school students results.
for more generalisability. Validity:
2. Use a pilot study to see if the experiment works as it High internal validity.
should. Questionnaire was done independently.
3. Screening process for any students who do psychology Shoes and hats removed and valid measure used.
so they cannot guess the aims of the experiment.
A study to investigate whether there is a correlation between
height and a self-rating of verbal aggression.
Aim:
To investigate whether there is a correlation between height and a self-rating of verbal aggression.
Hypothesis
There will be a significantly higher self-rating of verbal aggression score (Buss and Perry
One Tailed
questionnaire) in shorter than taler individuals (measured in cm), having a positive correlation.
There will be no significant difference between height range (cm) and self-rating of verbal
Null
aggression (using a Buss and Perry questionnaire), there will be no correlation.
Background Research:
Association of height and violent criminality: Swedish total population study - Beckley et al:
Height had a moderate negative relationship to violent crime.
The shortest men were 2x as likely to be convicted of a violent crime.
When simultaneously controlling for all measured cofounders, height is weakly and positively related to crime.
It is unlikely that height accounts for much of the unexplained heritability of violent criminality. The relationship can be
explained by other cofounding factors such as intelligence.
Procedure:
1. Opportunity sample of the first 15 boys and girls from Evaluation:
the common room. Generalisability:
2. Consent given. Cannot generalise - sample is opportunistic and the
3. Each participant had 10 minutes to complete the participants could try and guess the aims.
questionnaire, silently and independently. Only done in one school so cannot apply findings to
4. Height was measured in cm - shoes and hats removed. target population.
5. Debriefed. Reliability:
6. Calculated findings using a Spearman’s Rho. Standardised procedure.
Can get control of extraneous variables so the
Improvements: experiment can be repeated and still have the same
1. Pick a variety of ages - not just high school students results.
for more generalisability. Validity:
2. Use a pilot study to see if the experiment works as it High internal validity.
should. Questionnaire was done independently.
3. Screening process for any students who do psychology Shoes and hats removed and valid measure used.
so they cannot guess the aims of the experiment.
