Behavior Research Method
Lowell is very concerned about his grandmother, who has recently been diagnosed with dementia. He wants to learn more about it, and checks out the jacket quotes on some currently popular books. Which quote should reassure him that the book is based in science rather than pseudoscience?
"From laboratory research to clinical trials: evaluating the treatment of dementia."
Under which of the following circumstances is informed consent not necessary?
A public opinion survey where participants complete anonymous questionnaires
What is a potential problem with the method of authority?
An expert may be giving answers outside his or her area of expertise. An "expert" answer may be only a personal, subjective opinion. A person may claim to be an expert when he or she really is not. Correct answer: The other three choices are all potential problems.
What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading a results section?
Are appropriate statistics used?
A researcher describes the unique characteristics of an individual research participant and uses the participant's real first name when writing about her study. Which ethical principle is being compromised?
Confidentiality
Which sampling technique is most likely to result in a biased sample?
Convenience sampling
A football player who knows that his performance will be better if he wears his lucky shirt is using the method of faith.
False
A textbook is a primary source.
False
A valid measure is one that yields highly similar results across different experimental conditions.
False
All journal articles are primary sources.
False
Basic research is intended to answer practical problems.
False
Deceiving participants about the purpose of a research study is strictly forbidden in all circumstances by APA guidelines as well as by government regulations.
False
It is a good idea to start with a specific idea and then make that idea more general as you conduct your literature review.
False
One safeguard against fraud is review by the IRB.
False
Research studies consistently demonstrate that debriefing participants effectively eliminates the problems caused by deception.
False
Secondary sources must contain complete reports of research.
False
The principles outlined in the Belmont Report are no longer used today.
False
You have dinner reservations at 7:30 at a restaurant that is 30 minutes away and it is already 7:20, leading you to conclude that you are going to be late. This is an example of using the empirical method.
False
If individuals are pressured into participating in research because the researcher is in a position of power or authority, then which ethical principle is being compromised?
Informed consent
Why is probability sampling rarely used in behavioral science researcher?
It is often not possible to list every individual in a population.
Who is acting as a confederate?
Jay, who pretends to be a research participant even though he is actually working with the experimenter
Which kind of sampling requires such extensive knowledge of the population that the researcher could list every individual in the population?
Probability
A researcher would like to examine the political attitudes for students at a local university. The researcher will evaluate a sample of 200 students but would like to be sure that the ages and genders of individuals in the sample accurately represent the ages and genders for the entire student body at the university. What would be the best sampling method for the researcher to use?
Proportionate stratified random sampling
Suppose you are looking for reliable psychological information about a specific keyword. What tool will be most effective?
PsycINFO
Which element is part of the APA ethical guidelines?
Researchers must perform research in their area of expertise.
Which statement is the best example of a hypothesis?
Smaller class size is related to better academic performance.
Which potential problem can occur when the rational method is used?
The other three choices are all potential problems.
How will participants change their normal behavior if they respond to demand characteristics by adopting "the good subject role?"
They will attempt to produce the data that they think you want.
A floor effect means that a measurement procedure is not likely to detect a decrease in scores.
True
A good hypothesis should make a positive statement about the existence of a relationship, a difference, or a treatment effect.
True
A good way to come up with a research idea is to look in the discussion section of a research article, and find the discussion of ideas for future research.
True
A literature search is successfully ended when you stop uncovering new leads.
True
A reliable measurement procedure produces similar scores when the same individuals are measured twice under similar conditions.
True
An important element of the scientific method is that research results should be made public.
True
Demand characteristics are cues within a research study that suggest how the participants are expected to behave or respond.
True
Ideas for research can come from casual observation of the people around you.
True
One critical component of the scientific method is that all answers or explanations must be demonstrated empirically.
True
Part of the scientific method involves using a hypothesis to make predictions.
True
Research participants must be informed of all relevant aspects of the study, including any risks or dangers that may be involved.
True
The method of intuition can be valuable when making ethical or moral decisions by doing what "feels" right.
True
There are some studies for which written informed consent from participants is not required.
True
There is a strong possibility that a convenience sample will be biased.
True
To determine how much difference there is between two individuals with respect to some characteristic, you must use either an interval or a ratio scale of measurement.
True
Which behavior is an example of plagiarism?
Using someone else's ideas in your research report without a citation.
A researcher plans to evaluate a new reading program by measuring students' reading skill before and after the program begins. If all the students have high reading skills scores before the program begins, then the measurement procedure has a sensitivity problem known as a ____.
ceiling effect
A teacher obtains a sample of children from a fifth-grade classroom by randomly selecting the third, fifth, and eighth rows and taking all the students in those rows. This is an example of ____ sampling.
cluster
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 ____.
concurrent validity
Which type of validity requires multiple research studies, usually conducted over a long period of time?
construct
The most commonly used sampling method in psychological research is probably ____ sampling.
convenience
Which section of a research article is most likely to provide suggestions for additional research?
discussion
Which type of validity involves demonstrating that we are measuring one specific construct and not combining two different constructs in the same measurement process?
divergent validity
The Tuskegee study involved ____.
failing to provide treatment for men with syphilis
Which type of subject role is most desirable for a research study?
faithful subject role
A hypothesis is a ____ statement and a prediction is a ____ statement.
general; specific
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.
generalize
When you identify a gap in the literature, you ____.
have found a potential research idea
One responsibility of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to ensure that ____.
human participants will be kept safe in research
If you are a psychologist embarking on a research study, what should you do first?
identify an idea and search the literature to form the research question
The results section of a research article typically ____.
includes the outcome of statistical analyses
Using observations of a small number of humans to make a statement about human behavior in general is an example of ____ reasoning.
inductive
A person who buys a lottery ticket because s/he just feels lucky is using the method of ____.
intuition
When using operational definitions, it is important to keep in mind that the operational definition ____.
is not the same as the construct itself
Fraud involves ____.
making up data to fit the hypothesis
A measurement procedure is valid if it ____.
measures what you intend it to measure
Which section of a research article can help you to develop ideas for studies by changing the characteristics of the participants or modifying the procedures for your own study?
method
An artist tries putting a freshly painted canvas outside during a rainstorm to see how the painting will change from the pattern of the raindrops. Which method of acquiring knowledge is she using?
method of empiricism
A researcher conducts a study in which 50 college students are assigned to different treatments and tested. In the study, the students are called ____.
participants
A limitation of using the rational method is that ____.
people are generally not very good at reasoning
The APA ethical guidelines ____.
permit research using either active or passive deception
A ____ source contains original research reports.
primary
An empirical journal article is an example of a ____ source.
primary
The method section of a research article typically ____.
provides the details of how the research was conducted
A researcher wants to obtain a sample of 30 preschool children consisting of 10 two-year-old children, 10 three-year-old, and 10 four-year-old children. Assuming that the children are obtained from local daycare centers, this researcher should use ____ sampling.
quota
Measurement that includes a large error component will have very low ____.
reliability
One way to detect fraud in research is to ____.
replicate the study
When a sample has the same characteristics as the target population, the sample is said to be a(n) ____ sample.
representative
When people make an observation, then form a hypothesis that explains the observation, and then make more observations to test the credibility of the hypothesis, they are using the ____.
scientific method
Which type of source summarizes information from sources of original research reports?
secondary
Although it is possible to obtain a sample with characteristics that are very different from the population through random sampling, it is more likely that a nonrepresentative sample is the result of ____.
selection bias
Using an anonymous questionnaire to determine how many times students send or receive text messages during class is an example of using what modality of measurement?
self-report
A strategy for reducing experimenter bias is to ____.
standardize the experiment
A researcher would like to describe and compare the attitudes of four different ethnic groups of students at a local state college. To obtain participants for the study while ensuring sufficient numbers of participants from each of the ethnic groups, the researcher should probably use ____ sampling.
stratified random
The technique of quota sampling is most similar to ____ sampling.
stratified random
A researcher conducts a study in which 50 rats are assigned to different treatments and tested. In the study, the rats are called research ____.
subjects
One way to detect fraud in research is to ____.
submit the article for peer review
A professor teaching an introductory psychology class of 200 obtains a sample of 25 students by selecting every eighth name from the class list. The professor is using ____ sampling.
systematic
Establishing the reliability of a measurement procedure by using the procedure to measure the same individuals on two separate occasions and comparing the two sets of scores is known as ____ reliability.
test-retest
A cluster sample usually does not qualify as a true random sample because ____.
the individuals within each group are usually not independent
Using a sports star to sell clothing in a television commercial relies upon which nonscientific method of acquiring knowledge?
the method of authority
One criticism of a stratified random sample is that ____.
the sample may not be representative of the population
A systematic sample does not qualify as a true random sample because ____.
the selections are not independent of each other
What additional information is obtained by measuring on an interval scale as compared to an ordinal scale?
the size of the differences
The Nuremberg Code outlines basic ethical guidelines for the ____.
treatment of human participants
The Belmont Report provides basic ethical guidelines for the ____.
treatment of human participants in research
The law of large numbers states that larger samples are _____.
usually more representative of a population
Passive deception refers to ____.
withholding information from participants
