Ch. 3

The categories represent qualitative but not quantitative differences.

nominal

Ratio scale

type of continuous measurement in which there is an absolute zero point

Is a person's perception of the "saltiness of food" an abstract variable?

yes

What term is used for a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly but is useful for describing and explaining behavior?

Construct

What variables did Harrar and Spence (2013) study? Check all that apply.

The heaviness of food The saltiness of food The expensiveness of food

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using an operational definition?

The operational definition may not be an accurate reflection of the construct. The operational definition may leave out important components of the construct. The operational definition may include extra components that are not part of the construct.

parallel-forms reliability

accuracy established by comparing scores obtained by using two alternate versions of a measure

inter-rater reliability

degree of agreement between two observers who simultaneously record measurements of a behavior

divergent validity

efficacy demonstrated by using two different methods to measure two different constructs

Scores are clustered at the low end of the measure.

floor

Julie is participating in a study of moral reasoning. She believes she has figured out what the hypothesis is and tries to respond in ways that will support that hypothesis.

good

construct

hypothetical attribute or mechanism that helps explain and predict behavior

experimenter bias

influence on the findings of a study from the experimenter's expectations

Measured by computing the correlation between the scores from the two observers or by computing a percentage of agreement between the two observers

inter-rater

desynchrony

lack of agreement between two measures

The categories of which scale represent qualitative, not quantitative differences?

norminal

The categories have different names and are arranged sequentially.

ordinal

The categories are arranged sequentially and are of the same size; the zero is meaningful.

ratio

ordinal scale

type of measurement on which the categories are organized sequentially

split-half reliability

accuracy obtained by calculating consistency between scores on two halves of measure items

demand characteristic

any feature of a study that gives away the purpose of the study

Gary is participating in a study of teen fathers and, while originally enthusiastic, he is becoming increasingly concerned that what he does in the research setting will somehow be used to judge his fitness as a father.

apprehensive

Scores are clustered at the high end of the measure.

celing

ceiling effect

clustering of scores at the high end of a scale, allowing little possibility of increases

floor effect

clustering of scores at the low end of a scale, allowing little possibility of decreases

face validity

concern whether a measure superficially appears to measure what it claims to measure

Demonstration that the score on the new measure of a construct is related to the score on an established measure of the same construct

concurrent

Sonya is developing a new measure of social anxiety and demonstrates its validity by showing its relationship to a well-established measure of social anxiety. Sonya is assessing _____ validity.

concurrent

Measurements of a variable behave the same way as the variable itself

construct

Sherree studies altruism and uses a measure of altruism that has been shown to relate to altruistic behavior consistent with expectations. Sherree's measure of altruism can be said to have good ____ validity.

construct

Demonstration that there is little or no relationship between the measurements of two different constructs

divergent

Shawnda is studying the psychological stress related to weather extremes by measuring salivary cortisol levels to assess the amount of stress in her participants. Salivary cortisol is best described as ____ measure of weather-related stress.

A physiological

Shawnda is studying the psychological stress related to weather extremes. She has created a survey asking her research participants to rate their own stress levels at specific times of the day. This is best described as ____ measure of weather-related stress.

A self-report

Eric studies stress among family members who care for individuals with dementia. He has recently undertaken a study examining the impact of unemployment on caregivers. He recognizes that their stress levels are likely to increase and worries that many of the participants in his research already had such high levels of stress that he will simply be unable to detect increases associated with unemployment. What is Eric concerned about?

Ceiling effects

A ____ research study occurs when neither the researcher nor the participants know the predicted outcome.

Double-blind

What variables did Piqueras-Fiszman and Spence (2012) study?

How good hot chocolate tasted

What are ways to operationally define how "good" something tastes? Check all that apply.

Measure how much of that something is consumed by the participant. Measure a participant's rating on a scale of 1 to 10 for how good that something tastes.

Lauren is not happy about the requirement that introductory psychology students participate in research, so when she does participate, she tries to figure out what the researcher hopes to demonstrate and sets out to do the exact opposite. What "role" is Lauren playing?

Negativistic subject

What is the goal of an operational definition?

To provide a definition and a method for measuring a hypothetical construct

convergent validity

efficacy wherein a relationship between scores obtained from two different measures of the same construct

concurrent validity

efficacy wherein scores from a measure are directly related to scores from an established measure

predictive validity

efficacy wherein scores obtained from a measure accurately predict behavior according to a theory

construct validity

efficacy wherein scores obtained from a measure behave exactly the same as the variable itself

test-retest reliability

efficacy wherein two different measures of the same construct exhibit a relationship between scores

The simplest and least scientific type of validity is ____ validity.

face

The superficial appearance of a measure

face

Which type of validity refers to whether the measurement looks as though it actually measures what it is intended to measure?

face

Bill has just been diagnosed with dementia and, while the disease is in the early stages, he consents to being part of a longitudinal study of persons with dementia. He believes that if he can help science by being in the research, at least something good will come from his having the disease.

faithful

Holly is developing an assessment of disordered eating. Part of Holly's assessment of disordered eating involves having trained individuals observe and score the behavior of individuals who may have disordered eating. Holly trains two individuals and has them both observe and score the same videos of individuals selecting and consuming food. Holly is assessing ____ reliability.

inter-rater

The categories are arranged sequentially and are of the same size; the zero is arbitrary.

interval

Albert really resents having to participate in research as a part of the course requirements for an introductory psychology course. Accordingly, when he believes he has figured out what the hypothesis is, he deliberately tries to behave in a contrary way.

negative

Peter's job is to watch videos of children interacting with other children and estimate the physical distances between the children. If Peter is simply not good at estimating distances, ____ error will be introduced.

observer

Measurements on which scale allow a researcher to make a determination of whether two individuals differ and the direction of the difference but do not allow a determination of the magnitude of the difference?

ordinal

Don sometimes wonders why he keeps doing research with adolescents because it often seems as though they pay very little attention when completing the rating scales involved in his work. Don is concerned that their inattention will introduce ____ error.

participant

faithful subject role

participant attempt to follow experimental instructions to the letter

reactivity

participant modification of behavior in response to participating in a research study

apprehensive subject role

participant tendency to respond in a socially desirable fashion, rather than truthfully

good subject role

participant tendency to respond in a way that is expected to corroborate investigators' hypothesis

negativistic subject role

participant tendency to respond in a way that is expected to refute investigators' hypothesis

Operational defintion

procedure for indirectly measuring a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly

What type of scale has a meaningful zero point representing a complete absence of the variable being measured?

ratio

behavioral measure

record obtained by the direct observation of an individual's actions

physiological measure

record of a physiological activity, such as heart rate

Margie is studying performance anxiety. If she measures anxiety by asking her research participants to rate their own anxiety, she is using a _____ measure. If she uses a measure such as heart rate or galvanic skin response, she is using a _____ measure. A measure such as what performance-related tasks an individual is willing to perform (plan a public talk, accept an invitation to give a talk, go into the auditorium where a talk would be given, and so on) is a _____ measure.

self-report, physiological, behavioral

Obtained by dividing the items on a questionnaire or test in half, computing a separate score for each half, and then calculating the degree of consistency between the two scores for a group of participants

split-half

double-blind research

study in which both the researcher and the participants are unaware of the predicted outcome

single-blind research

study in which the researcher does not know the predicted outcome for any specific participant

Holly is developing an assessment of disordered eating. She asks the same group of individuals to complete her instrument on two separate occasions. Holly is assessing ____ reliability.

test-related

The estimate obtained by comparing the scores obtained from two successive measurements

test-retest

In psychology,a theory _____ is a set of statements about the mechanisms underlying a particular behavior,a construct _____ is a hypothetical mechanism used to help explain behavior, andan operational definition _____ is a way to measure an observable characteristic that serves as a stand-in for something that is not observable.

theory, construct, operational definition

Norminal scale

type of measurement in which the categories represent qualitative differences in the variable being measured