AP Psychology — research design and ethics

Research methods are not a unit of AP Psychology; they run through all five. The course framework makes Research Methods and Design one of its four science practices, and it accounts for roughly a quarter of the multiple-choice section. The Article Analysis Question in the free-response section asks you to identify a study's method, state an operational definition, name an ethical guideline the researchers applied and judge whether the findings generalize. A student who can recite every term in the course but cannot read a study will lose points in every section.

This material trains that reading. Each quiz question describes a short invented study, on sleep, memory, exercise, stress or social media, and asks one methods question about it. It covers telling an experiment from non-experimental methods (naturalistic observation, case study, correlational research, meta-analysis); the main limitation of a case study; what makes a good operational definition and why it matters for replication; identifying a confounding variable; the purpose of a placebo and of single-blind and double-blind procedures in controlling experimenter bias and participants' expectations; convenience samples, sampling bias and generalizability; random assignment and why it is not the same thing as random sampling; falsifiable hypotheses; the third-variable and directionality problems that keep correlation from showing causation; and survey wording that invites social desirability bias.

Ethics gets its own place, because the course asks you to evaluate whether a study followed appropriate procedures: institutional review, informed consent and informed assent, protection from harm, confidentiality and anonymity, deception with confederates, and debriefing.

Four formats are offered. The quiz has twelve questions on invented studies, with explanations that say why each alternative fails. The flashcards drill the vocabulary, from institutional review board to Likert scale. In the oral exam the examiner asks you to design a simple experiment out loud, then probes your choices one question at a time, and ends with brief feedback. The written work is a printable sheet of eight open tasks that mirror the reasoning the free-response section rewards, such as writing an operational definition, spotting and fixing a confound, and judging the ethics of an invented study.

The material is based on the Research Methods and Design practice as described in the published AP Psychology course framework. The companion material on statistics and data covers the data interpretation practice.

• Identify experimental and non-experimental methods, including naturalistic observation, case study and meta-analysis
• Write and judge operational definitions and spot confounding variables
• Explain placebos, double-blind procedures, random sampling and random assignment
• Recognize sampling bias, falsifiable hypotheses, and third-variable and directionality problems
• Evaluate a study's ethics: review board approval, informed consent and assent, confidentiality, deception and debriefing

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP Psychology Course and Exam Description (effective fall 2024, with the October 2025 clarifications), Science Practice 2, Research Methods and Design (skills 2.A to 2.D). All studies are invented.