Applied Research Methods

Research studies that are intended to answer practical problems would be classified as A. basic research. B. applied research. C. pseudoresearch. D. commonsense research.

B

When you identify a gap in the literature, you A. have found a poor study. B. have found a research idea. C. are dealing with a poorly researched area. D. are wise to switch topics.

B

A monitoring study assesses: A. Whether or not a need exists B. A program's cost effectiveness C. A program's impact as it operates D. A program's possible impact before it is implemented

C

Which of the following is an accurate definition of a Type II error? A. Rejecting a false null hypothesis B. Rejecting a true null hypothesis C. Failing to reject a false null hypothesis D. Failing to reject a true null hypothesis

C

What kind of validity requires that a researcher create two different measures of the same variable? A. face B. predictive C. concurrent D. convergent

D

A ________ source contains original research reports. A. primary B. secondary C. premier D germinal

A

A large sample is probably more representative than a small sample. A. TRUE B. FALSE

A

A needs assessment study assesses: A. Whether or not a need exists B. A program's cost effectiveness C. A program's impact as it operates D. A program's possible impact before it is implemented

A

A researcher designs a study to determine whether the number of syllables per word influences people's ability to recall a list of 20 words. This study can be classified as _______ research. A. basic B. applied C. systematic D. necessary

A

A(n) ________ is a brief summary of an academic article. A. abstract B. synopsis C. key word D. author name

A

Dr. Near conducts an experiment on memory using participants above the age of 65. All people above the age of 65 would make up the A. population B. sample C. world D. subgroup

A

How can you ensure that a search only returns publications published in the last 25 years? A. Specify a date range using the advanced search option B. Do nothing. Research databases will limit your searches to the most recent 25 years unless you request older publications C. Type "in the last 25 years" in the search box next to your keywords D. There is no way to do this

A

I want to re-analyze another researcher's data and the participants in that dataset will be identifiable to me. Do I need to submit a proposal to OSU's IRB? A. Yes B. No

A

If people score low on one measure and also score low on another measure, there is A. a positive relationship between the two measures. B. a negative relationship between the two measures. C. no relationship between the two measures. D. a cause-and-effect relationship between the two measures.

A

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is responsible for reviewing A. research involving human participants. B. research involving nonhuman subjects. C. all research whether it involves humans or nonhumans. D. the presentation and reporting of research results.

A

The Nuremberg Code was developed... A. following war crime trials after World War II B. by the APA, following Milgram's obedience study in the 1960s C. by the U.S. Surgeon General, following medical experiments in the 1970s D. by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to regulate prescription medications in the 1980s

A

The alpha level determines the risk of a Type I error. A. TRUE B. FALSE

A

The best strategy for finding a research idea is to begin with a general topic area. A. TRUE B. FALSE

A

The group of individuals from which researchers actually select participants for research studies is called A. the accessible population. B. the target population. C. the representative population. D. the real population.

A

What is a hanging indent? A. An indentation that applies to all but the first line of a paragraph B. An indentation that applies only to the first line of a paragraph C. An offset in which an entire paragraph is indented relative to the surrounding text D. All of these can be classified as hanging indents

A

What is a theory of change? A. A theory that describes how a program impacts its participants B. A theory about how a program evaluation will change the way a program runs C. A theory about how public opinion will change after a program evaluation D. A theory of how a researchers' opinion might change after performing a program evaluation

A

When would you create an alert in Google Scholar? A. To alert you about new publications pertinent to a specific topic B. To alert you when you have added a certain number of publications to your library C. To alert you when a source is not peer reviewed D. To alert you when a full-text option is available

A

Which of the following accurately defines confederates in a research study? A. people who pretend to be participants B. participants C. experimenters D. people who pretend to be experimenters

A

Which of the following accurately describes the critical region? A. Outcomes with a very low probability when the null hypothesis is true B. Outcomes with a high probability when the null hypothesis is true C. Outcomes with a very low probability whether or not the null hypothesis is true D. Outcomes with a high probability whether or not the null hypothesis is true

A

Which of the following is a common measure of reliability discussed in class? A. Cronbach's alpha B. McDonald's omega C. Cohen's d D. Spearman's Rho

A

Which of the following is usually the initial factor for determining whether a specific article is relevant to your research question? A. title B. abstract C. discussion section D. results section

A

Which of the following might OSU's IRB consider to be exempt? A. A taste preference study B. A study of preschoolers' self-regulation C. A study that examines a new cancer treatment D. A survey of identifiable participants' sexual histories

A

You develop a new measure of self-efficacy and you find that people who score high on your measure also score high on a standardized measure of self-efficacy. You have demonstrated A. concurrent validity. B. divergent validity. C. predictive validity. D. reliability.

A

A class consists of 20 girls and 12 boys. The names of all the students in a class are listed on separate pieces of paper. The teacher places all the boys' names in one hat, all the girls' names in another hat and mixes them thoroughly before reaching in to draw out five names from each hat. The teacher is using A. simple random sampling. B. stratified random sampling. C. proportionate stratified random sampling. D. cluster sampling.

B

A hypothesis is A. a well developed and complete explanation of behavior. B. a statement that describes the association between variables. C. an unsupported guess about the causes of behavior. D. considered to be unscientific and, therefore, not part of the scientific method.

B

A major goal of research is to ______________ from a small group of participants included in a study to the larger group from which they came. A. deduce B. generalize C. specialize D. reason

B

A measurement procedure is valid if it A. produces measurements that are stable and consistent. B. measures what you intend it to measure. C. produces measurements that make sense. D. produces measurements that are obvious.

B

A program evaluation must have both an experimental and a control group. A. TRUE B. FALSE

B

A researcher initiates a study to determine whether there is a significant decrease in student stress if class quizzes are announced rather than given on a "pop" basis. This study can be classified as A. basic. B. applied. C. systematic. D. necessary.

B

A researcher runs a statistical analysis and rejects her null hypothesis. What can the researcher determine about her alternative hypothesis? A. The alternative hypothesis is true. B. The alternative hypothesis is more likely true than the null hypothesis. C. The null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis have an equal probability of being true. D. The there is a 95% chance that the null hypothesis is true.

B

Is the process of null hypothesis testing an inductive or deductive approach? A. Inductive because you are testing a pre-specified hypothesis B. Inductive because you are trying to generalize your observations to a larger population C. Deductive because you are testing a pre-specified hypothesis D. Deductive because you are trying to generalize your observations to a larger population

B

Just by chance it is possible to obtain a sample with characteristics that are very different from the population, however it is more likely that this kind of sample is the result of A. simple random sampling. B. selection bias. C. stratified selection. D. systematic selection.

B

Researchers often use a coding system to identify data during the course of a research study. The reason for using codes is... A. to ensure that participants have complete informed consent B. to help protect confidentiality C. to help with data analysis D. it is a required part of all research with human participants

B

Typically, researchers plan to generalize their results to the entire group of individuals defined by their specific interests. This entire group is called A. the accessible population. B. the target population. C. the representative population. D. the real population.

B

Using letter grades (A, B, C, D, and F) to classify student performance on an exam is an example of measurement on a(n) _______ scale of measurement. A. nominal B. ordinal C. Interval D. ratio

B

Using number of facial smiles in a 60-second period as a definition and a measurement of happiness is an example of ________ happiness. A. validating B. operationalizing C. desynchronizing D. sensitizing

B

What is a meta-analysis? A. A systematic review of the literature B. A systematic review of the literature that aggregates statistical analyses from several papers into a single number C. A publication that reports the results from a single study D. An analysis of metaphysical data

B

What is demonstrated by showing that the scores measured today for a group of individuals are nearly identical to the scores obtained with the same measurement procedure last week? A. predictive validity B. test-retest reliability C. inter-rater reliability D. construct validity

B

Which comes first in an APA-style reference? A. The last name of the author with the lowest alphabetical order B. The first author's last name C. The first author's first name D. The year of the publication

B

Which kind of publications are you most likely to find in a handbook? A. Primary sources B. Secondary sources

B

Which of the following does OSU's IRB classify as "exempt"? A. A study that does not involve human subjects B. A study that poses little to no risk C. A study that involves a population typically excluded from research (e.g., prisoners) D. A study that poses extreme risk to participants

B

Which of the following is an accurate definition of a Type I error? A. Rejecting a false null hypothesis B. Rejecting a true null hypothesis C. Failing to reject a false null hypothesis D. Failing to reject a true null hypothesis

B

Which of the following is italicized in an APA-style reference? A. The title of the article B. The name of the book/journal C. The name of the publisher D. The last name of each author

B

Which of the following is not an ethical principle identified in the Belmont Report? A. respect for persons B. kindness C. beneficence D. justice

B

Which of the following is not one of the evaluation standards discussed in class? A. Utility standards B. Program standards C. Feasibility standards D. Accuracy standards

B

Which section of a research article is most likely to help you develop ideas for selecting participants and measuring the variables for your own study? A. introduction B. method C. results D. abstract

B

Which standards describe the ethical and legal implications of an evaluation? A. Utility standards B. Proprietary standards C. Accuracy standards D. All of these

B

Why would you visit the Purdue OWL website? A. To find information about conducting a literature search B. To find information about APA style C. To find full-text versions of articles published by Purdue faculty D. To find full-text articles of NIH-funded publications

B

A research study reports that participants who scored high on a new test measuring self-esteem made eye contact during an interview whereas participants who scored low on the test avoided eye contact. Assuming that more eye contact is associated with higher self-esteem, this study is a demonstration of ________ validity. A. face B. concurrent C. predictive/criterion D. convergent

C

A researcher is interested in the television viewing preferences for of adolescent boys and selects a group of 25 boys to participate in a research study. The group of 25 boys is a ______. A. statistic B. population C. sample D. parameter

C

According to the principle of clinical equipoise, it is unacceptable to conduct a study comparing two treatments... A. when the treatments are known to be equally effective. B. when there is no information about the effectiveness of either treatment. C. when one treatment is known to be more effective than the other. D. when experts disagree about the effectiveness of the treatments.

C

For which of the following questions would the scientific method be an appropriate method for seeking an answer? A. How many angels can stand on the head of a pin? B. Is abortion moral or immoral? C .What conditions promote student learning in an elementary classroom? D. How would life be different if the computer had never been invented?

C

If a researcher explains what will happen in a research study using language that participants cannot understand, the researcher has violated the intent of... A. confidentiality B. preventing harm C. informed consent D. anonymity

C

Measurements that includes a large error component will have very low A. face validity. B. concurrent validity. C. reliability. D. all of the above

C

Passive deception refers to... A. deception that is not justified by the study's potential value. B. deception that is justified by the study's potential value. C. withholding information from participants. D. presenting misinformation to participants.

C

The goal in conducting a literature search is to A. learn of the existing knowledge in an area. B. identify a gap in that knowledge. C.learn of existing knowledge and identify a gap in that knowledge. D. find the most recently published article in the area.

C

The main advantage of being clear about how you operationalize a construct is: A. it guarantees a valid measurement. B. it guarantees a reliable measurement. C. it guarantees that others know exactly how you defined and measured your constructs. D. all of the other options are correct.

C

What additional information is obtained by measuring on an interval scale compared to an ordinal scale? A. whether the measurements are the same or different B. the direction of the differences C. the size of the differences D. none of the above

C

What do we call a graphical representation of a theory of change? A. A graphics model B. A flow model C. A logic model D. A change chart

C

What is a Serifed font? A. A font that attempts to mimic handwriting B. A font in which each letter occupies the same amount of space C. A font in which the letters contain extra projections/finishing strokes D. A font in which the letters DO NOT contain extra projections/finishing strokes

C

What type of research is a program evaluation? A. Basic research B. Systematic research C. Applied research D. Programmatic research

C

When a sample has the same characteristics as the target population, the sample is said to be a(n) _______. A. biased sample B. target sample C. representative sample D. accessible sample

C

When should you use a page break? A. To split a document into two columns B. To mark the end of a document C. When you want to move a section of text to a new page D. When your screen is stuck on a specific webpage

C

When should you view multiple versions of a publication in Google Scholar? A. To find related publications by the same author B. To see if the author cheated by publishing the same article in two places C. To find multiple full-text options D. To see if the publication also appears in PSYCINFO

C

Which of the following accurately describes a hypothesis test? A. A descriptive technique that allows researchers to describe a sample B. A descriptive technique that allows researchers to describe a population C. An inferential technique that uses the data from a sample to draw inferences about a population D. An inferential technique that uses information about a population to make predictions about a sample

C

Which of the following is not required for a simple random sample from a population of 20 individuals? A. Each individual in the population has a 1/20 probability of being selected. B. The selection of one individual is independent of the selection of any other individual. C. After 20 selections, each individual must have been selected exactly one time. D. The individual obtained on any specific selection must be unpredictable.

C

Which standards describe how systematic and accurately reported a program evaluation is? A. Utility standards B. Proprietary standards C. Accuracy standards D. All of these

C

Which type of research does Oregon State's IRB oversee? A. All research projects B. Federally-funded research C. Any research that involves human subjects D. Any research that involves non-human animals

C

Who are the stakeholders in a program evaluation? A. The participants enrolled in a program B. The individuals funding the evaluation C. Anyone who might be impacted by or invested in a program D. Vampire hunters

C

You develop a new measure of honesty and other researchers agree that it looks like an appropriate way to measure honesty. You have demonstrated A. concurrent validity B. discriminate validity C. face validity D. reliability

C

You find some mushrooms growing in your backyard and want to find out whether or not they are poisonous, so you eat a few and see what happens. This is an example of the ______ of knowing or acquiring knowledge. A. rational method B. method of authority C. empirical method D. scientific method

C

Define a construct and explain why researchers often need to use an operational definition to measure constructs.

Construct: what you are trying to measure They are theoretical so you need to show proof

A researcher selects a sample and administers a treatment to the individuals in the sample. If the sample is used for a hypothesis test, what does the null hypothesis (H0) say about the treatment's impact on an outcome test? A. The treatment causes a change in the scores. B. The treatment adds a constant to each score. C. The treatment multiplies each score by a constant. D. The treatment has no effect on the scores.

D

A variable such as intelligence that cannot be seen or measured directly is known as a(n) A. theory B. theoretical variable C. operational variable D. construct

D

Common mistakes in choosing a research topic include A. The topic is too broad. B. The researcher is too familiar with the topic C. The topic involves a value judgment D. All of the above

D

How can you best ensure that the results of a program evaluation get used? A. Publish your results in a peer-reviewed academic journal B. Put the program evaluation on your vitae (resume) so others can see C. Tell participants that the program they are enrolled in is effective D. Debrief stakeholders in a clear manner

D

How can you find a research idea? A. rely on a serendipitous observation B. ask yourself how a study might be modified. C. combine two or more existing results. D. the other three choices are all ways to find a research idea.

D

How much space should be between paragraphs in APA style? A. 10 points in addition to the space created by double spacing B. None, the paragraphs should be single spaced C. 5 points in addition to the space created by double spacing D. Only the space created by double spacing

D

Prior to the end of WWII, what document provided guidelines for research ethics? A. The Nuremberg Code. B. The APA Ethics Code. C. The National Research Act and the Belmont Report. D. There were no guidelines. Individual researchers were presumed to establish their own ethical guidelines.

D

What is the difference between a program's outputs and outcomes? A. Outputs are the number of people a program serves, outcomes are its effects on its participants B. Outcomes are tangible, outputs are theoretical C. Outcomes are the number of people a program serves, outputs are its effects on its participants D. Outputs are tangible, outcomes are theoretical

D

What is the goal of a program evaluation? A. Empower programs to be self-sustaining B. Improve a program's impact C. Prove a program's effectiveness D. All of the above are goals of program evaluation

D

When might you save an article to your personal library? A. You come across a potentially useful article that you want to read later B. You read a very good article and want to save it for future use C. You are compiling a list of possible articles to review D. All of the above

D

When providing the full reference for a publication with more than seven authors, which of the following is correct? A. Report the first three authors' names followed by "et al." B. List all authors in the order they appear in the publication C. List only the first seven authors followed by an ellipsis D. List the first six authors, an ellipsis, then the last author

D

Where can you look for keywords and/or jargon related to your topic? A. The "Terms Finder" in PSYCINFO B. The keywords section of an article C. Relevant author profiles in Google Scholar D. All of the above

D

Which of the following is a potential problem with the method of authority? A.A person may claim to be an expert when he or she really is not. B.An "expert" answer may be only a personal, subjective opinion. C. An expert may be giving answers outside his or her area of expertise. D.. The other three choices are all potential problems.

D

Which section of a research article is most likely to provide suggestions for additional research? A. introduction B. method C. results D. discussion

D

Who can serve as the Principal Investigator on an IRB submission at OSU? A. Anybody with an OSU ID B. Only faculty and undergraduate students C. Only individuals who are the PI on a funded grant D. Only individuals with a federal and/or faculty appointment

D

Select any program of your choosing (e.g., Boys and Girls Club, Head Start). List at least three stakeholders for this program.

Head Start: tax payers, kindergarten teachers, parents, staff

Distinguish between induction and deduction and describe how each is used in the scientific method.

Induction is starting with an observation and adding things to it to create a theory Deduction is starting with a theory and taking it apart When you go and make a hypothesis that is induction When you actually test the hypothesis and then create a new one based on the information you got that is deduction

Informed consent involves three elements: information, understanding, and volunteering. Describe how the intent of informed consent can be compromised by limitations in each of these three elements .

Information: you don't provide sufficient information Understanding: using a language that they cannot understand Volunteering: you cant force people to participate

Explain why it is more scientific to test a null hypothesis instead of searching for confirmatory evidence to support your alternative hypothesis.

It is really easy to support what you are aiming for and much harder to prove there is no evidence proving that you are wrong "there is not evidence that suggests we are wrong"

Describe why the best strategy for finding a research idea is to begin with a general topic area.

So that you can get a good feel for what is out there and what the jargon terms are and the funnel it down

Based on limited experience with daises in my flower garden, I have concluded that these flowers require almost no care at all. This conclusion is an example of A. inductive reasoning. B. deductive reasoning. C. practical reasoning. D. predictive reasoning.

A

Which of the following is a danger of relying upon a secondary source? A. The author of the secondary source may describe or interpret research results incorrectly. B. The author only has knowledge about the single study being reported C. A secondary source is not related to a practical problem D. All of the above

A

Which standards describe how useful a program evaluation will be for stakeholders? A. Utility standards B. Proprietary standards C. Accuracy standards D. All of these

A