AP Psych Barrons

QUESTION 1 SCORING RUBRIC
This is an 8-point question. Each bullet represents two possible points. You earn 1 point for answering
the question about the experimental method and one point for answering the question about the
correlational method.
You would need to describe the follow-up studies and address the questions somewhere in your
descriptions.
You do NOT need to define terms in your answer, and definitions alone will not score. The question
asks you to answer questions about how Professor Willborn could use the experimental and
correlational method to study the relationship between violent video games and attitudes toward realworld
violence.
Point 1 — What variables would Professor Willborn examine in her experimental study?—
Awarded if you identified playing violent video games as the independent variable in the
experiment and attitude toward real-world violence as the dependent variable. The reviewer
suggested that the follow-up study investigate the relationship between playing violent video
games and attitudes toward real-world violence, so playing violent video games is the only
valid independent variable and attitude toward real-world violence is the only valid dependent
variable for an experimental study on this research question.
Point 2 — What variables would Professor Willborn examine in her correlational study?—
Awarded if you identified playing violent video games and attitudes toward real-world
violence as the two variables to be correlated. The terms independent variable and dependent
variable are not usually associated with correlational studies.
Point 3 — How could Professor Willborn operationally define at least one of the variables in her
experimental study?—Awarded if you explained a possible operational definition for either
playing violent video games or attitude toward real-world violence. There are multiple ways to
operationally define these variables, and the point will be awarded if you describe any of the
ways to measure this behavior (e.g., self-reports of video game playing, observations of video
game playing) or this attitude (e.g., a survey, interview, physiological measure while watching
a media portrayal of real-world violence, etc.).
Point 4 — How could Professor Willborn operationally define at least one of the variables in her
correlational study?—Awarded if you explained a possible operational definition for either
playing violent video games or attitude toward real-world violence. There are multiple ways to
operationally define these variables, and the point will be awarded if you describe any of the
ways to measure this behavior (e.g., self-reports of video game playing, observations of video
game playing) or this attitude (e.g., a survey, interview, physiological measure while watching
a media portrayal of real-world violence, etc.). Note: You cannot earn point 4 if you
operationally define the same variable as the variable defined for point 3.
Point 5 — How could Professor Willborn organize her participants to gather data in her
experimental study?—You must explain that participants are organized into at least two
separate groups differing by the independent variable (playing violent video games). You may
use the term “control group” and “experimental group” but need to clearly show that the
groups are different based on the independent variable.