Phineas Gage

A person’s cognition is a very important function making a person what and who the person is; it is responsible for how the individual functions, and how the person reacts to their environment. A person’s cognition makes up different parts of the person’s brain in order to work together allowing the individual to function properly.  Damage to one of these parts of the brain can disrupt a person’s functioning and how the person acts or reacts to their world. The following presentation will cover Phineas Gage who underwent an accident at a railroad yard where a steel rod shot through his skull. The presentation will talk about the accident, the behaviors of Gage before and after the accident, any deficits that resulted, and the treatments that Gage had available or went through.  Finally, this presentation will explain why the accident Gage had was so important in the study and understanding of how a person’s brain works and functions.

Phineas Gage was a well-liked and respected railroad foreman in 1848 when an explosion at work caused an accident.  The result was that Gage ended up with a steel rod that shot through his left cheek, through his frontal lobe and out of the top of his skull (Hernandez, 2008).  What should have probably killed Gage didn’t and he survived the accident as well as made a full recovery a year later. Despite the extensive damage to the brain Gage managed to only lose the sight in his left damaged eye (Macmillian, 2000). The doctor who treated Gage after the accident believed that Gage had no hope for survival in the following days despite Gage being very alert and lively during treatment.  Gage made a strong enough recovery not long after the accident and was sent home from the hospital in order to continue recovering under the care of his family and a physician. Within a year Gage was fully recovered according to his doctor and was able to return back to work despite the protests of others that knew Gage and believed he wasn’t fully recovered.  According to those that knew Gage they believed he was suffering behavioral issues and because of this he was not fully recovered from the accident (MacMillian, 2000).

Before the accident Gage was well-liked as well as respected as a businessman and foreman of the railroad.  Afterwards however he changes becoming more obstinate, impatient, some described him as grossly disrespectful, and disturbed (Hernandez, 2008). Gage’s damage to his brain was in the cerebrum which is made of for different lobes or areas.  Each of the lobes of the cerebrum has different cognitive functions which it is responsible for like a person’s problem solving, learning, or speaking; and in the case of Gage the frontal lobe was responsible for personality and emotions (CNBC, 2009).  After the accident Gage changed from the well liked and loving man that he was into a completely different person, which was quickly apparent to family and friends that knew Gage prior to the accident.  These individuals described Gage as another person with a new personality, mindset, and completely different behaviors then he had prior to the accident and it was a dramatic change from what he was before (MacMillian, 2000).

Gage was a completely different person following the accident, using profanity tremendously in speaking with other people, he’d lost is patience and would become impatient quite easily, he was very obstinate, prone to throwing fits, was impertinent, and did not take advice from others (MacMillian, 2000). Individuals would describe his behavior and his personality as childlike in both capacity and manifestations.  Before the accident Gage was extremely professional and well-respected, liked by his workers, family, friends, and would never use profanity or speak mean to any individual.  Following his accident Gage was completely different with the way that he treated people. Gage became quick to anger and temper, had tantrums when he didn’t get what he wanted, and Gage began to use profanity constantly.

In the study of cognitive psychology it entails the cognitive and mental states of a person as it applies to the person’s acquisition of as well as use of language, memory, perception, learning, decision making, and attention (Willingham, 2007). A person’s cognitive function is a process of intellectual aspects within a person which allows the person to do things like perceiving, learning, remembering, and reasoning.  Individuals are able to have ideas, comprehend things, and be aware of themselves as well as the environment and people that surround the individual.  Cognitive functioning is a critical part of a person’s existence as this allows the person to perform all the mentioned functions like thinking, speaking, or reasoning which are needed in the person’s life daily.  Excluding some cases people are able to grow, develop, and learn new ideas through cognitive functions where the person’s brain plays a critical role (Willingham, 2007).  Cognitive functions can become impaired or damaged as a result of a significant injury to the person’s brain.

Gage’s doctor stated that at a checkup four weeks after the accident Gage had the ability to recall events from the accident but when it came to times and dates he had trouble (Harlow, 1999). Gage also had issues when it came to money, dimensions, and displayed changes which could have been the result of the damage he suffered cognitively. MacMillan (2000), stated that Gage would have had several obstacles that he would have to overcome as a result of the accident including infection to the wound, confusion, epilepsy, and he developed ptosis in his damaged eye and ended up losing his vision in it. When Gage’s behavioral problems became known and issues from it arose Gage was fired from his job and couldn’t come back to it.  Gage was fortunate to survive the accident which could have claimed his life easily and was able to regain communication and motor coordination.  This was in despite of the personality and behavioral changes that Gage underwent following the accident. Another result of Gage’s accident came in the form of epilepsy which lead to Gage’s death from epileptics (MacMillan, 2000).

When it came to the treatment of Gage following the accident, there was only limited capabilities available from doctors and what they were able to do for him. Gage’s doctor reported that he treated Gage in a hotel room daily to remove blood clots from the brain area, as well as brain fragments and skull fragments around the exit would (Grieve, 2010). Gage’s doctor reported that the procedure to close the wound was done without medicine or sanitation efforts.  The doctor described probing the wound and cavity of Gage’s head without using gloves on his hands and when he was done he used adhesive strips and a nightcap in order to close the wound (Grieve, 2010). The doctor used simple dressings on the wounds that Gage suffered on his hands, arms, and face.  This was all that was done treatment wise for Gage.  In the end Gage developed an infection, suffering from epilepsy after the accident, and died (Grieve, 2010). 

Gage’s head injury was devastating to Gage but resulted in good as the resulting case lead to studies on the functionality of the prefrontal cortex.  Neylan (1999), stated that in the case of Gage it was the most influential case as it allowed for understanding and knowledge that a person’s behavior is lined to the brain and different structures within the brain. Researchers took and used Gage’s skull in a CT to reconstruct how the damage would have been done to Gage’s brain and skull.  The CT spatially aligned the skull fragments which were disarticulated by the rod (Van Horn, Irimir, Torgerson, Chambers, Kikinis, & Toga, 2012). This study allowed researchers to recreate how the steel rod likely went into Gage’s face and brain being able to digitally impose the rod’s entrance and exit.  With that information the researchers could digitally recreate the path of the rod through Gage’s brain and be able to identify the areas that would have been impacted by the rod and where damage in the brain would have occurred as a result of the rod (Van Horn, et. al., 2012). 

The injury that Gage suffered and the resulting changes that happened behaviorally to Gage led to discoveries about the links cognitively between a person’s brain, behavioral syndromes, and different areas of the brain and lobes being responsible for different functions as well as what damage to the lobes would do to the functions (Neylan, 1999). Gage’s injury allowed for understanding and insight into how a person’s brain functions and what happens when the brain is injured or damaged in some way. MacMillan (2000), states that Gage’s injury was a craniocerebral injury encompassing both an enter and exit opening in an single brain parenchyma area.  This is described as a very serious injury to the head as skull fragments are propelled into a person’s brain and can increase the amount of damage that is done to the brain matter as well as making surgery very difficult even by today’s standards.

A person’s cognition is a very important function making a person what and who the person is; it is responsible for how the individual functions, and how the person reacts to their environment. Phineas Gage was a well-liked and respected railroad foreman in 1848 when an explosion at work caused an accident.  The result was that Gage ended up with a steel rod that shot through his left cheek, through his frontal lobe and out of the top of his skull (Hernandez, 2008).  Gage’s damage to his brain was in the cerebrum which is made of for different lobes or areas.  Each of the lobes of the cerebrum has different cognitive functions which it is responsible for like a person’s problem solving, learning, or speaking; and in the case of Gage the frontal lobe was responsible for personality and emotions (CNBC, 2009).  Following his accident Gage was completely different with the way that he treated people. Gage became quick to anger and temper, had tantrums when he didn’t get what he wanted, and Gage began to use profanity constantly. Gage’s doctor stated that at a checkup four weeks after the accident Gage had the ability to recall events from the accident but when it came to times and dates he had trouble (Harlow, 1999). When it came to the treatment of Gage following the accident, there was only limited capabilities available from doctors and what they were able to do for him. Neylan (1999), stated that in the case of Gage it was the most influential case as it allowed for understanding and knowledge that a person’s behavior is lined to the brain and different structures within the brain.

Reference

CNBC. (2009). Center for the neural basis of cognition: integrating the sciences of mind and brain. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/research

Grieve, A. W. (2010). Phineas P Gage -- 'The man with the Iron bar'. Trauma, 12(3), 171-174

 Harlow, J.M. (1999, Spring). Passage of an iron rod through the head. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 11(2), 281-283

Hernandez, C. (2008). Phineas Gage. Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/831073/phineas_gage_pg3.html?cat=4

Macmillan, M. (2000). Nineteenth-century inhibitory theories of thinking: Bain, Ferrier, Freud (and Phineas Gage). History Of Psychology, 3(3), 187-217. doi:10.1037/1093-4510.3.3.187

Neylan, T.C. (1999, Spring). Frontal lobe function: Mr. Phineas Gage's famous injury. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 11(2)

Twomey, S. (2010). Finding Phineas. Smithsonian, 40(10), 8.

Van Horn, J., Irimia, A., Torgerson, C., Chambers, M., Kikinis, R., & Toga, A. (2012). Mapping connectivity damage in the case of Phineas Gage. Plos One, 7(5), e37454. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037454

Willingham, D. T. (2007). Cognition: The thinking animal (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: 

Motivational Theories in Training

Training programs within companies are very important, and can be very costly if not done correctly. Many training programs implement one of four motivational theories stated in Muchinsky’s text. These theories include expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, self-regulation theory, and work design theory (Muchinsky, 2012). These four theories each have their own advantages and disadvantages, which makes using them depend on the situation and environment that the training is occurring. None of these theories are better than the other but when used appropriately, they can have a great positive impact on an organization’s training program.

Expectancy theory is a theory of motivation based on the perceived relationship between how much effort a person puts forth, and the performance that is based off of the effort (Muchinsky, 2012). In Applying expectancy theory to residency training: Proposing opportunities to understand resident motivation and enhance residency training, researchers attempt to connect expectancy theory to medical residency. Many residents are putting forth great amounts of effort during this time of their training, and their efforts are reflected in the knowledge and skills they gain (Shweiki, 2015).

            Current medical programs for residents are lacking in motivation recently because the program for residents has not changed much (Shweiki, 2015). Since there was a lack of innovation within the programs, many researchers were curious as to what made medical residents so determined to stay focused within this intense training period. The training program for medical residents is extremely taxing mentally and physically, so keeping motivation is key to finishing the program.

            The study showed that expectancy theory was extremely applicable to the residents (Shweiki, 2015). Seeing that the residents were motivated by expectancy theory can help innovate new program ideas to help residents keep their motivation high, and help them learn more while in their program.

            Goal-setting theory is another motivational theory that can help to motivate individuals. Goal-setting theory is when an individual sets a goal for themselves, and exerts the necessary amount of effort to obtain the goal (Muchinsky, 2012). There are many positives of using goal setting theory, as it can make tasks that people are not keen on accomplishing more tolerable when there is a goal they want to obtain in sight that requires these tasks to be done. There are a few ways to implement goal-setting theory.

            There was a study done in 2013 where researchers wanted to know if a person’s passion could influence the goals they set for themselves, and if it could have a negative impact on their ability to obtain those goals. If a person felt their knowledge was above average, they felt competent and would set higher goals for themselves (Thorgren, 2013). If they felt as though they were not competent enough with the materials needed to obtain the goal set, they would not make a goal that challenged them, and choose to make a goal that would not be intimidating and easier to obtain.

            Their research seems to point to the idea that not just the passion for a specific subject can push a person to strive for higher goals, but the risk and fear of failure will make a person feel less secure in their knowledge, causing them to not strive as much as they possibly can. From this research, it seems that goal-setting theory can have major drawbacks if the person setting the goal is not comfortable with the confines they are setting it within, but can be extremely beneficial if set within a parameter that the person feels very comfortable with.

            One case of using goal-setting theory where it can be extremely helpful would be in an academic setting. A study done in 2014 was done to examine the motivation behind academic achievement. A new idea behind the motivation of academic achievement is goal-setting theory (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014). Since this research is of a newer idea, there has not been a lot of repeated studies done on it, but the initial findings seemed very promising.

The study used college students that were enrolled into an introductory course. There were two groups of students within this experiment: those with assigned performance goals, and those with assigned learning goals. The student’s internal achievement goals were measured as well as their academic performance. The study found that more academic success came from assigned learning goals as opposed to the assigned achievement goals (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014).  This study can help teachers assign their coursework in a way that will encourage students to learn more, as well as be more enthusiastic about learning.

Another frequently used motivation technique is self-regulation theory. Self-regulation is more of an umbrella term for many different theories that all branch from the same idea (Muchinsky, 2012). The main idea behind this motivational theory is that the person keeps themselves in line with a goal they would like to achieve, and accurate feedback enhances the likelihood of the goal becoming achieved (Muchinksy, 2012). Using self-regulation can be useful for people who are very self-driven.

A recent study done is 2012 used self-regulation as a method of determining whether or not environmental factors were present in either helping or undermining the upkeep of a healthy lifestyle (Booker, 2012). The researcher’s believed that using self-regulation, people would be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle regardless of the external factors present.

The researchers had concluded that self-regulation was a useful method for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but found their sample to be slightly skewed. The researchers had used groups that were made up of a good amount of young adults. These young adults did not fare well using the self-regulation method because the negative environmental factors were too great to overcome (Booker, 2012). More research would need to be done in this case to see if young adults have a more difficult time dealing with the environment and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, or if the sample was merely not diverse enough to get an accurate reading.

Another study was done in recent years about how adults used a self-regulation method for motivation while obtaining online degrees. Jaeger (2013) is interested in seeing what motivates students in an online setting to push forward with obtaining their degree. The researchers found that with obtaining an online degree, many students used self-regulation as their method of motivation because they felt they needed to further their education to better themselves (Jaeger, 2013).

Jaeger did find that the study should be reproduced since it was one of the first research projects to delve into the motivation behind obtaining an online degree. Many of the students were well regulated enough to make the findings valid within their case (Jaeger, 2013). Looking at both research articles, it seems that self-regulation theory depends on the personality type of the person using it as well as the environmental factors that are at play.

The last main method of motivation is work design theory. Work design theory is based off the idea that a job and the environment of the work place can have a big impact on the effort exerted by an employee (Muchinsky, 2012). If the work environment is not properly stimulating, it is likely that the employee will not be productive. Finding the right environment type can depend on the type of job it is, as well as the employee that is in the job position.

In Getting what the occupation gives: Exploring multilevel links between work design and occupational values, the researchers aimed to discover the link between work motivation and work design (Dierdorff, 2013). These researchers decided to describe the ways that occupations are linked to work design, and how work design affects these occupations. They had a sample of 805 people from 230 different occupations and they found that many of these individual’s achievements, performance, were related to work characteristics (Dierforff, 2013). They also found that many of these work characteristics were key to job satisfaction.

            The last article up for discussion, Giving time, time after time: Work design and sustained employee participation in corporate volunteering, discusses giving employees something besides their job to help make them feel fulfilled (Grant, 2012). This article integrates work design theory as well as volunteer theories in order to explain how employees who may feel their jobs are not fulfilling their needs for tasks, knowledge, and social interactions may seek to fulfill them in volunteer positions. People will repeatedly join volunteering positions to continually fulfill their needs that are not being met at their current jobs. When the employees feel fulfilled by the volunteer positions, they may seek employment elsewhere. This article explains that current jobs need to ensure that they are challenging enough to their employees, or that they offer some sort of corporate volunteering to help fulfill employee’s needs.

             Each motivational theory has its strengths and weaknesses, which makes choosing one theory to be the best overall near impossible. There is no theory that is better than the rest as many are situational and can also be combined for different effects. All in all, motivational theories that are being put into place need to be carefully picked for the specific environment as well as the people that need motivation. If the environment and people are not carefully analyzed to find the best fit or combination of theories, then they will not be effective. If chosen correctly, motivational theories within training programs could help keep businesses cost effective and more employee friendly.

References

Booker, L., & Mullan, B. (2012). Using the temporal self-regulation theory to examine the

            influence of environmental cues on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. British Journal of

            Health Psychology Br J Health Psychol, 745-762.

Dierdorff, E., & Morgeson, F. (2013). Getting What the Occupation Gives: Exploring Multilevel

            Links Between Work Design and Occupational Values. Personnel Psychology, 687-721.

Dishon-Berkovits, M. (2014). A study of motivational influences on academic

            achievement. Social Psychology of Education Soc Psychol Educ, 327-342.

Grant, A. (2012). Giving Time, Time After Time: Work Design and Sustained Employee

            Participation in Corporate Volunteering. Academy of Management Review, 589-615.

Hsu, D., Shinnar, R., & Powell, B. (2014). Expectancy theory and entrepreneurial motivation: A

            longitudinal examination of the role of entrepreneurship education. Journal of Business

            and Entrepreneurship, 26(1), 121-140.

Jaeger, M., & Adair, D. (2013). The influence of students’ interest, ability and personal situation

            on students’ perception of a problem-based learning environment. European Journal of

            Engineering Education, 84-96. Shweiki, E., Beekley, A., Jenoff, J., Koenig, G., Kaulback, K., Lindenbaum, G. Martin, N.

            (2015). Applying Expectancy Theory to residency training: Proposing opportunities to

            understand resident motivation and enhance residency training. AMEP Advances in

            Medical Education and Practice, 6, 339-346.

Muchinsky, P. (2012). Psychology applied to work: An introduction to industrial and

            organizational psychology (10th ed.). Summerfield, NC: Hypergraphic Press.

Thorgren, S. Wincent, J. (2013). Passion and challenging goals: Drawbacks of rushing into goal-

            setting processes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(11), 2318-2329.

Neuron Worksheet

Part I: In the text boxes provided, identify the structures of a basic neuron.

Box 1- Soma

Box 2- Dendrites

Box 3- Axon Hillock

Box 4- Nucleus

Box 5- Axon

Box 6- Node of Ranvier

Box 7- Myelin Sheath

Box 8- Terminal Buttons

 Part II: In the space provided, explain the process a neuron undergoes when going from a resting potential to an action potential to the release of its neurotransmitters.

When a neuron is inactive or the neuron is unstimulated with an electric charge of around negative 70 millivolts this is called the resting potential of the neuron (Carlson, 2013). Potential is the term that is used when the neuron is resting and has a negative charge or the term can be used in action potential where the neuron has a positive charge. At a resting potential the neuron will have a charge that is similar to what is outside the neuron and the ions that are present try to remain balanced on both sides of the neuron’s membrane (Carlson, 2013). This can be a difficult thing for the neuron to manage as some ions like chloride and sodium have a hard time passing into the membrane while others like potassium are able to free and easily pass through the cell. When the neuron is at rest there is more sodium outside it then inside it and more potassium on the inside than there is on the outside. When the neuron becomes activated or stimulated the neuron charges in order to reach the neural threshold which causes the neuron to fire, or the membrane of the neuron changes permeability (Carlson, 2013). The neuron is then able to change the electric charge from negative to positive running along the entire membrane. Carlson (2013), states that the stimulation must reach the neuron’s neural threshold or the neuron is unable to fire. At this time the channels open allowing sodium ions to freely flood into the neuron depolarizing the neuron and creating the needed action potential, an electrical impulse which will run down the length of an axon until it reaches a synapse. This is the point between two neurons where data is exchanged among them. Carlson (2013), states that the action potential causes a transfer of data or information from the axon of one neuron to the other neuron’s dendrites through the use of neurotransmitter chemicals. The dendrites of the neurons do not physically touch but rather have a small space in which to pass chemical messages back and forth from. The action potential of the neuro causes the neurotransmitters to release across this small space and bond or link with molecules at receptor sites on the opposite neuron. The bonding that happens causes the next neuron to change its potential from resting making the membrane permeable and allowing the flow of ions to take place ether decreasing or increasing the probability that the neural impulse will occur (Carlson, 2013). This marks the cycle of the change from resting to action potential in the next neuron while the first one begins to return to resting again.

Reference:

Carlson, N. R. (2013). Physiology of behavior. (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Biological Psychology Worksheet

1. What are the core assumptions of the biopsychological approach?

One major assumption is mental events in an individual cause biological consequences and biological events cause a mental consequence in turn.  Biological psychology’s, also known as behavioral neuroscience, approach is using science and biology principles, and applying these to studying mental processes of individuals. The main focus resides on all human behavior having a biological cause. This branch of psychology studies how mental processes either effect or get affected by bodily mechanisms and a person’s behavior. This assumption describes a complex link between a psychological and biological approach to the behavior of people which is believed to be linked together according to biopsychology.

2. What historical disciplines converge to create biological psychology?

The roots of biological psychology have a few historical disciplines which have converged to create the overall approach. Biological psychology seeks to support and address the relationship which is a vital one between the mind as well as the body through integral pathways in the brain. The history of the approach is rooted in physiology as well as philosophy and gains information from disciplines like neuroscience which helped lead to biological psychology’s creation. The creation of this approach is rooted in the works of scientists, philosophers, early psychologists, and physiologists.  

3. What are some of the earliest examples of a biological approach to studying behavior?

A major part of psychology’s history is the biological psychology approach which can trace the roots back to the same point of start as the entire field of psychology. An early example of biopsychology is from Plato who believed that a person’s brain was responsible for behavior and the person’s ability to reason.

4. What are some examples of modern careers that have resulted from studying biological psychology?  Include an overview of the careers.

There have been a variety of modern careers created such as neuroscientists and pharmacists which both came about from the development of this approach. Neuroscientists examine a person’s brain development, the person’s sensations and memories, and other concepts relating to the person’s mind. Neuroscientist work with other doctors and scientists as well as spend a lot of time researching different topics.For a pharmacist, they specialize in chemicals in a person’s brain and how to balance the chemicals, which is generally done through the use of medicine that counteracts behaviors that are associated with unbalanced chemicals.  

5. How is biological psychology viewed by other professionals in psychology today?

This field of psychology is much like any other approach in psychology.  Professionals will be mixed on the reviews for it with some agreeing that there are some aspects of the approach that are good and some that disagree with some of the aspects of the approach. In a lot of cases the approach is useful and can be combined often with other approaches to create a more comprehensive approach.  Some professionals may challenge the approaches assumptions or some aspects of the approach, such as the belief that biological affects a person’s mental processes.  There are however many benefits which have come from the approach like the understanding of functioning in the brain which makes it hard for the professionals to deny.

Carlson, N. R. (2013). Physiology of Behavior (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc..

Time to Practice – Week Three

Complete both Part A and Part B below.

Part A

1.     What does the critical value represent? (2 points) The critical value represents a value an individual would assume the test at hand to produce if the null hypothesis were true. It is the statistic a person believes to find.

2.     Given the following information, would your decision be to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis? Setting the level of significance at .05 for decision making, provide an explanation for your conclusion. (3 points)

a.     The null hypothesis that there is no relationship between the type of music a person listens to and his crime rate (p < .05).  Null hypothesis is rejected as p value is less than .05

b.     The null hypothesis that there is no relationship between the amount of coffee consumption and GPA (p = .62).  Since p=.62, which is more than .05 or greater we accept the null hypothesis.

c.     The null hypothesis that there is no relationship between the number of hours worked and level of job satisfaction (p = .51). since p=.51 greater than .05 accept null hypothesis.

3.     Why is it harder to find a significant outcome (all other things being equal) when the research hypothesis is being tested at the .01 rather than the .05 level of significance? (2 points) When the test is done at the .01 rather than .05 it produces a much small value set while .05 produces a larger one. This leads to the contradictory data which is quite larder in the research hypothesis and more likely.

Part B

Complete the following questions. Be specific and provide examples when relevant.

Cite any sources consistent with APA guidelines.

Question	Answer
What is a research question that you would like to answer? Write the null and research hypotheses. Would you use a one- or two-tailed test? Why? (3 points)	If the Health department is tasked with finding out the rate of lung cancer connected with smoking in the past year is it comparable to average rate past 50 years. Null hypothesis: No difference in last year and last 50 years. Research hypothesis: there is a difference in last year and last 50 years. Using a two-tailed test because of the research hypothesis would show that it was not equal
What do we mean when we say that a statistical result is significant? What is the difference between a statistically significant and a meaningful result? Why is statistical significance important?  (4 points)	Significant means that there is a rate of certain probability in something. Meaningful results state that the results are valid and statically significant which means a person rejects the null hypothesis. With there being some probable difference between the results we can conclude the null hypothesis is not acceptable and should be rejected.

From Salkind (2011). Copyright © 2012 SAGE. All Rights Reserved.

Reliability and Validity Matrix

For each of the tests of reliability and validity listed on the matrix, prepare a 50- to 70-word description of the test’s application. Describe what conditions these reliability types would be used for, as well as when they would be inappropriate. Then, for each test, prepare a 50- to 70-word description of the strengths and a 50- to 70-word description of the weaknesses.

Test of reliability	Application and appropriateness	Advantages	Disadvantages
Internal consistency	In internal consistency deals with assessing consistency of internal items or internal consistency of the items on a test.  This is used in order to estimate the reliability of items that are on the test without the need to develop alternate or additional forms of a test or having to give the test more than one time. Internal consistency employs a single measurement to estimate a test’s reliability.	One of the greatest advantages comes from only needing to administer the test one time and thus it provides a cost efficient and effective nature to the test taking process. Another advantage comes from internal consistency, which can be gained through a wide measurement of tests and through a variety of items.	One disadvantage is that high reliabilities with this method may actually be considered a weakness as it can indicate a redundancy in the test items and measures used. Another disadvantage comes from the results not being taken from the theory, which results in all variables being considered. The results are never perfect but rather have to be theorized to try to perfect the results.
Test or retest	With the use of this test a developer provides the test twice to an individual on different occasions. The developer compares the two scores in order to assure the testers haven’t changed from one test to the next. This method allows a way to estimate reliability, as there is a higher correlation between testers taking tests within shorter amounts of time between each test.	The advantage of this method is that it produces a lower score when it is compared with other methods. The time frame being shorter between first test and retest provide correlations between timeframes and lower scores being produced. Another advantage is that the method uses a single score or rater code.	Some disadvantages to the method is that it can be prone to weaknesses like from carryover effects attributing to or causing errors that are found in test scores. Timeframes can also affect scores produced by testers on the retake test. The method can also prove to be more costly since it requires the test be given multiple times and it can lack in reliability.
Parallel and alternate forms	Parallel test exist when all the additional or alternate forms are equal in means and variances of the observed test scores. The theory behind it is that means on parallel forms correlate equally to the true score of the test. Alternate forms are a method in which different test versions have been created to parallel the original test.	Advantages of these tests include that it can minimize effects that memory of content may have on administering previous forms of the test.  The tests may also provide stable scores and information in certain circumstances when measuring certain constructs.  Another advantages comes from being able to estimate reliability without having to develop another form of the test.	Disadvantages come from having to develop alternate forms of the test, which can be expensive as well as time consuming. Errors may result in variance or item sampling when trying to compute the alternate or parallel form of the reliability coefficient. Finally, the person taking the test may have performance issues, which are affected by a specific for of the test, done to the items included on that test.
Test of validity	Application and appropriateness	Strengths	Weaknesses
Content validity	Content validity is concerned with scrutinizing the content of the test as well as the extent to which the test measures represents all the facets for a given construct. A judgment is made of how adequately the test is able to sample behaviors that represent the universe of behavior in which the test was created for.	Advantages of the method involve defining as well as finding domain of items in which a creator of the test wants to measure. It helps to increase a test’s validity and leads to content validity. Items on the test go with things wanting to be measured without deviating from items that want to be measured.	The disadvantages of this method are that can require experts to design, develop, and evaluate the test and scores. This makes the test both expensive as well as time consuming.  Furthermore, the test may have a need to cover a variety of items and information that can be long for either administering or taking the test.
Criterion related	Criterion related is used in order to demonstrate accuracy of a procedure or measure by comparing the procedure with another one to demonstrate it to be valid. It is used as a judgment of the adequacy of the test to basically predict or infer a person’s score on a given subject.	One advantage of the method is that involves use of two estimators to demonstrate validity of a test that has been given. This method works for academic use in being able to predict scores. Additionally it can work well in the determination of how certain things like traits develop overtime.	Disadvantages associated with the method include accuracy. Individuals change overtime which can lead to problems with accuracy or reliability with the tests. Another disadvantage is in the change to academics itself, individuals learn one thing and it is changed on the test or it needs to be changed on the test making it costly to do so.
Construct	Construct deals with a test or an experiment being able to measure what it claims to do.  It refers to the operational definition of a variable actually reflecting the theoretical meaning of a certain concept.  This method requires judgment about appropriateness of the scores drawn from the inferences in a person’s standings.	One advantages of this method include that domain of an item or the behavior wanting to be measured is obtained. The domain behavior is kept in mind as the items on the experiment or test are reviewed so all items can show a relationship with behaviors wishing to be measured.	Disadvantages of the method require experts in the areas of the test or experiments to help with the tests. Additionally experts are also needed in the use of the experiments and evaluation of tests that makes the test more time consuming as well as being more costly to create, perform, as well as evaluate. Finally, the mere development of the test is not easy either.

Basic Concepts in Statistics

Differentiate between descriptive and inferential statistics. What information do they provide? What are their similarities and differences? Your answer should be 250 to 400 words.

Descriptive statistics are values that describe the characteristics of a sample or a population. Descriptive statistics allows a large amount of information or data to be used in order to come up with a summary of the data (Salkind, 2014). 

. For instance if you had a list of students at a school from the same grade and listed all their grades in differing subjects you could use descriptive statistics in order to find the average or mode of the kids grades. Descriptive statistics is able to take either a large sample or a population and turn the list of information, data set, into a summary that researchers can then use in different capacities such as predicting the grades of students across an age group.  If the researcher wanted to see what subject children excel more in then through the use of the grades and the differing subjects they would be able to find that information. Inferential statistics is different as it is the tools that are used in order to infer the results based on a sample to the population (Salkind, 2014). Inferential sometimes follows descriptive statistics as the next step in the process taking the small group that may have been used and applying the information to a larger group or population.  The inferential statistics allow researchers to make a kind of guess into how the summary that was created may apply to a larger population.  If researchers took a sample of a few different students from several schools in order to find grades in subjects they could then use the results to infer what the whole population may look like.

What is a population? What is a sample? How are they similar and how are they different? When would you use one or the other? Your answer should be 250 to 400 words.

A population according to Salkind (2014).  Is all the possible subjects or cases of interest.  So if a person wanted to know how good a soccer team was then they would use all individuals on the soccer team as the population when doing calculations.  While sample is a subset of a population (Salkind, 2014). It is much like its name describes and only a small portion of the total population. So in the soccer team you would take 10 players and this would be the sample. Both are representatives of the data that a person is trying to produce with one entailing all the subjects involved and the other only being made up of a portion.  When a population is relatively small such as the example of the soccer team then it is possible to use the entire population in the calculations being done. However when the population is larger such as looking at teen drug use then the population would include a size so big that it would be relatively impossible to look at all teens in the world. It would take too much time any money in order to do this. In this case a sample is pulled in order to represent the entire population while still getting the insight that a behavioral scientist is looking for. That way the scientist is able to pull a relatively small amount in comparison to the entire globe and is able to make inferences on who the results apply to the entire population of teens.

Salkind, Neil, J.(2014). Statistics for People Who Think They Hate Statistics. 5th Edition. Sage Publications.