Psych 303 Exam 2

37. The statistical test used to compare means for more than two groups or conditions is the ______. a. t b. F c. r d. Cohen's d

b. F

8. An environmental psychologist conducts a study to examine whether visiting zoos causes people to have more positive attitudes toward environmental conservation. He asks a group of 45 people attending the zoo on a Saturday morning about their attitudes. He finds that 69% of the people report having a positive attitude after their visit. Which of the following is NOT true of Dr. Kline's study? a. He is lacking a control group. b. He does not have a dependent variable. c. He cannot make a causal statement. d. He did not manipulate an independent variable.

b. He does not have a dependent variable.

32. In describing a statistically significant interaction, which statement should be used to explain the link between Independent Variable A and Independent Variable B on the dependent measure? a. The effect of Variable A is cancelled out by the effect of Variable B. b. The effect of Variable A depends on the level of Variable B. c. Variable A's effect causes the effects of Variable B. d. The effect of Variable A is mediated by Variable B.

b. The effect of Variable A depends on the level of Variable B.

41. In an independent samples t-test on male vs. female IQ test scores, you find that t(12) = 5.67, p > .50. Which of the following can you conclude from this information? a. The males score higher than the females. b. The gender difference is not significant. c. The gender difference is significant. d. No conclusion is valid.

b. The gender difference is not significant.

23. The effect of an independent variable on a dependent measure (regardless of any other variables) is ___. a. an interaction. b. a main effect. c. a significant effect. d. a correlation.

b. a main effect.

6. Any factor (other than the independent variable) that differs systematically between conditions is known as a _________. a. manipulation check. b. confound. c. baseline. d. dependent variable.

b. confound.

14. Dr. Omobilage conducts a study in his class. He has his GSI randomly assign half the class to write about how the material relates to their lives (meaning group). The other half writes about what they did to prepare for class (preparation group). He does not know which of his students are writing which assignment, and the students are not aware they are responding to different writing assignments. His dependent variable is a final multiple-choice exam. This study is an example of a ________ design. a. one-group, pretest/posttest b. double-blind c. within-group design d. repeated measures

b. double-blind

43. In a study of mathematics achievement, students are tested twice: once on a test of geometry, and once on a test of trigonometry. If I decide to compare males to females on geometry only, I should choose a ____. a. paired-samples t-test b. independent-samples t-test c. ANOVA d. correlation

b. independent-samples t-test

7. All of the following are advantages of within-groups designs EXCEPT ____. a. the treatment and control groups are equivalent. b. it requires less time from each participant. c. it requires fewer participants. d. it is more sensitive for detecting differences in the conditions.

b. it requires less time from each participant.

9. When participants can't be assigned to conditions at random, what method can be used to equate groups? a. subject variables b. matching c. random selection d. sampling

b. matching

27. Dr. Stein is considering a 3 x 4 within-groups factorial design. How many cells are in this design? a. 2 b. 4 c. 7 d. 12

d. 12

30. Dr. Guevarra is conducting a study with a 2 x 4 independent-groups factorial design. Assuming he wants 25 people in each cell, how many participants does Dr. Guevarra need to recruit? a. 50 b. 100 c. 150 d. 200

d. 200

18. Which of the following methods helps to control for order effects? a. Random selection c. Blind or masked designs b. Matched groups d. Counterbalancing

d. Counterbalancing

48. Dr. Woo, a health psychologist, conducts a study examining whether people eat more when they see pictures of food. She goes to a restaurant in downtown Chicago that has pictures of items on its menu, and measures the amount of food ordered during the lunch rush (11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.). She does the same at a nearby restaurant with no menu pictures a week later. She finds that the restaurant with pictures of food sells more food. Which of the following is an advantage of this field study? a. It generalizes to other kinds of settings (e.g., cafeterias, fancy restaurants) b. It is more likely to generalize to other people c. It wards against threats to internal validity d. It has more ecological validity

d. It has more ecological validity

11. Which of the following is NOT true of "selection effects?" a. They are a type of confound. b. They can occur when participants choose their own group. c. They do not affect internal validity. d. They can occur when researchers assign similar types of people to the same treatment group.

d. They can occur when researchers assign similar types of people to the same treatment group.

28. Dr. Rosenblum is conducting a study with a 2 x 2 independent-groups factorial design. How many interactions will she need to examine? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4

a. 1

26. Dr. Syed is conducting a study with a 2 x 4 independent-groups factorial design. How many main effects will she need to examine? a. 2 b. 3 c. 4 d. 8

a. 2

35. Dr. Kross conducted a study of pain tolerance. Half of the participants were required to keep one hand submerged in cold water (52 degrees); the other half played a cyberball game where other players excluded them. In addition, half of each group was given an aspirin pill, while the other half was given a (placebo) sugar pill. At the end of the session, participants were asked to rate their current pain on a scale of 1 to 100 (the worst). The results are shown below; assume any differences are significant. What is the main finding? a. Aspirin helps with both physical and social pain. b. Getting the aspirin or placebo didn't matter. c. The effect of pain type depends on the type of pill. d. There appear to be no significant effects in the results.

a. Aspirin helps with both physical and social pain.

29. Which of the following NOT TRUE about an interaction in a study? a. It can be examined by computing the marginal means. b. It can exist even if no main effects are significant. c. It is usually more important than a main effect. d. There are multiple patterns of interaction effects.

a. It can be examined by computing the marginal means.

36. The logic of hypothesis-testing in the scientific method is based upon the fact that ____. a. a study that confirms an hypothesis is the most convincing regarding its validity. b. a study that disconfirms an hypothesis is the most convincing regarding its validity. c. there is no difference between the theoretical and null hypotheses. d. it is often best to conduct science without any hypotheses.

a. a study that confirms an hypothesis is the most convincing regarding its validity.

33. In an experiment, athletes are randomly assigned to either a new training method or to the old training method. Younger and older runners are compared on their event times. (Assume any difference in the means is statistically significant.) Which of these effects is NOT observed in the results shown in the figure below? a. an interaction of age and method b. a main effect of age c. a main effect of method d. all of the above effects were found

a. an interaction of age and method

24. When the effect of an independent variable depends on the level of another independent variable, the result is called ____. a. an interaction. b. a main effect. c. a significant effect. d. a correlation.

a. an interaction.

34. A 2 x 2 design for a study manipulated cats' hunger ("before meal" or "after meal") and degree of background noise (low or high). Cats in high noise conditions acted more playful when hungry than when not hungry, but cats in "low noise" acted equally playful regardless of hunger level. This pattern represents ___. a. an interaction. b. a main effect. c. no significant effect. d. a marginal effect.

a. an interaction.

10. If a subject participates in only one level of the independent variable, the design is ____. a. between subjects (or groups) b. within subjects (or groups) c. mixed d. systematic

a. between subjects (or groups)

44. Miguel conducts a study for his research methods class to determine if consuming caffeine causes people to perform better on cognitive tasks. In his study, he gives half of his participants a glass of water and half of his participants a glass of cola, and then has them attempt to solve 15 math problems. He finds that people who drink caffeine beforehand solve more math problems than those who drink water beforehand. Miguel decides to conduct the same study again with a different sample to ensure that he can find the same difference between the groups a second time. This second study is known as a ____. a. direct replication. b. replication-plus-extension. c. conceptual replication. d. secondary replication.

a. direct replication.

42. Suppose you are conducting a study to determine whether girls and boys differ in height. You plan to test for differences between these two groups using a t-test. In the null hypothesis, you would (typically) specify that the girls' mean is ____ the boys' mean. a. equal to b. less than c. greater than d. different than

a. equal to

49. Dr. Ward wants to conduct a study of college student dating in her laboratory. She wants people to feel and act the same way in her laboratory that they would when facing choices in an actual social event. To this end, she must try to enhance which of the following? a. experimental realism b. generalizability c. construct validity d. cultural relativity

a. experimental realism

40. Which of the following considers whether the manipulations in an experiment generalize to other settings? a. external validity b. construct validity c. internal validity d. statistical validity

a. external validity

2. An independent variable in an experimental design includes different groups (e.g., providing either a high or a low dose of a drug) that are also known as _____ of the independent variable. a. levels b. means c. effects d. cells

a. levels

16. Using a matched-group design is especially important in which of the following cases? a. when you have a small group of people in your study b. when you have just two levels/conditions of the independent variable c. when you have a single group pre/posttest design d. when you have repeated measures

a. when you have a small group of people in your study

45. Miguel then decides to conduct a variation of the original study in which he measures participants' ability to solve verbal analogies as the cognitive task instead. He finds that people who take a caffeine pill beforehand solve more verbal analogies than those who had a placebo, suggesting caffeine consumption causes improved cognitive performance. This study is known as a ____. a. direct replication. b. replication-plus-extension. c. conceptual replication. d. secondary replication.

b. replication-plus-extension.

12. Experiments use random assignment to avoid which of the following? a. random selection b. selection effects c. carryover effects d. demand characteristics

b. selection effects (random selection)

38. Which of the following is directly indicated by the p value in a t-test comparison of two groups? a. whether the conclusion is useful and valid. b. whether the result is likely to occur by chance. c. the size of the two sample groups. d. whether the means show any difference.

b. whether the result is likely to occur by chance.

46. According to the textbook, which of the following is NOT a component of WEIRD people? a. Western b. Educated c. Interdependent d. Rich

c. Interdependent

39. A researcher wishes to avoid making a Type 2 error, so she sets her alpha level to .05 rather than .001. Which of the following might be a disadvantage of this strategy? a. She may miss a difference that is really there. b. She may overestimate the needed sample size or power. c. She may find a difference that is not really there. d. She may underestimate her effect size.

c. She may find a difference that is not really there.

7. According to the textbook, what is the problem with "WEIRD" samples? a. They are not very helpful for theory testing. b. They are difficult to include in studies because it is hard to get samples. c. They are not representative of the world's population. d. They are not used frequently enough given their importance.

c. They are not representative of the world's population.

31. Two new weight-loss drugs are tested on both male and female participants. Assume any difference in the means shown in the graph below is statistically significant. Which of these effects is NOT evident? a. an interaction. b. a main effect of gender. c. a main effect of drug. d. all of the above effects were found.

c. a main effect of drug.

4. Dr. Joyner wants to study gender effects in small and large social situations. She has 16 female and 16 male volunteers, and she observes each of them interacting once with 3 other people and once with 20 other people. She compares the total number of words spoken by females and males. The design for this study is called _____. a. within subjects. b. between subjects. c. a mixed design. d. can't tell from information.

c. a mixed design.

19. Dr. Bluth does a study to determine whether a new additive will help people consume fewer calories. The additive is an odorless, tasteless powder that can be added to any drink. She collects a random sample of 63 students on campus and invites them to eat in her lab. She measures the calories they eat during dinner. She then gives the powder to the participants at dinner the next night, and again measures how many calories they eat. Dr. Bluth finds no difference in the calories consumed. This is known as ____. a. situation noise b. within-group variance c. a null effect d. a placebo effect

c. a null effect

22. In a factorial design, the independent variables (or "factors") are completely "crossed;" this means ___. a. each of the factors is combined with at least one level of the other factors. b. each of the factors can have a different number of levels or treatments. c. each level of a factor is combined with each level of every other factor. d. there are always more factors than levels.

c. each level of a factor is combined with each level of every other factor.

1. Research involving manipulation of a situation or experience for two or more groups of individuals is called ____. a. descriptive. b. associative. c. experimental. d. qualitative.

c. experimental.

21. When a researcher wants to see the effects of an independent variable on different types of people (e.g., men and women), or in different situations, they will likely choose a ______ design. a. factorial b. repeated measures c. independent groups d. pre/posttest

c. independent groups

5. The goal of experimental control, defined as the absence of confounds or third variables, is to maximize ____. a. pragmatics. b. experimental realism. c. internal validity. d. alternative explanations.

c. internal validity.

15. All psychology majors at a university took a standardized test (subject GRE) where the developmental section came first, clinical second, and cognitive last. The students scored lowest on the cognitive section. The cognitive instructors say this finding may be the result of a ____. a. a ceiling effect. b. a floor effect. c. a practice effect. d. a fatigue effect.

d. a fatigue effect.

20. Which of the following is NOT a reason that a study might yield a null result? a. a lack of between-group difference b. too much within-group variance c. the independent variable does not affect the dependent variable. d. a within-subjects design was used.

d. a within-subjects design was used.

13. Paul wanted to test stereotype effects, so he asked participants to rate male and female names for their perceived intelligence. He found that (on average) female names were rated as less intelligent than male names. However, there is a possible confound in this study; namely, ____. a. subject attrition. b. selection of groups. c. no comparison group. d. demand characteristics.

d. demand characteristics.

50. Random selection enhances ________ and random assignment enhances ________. a. internal validity; internal validity b. external validity; external validity c. internal validity; external validity d. external validity; internal validity

d. external validity; internal validity

17. Which of the following is a threat to internal validity found in within-groups designs, but not in independent-groups designs? a. selection effects b. placebo effects c. demand characteristics d. practice effects

d. practice effects

3. An experimenter conducts a study in which participants are randomly assigned to conditions. Half study in a quiet room and half in a noisy room; within each room, half of the students are also given a high sugar snack, and the other half a no-sugar snack while studying. Their learning is then tested. This research design has only ____. a. one level. b. one independent variable. c. two levels. d. two independent variables.

d. two independent variables.