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.
POINT 6
How could Professor Willborn organize her participants to gather data in her correlational study?
Awarded if you explained how two pieces of data (the two variables: playing violent video games and
attitude toward real-world violence) are gathered from each participant in the correlational study. You
will NOT be awarded the point if you implied that participants are divided into separate groups based on
the independent variable.
POINT 7
What kind of conclusion would Professor Willborn be able to form based on the results of her
experimental study?
Awarded if you explained that the experimental study could lead to a causal inference about the
relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. You can explain this
conceptually or through an example of a causal conclusion based on this study.
POINT 8